Why I Finally Tried EMDR (and You Might Want to Too)

Let’s be honest—therapy has become more normalized. Insurance often covers it, the stigma has lessened, and many of us have spent time on a couch (or a Zoom screen) working through life’s challenges.

But what if you’ve already done therapy for years? Or you’re skeptical, because talking doesn’t seem to fix what’s broken in your body?

That’s where EMDR comes in.

EMDR—Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing—was developed in the late 1980s by Francine Shapiro to help veterans with PTSD. But today, it’s used far beyond classic trauma cases. Many of us walk around with unresolved stress—chronic, buried, or subtle—that keeps our nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight. And that’s a major barrier to healing.

At the Kaplan Center, we take a holistic and integrative approach to care—yes, we focus on sleep, nutrition, hormones, and toxins—but also on how your past experiences shape your body’s stress response. Because no matter how well we treat the physical layers, if the nervous system is still stuck in survival mode, progress stalls.

That’s where EMDR can be a game-changer.

EMDR or the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model seems to tap into your brain’s inherent ability to heal so that past experiences are processed in a more healthy way. When something overwhelming happens and your brain doesn’t fully integrate the memory, it can get “stuck” creating anxiety, triggers, even physical symptoms. EMDR helps “unstick” those memories so your nervous system can finally reset.

If you’ve read The Body Keeps the Score, you know what I mean: Unprocessed stress doesn’t just live in your head—it lives in your body.

So what does EMDR actually do? It helps the brain reprocess distressing memories or patterns so they’re no longer so triggering. It’s not traditional talk therapy. It’s structured, short-term, and highly effective. At our center, our therapist Jodi Brayton uses EMDR to help patients with chronic pain and illness regulate their nervous systems and finally start to recover.

As for me, I decided to try EMDR for something personal. I’m terrified of snakes and thunderstorms (honestly, that would make a great rock band name). The fear of storms had been keeping me up at night, and with a trip to Ecuador coming up—where snakes are a possibility—I thought, why not give it a try?

Last week, during an EMDR session, I was recounting a snake encounter on a past vacation when something clicked. Suddenly, I thought: Wait—snakes are afraid of me. If I see one, I just need to be loud when I walk. It was a shift—calm, simple, empowering. That’s what EMDR does. It helps relocate your fear to a new neighborhood in your brain, one where you don’t have to be constantly on edge.

Thunderstorms? I’m still working on those (and getting plenty of practice with this weather).

So if you’re stuck in your healing journey, or you’ve done all the right things but still feel unwell, maybe it’s time to consider this therapy that works at the intersection of mind and body. Not because you’re “crazy,” but because your body is trying to heal, and sometimes it needs your brain’s help to get there.

Nidhi Reva, is Director of the Kaplan Center’s Long COVID Clinic and Founder, Project Nido.

Research on the benefits of EMDR:

Vock S, Tesarz J. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) in pain therapy: Potentials, mechanisms and clinical applications for chronic pain with traumatic background. Schmerz. 2025 Aug;39(4):278-286. German. doi: 10.1007/s00482-025-00890-w. Epub 2025 Jun 30. PMID: 40586918.

Rentinck EM, van Mourik R, de Jongh A, Matthijssen SJMA. Effectiveness of an intensive outpatient treatment programme combining prolonged exposure and EMDR therapy for adolescents and young adults with PTSD in a naturalistic setting. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2025 Dec;16(1):2451478. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2025.2451478. Epub 2025 Jan 21. PMID: 39835632; PMCID: PMC11753006.

Novo Navarro P, Landin-Romero R, Guardiola-Wanden-Berghe R, Moreno-Alcázar A, Valiente-Gómez A, Lupo W, García F, Fernández I, Pérez V, Amann BL. 25 years of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): The EMDR therapy protocol, hypotheses of its mechanism of action and a systematic review of its efficacy in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Rev Psiquiatr Salud Ment (Engl Ed). 2018 Apr-Jun;11(2):101-114. English, Spanish. doi: 10.1016/j.rpsm.2015.12.002. Epub 2016 Feb 11. PMID: 26877093.

Valiente-Gómez A, Moreno-Alcázar A, Treen D, Cedrón C, Colom F, Pérez V, Amann BL. EMDR beyond PTSD: A Systematic Literature Review. Front Psychol. 2017 Sep 26;8:1668. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01668. PMID: 29018388; PMCID: PMC5623122.