A therapist described EMDR to me once using a filing cabinet analogy, and it was the most accurate thing I had ever heard. She said: think of your old memories and patterns as a filing cabinet — one that was organised in a rush, under stress, probably when you were young. Everything got filed in whatever drawer was closest. Nothing is where it should be. EMDR is like emptying that cabinet and reorganising it properly. Same files, new system.
I had spent years in therapy before EMDR. I understood my patterns. I knew where they came from. I could trace the logic of why I responded to certain things the way I did. But knowing something intellectually and actually having a different response — automatically, in the moment, without having to catch yourself — those are two completely different things. EMDR gave me the second one. It was like a system update that finally ran all the way through.
That is what I want to try to explain here — not just what EMDR is technically, but why it works differently from other approaches, and what the experience is actually like.
So what is it exactly?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It was developed in the late 1980s by a psychologist named Francine Shapiro, who noticed that certain eye movements seemed to reduce the distress associated with difficult memories. Since then it has become one of the most extensively researched trauma treatments in the world, recommended by both the World Health Organization and the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for the treatment of PTSD.
The basic premise is this: traumatic or distressing experiences can get stored in the brain in a fragmented, unprocessed way. Rather than being integrated into your long-term memory like a normal experience, they stay raw — emotionally and physiologically charged — and can get triggered by anything that reminds your nervous system of the original event. EMDR helps the brain process and integrate those memories so they lose their charge.
What actually happens in a session?
This is where EMDR sounds strange to people who have not experienced it. The short answer is that the therapist guides you through a series of bilateral stimulation — typically eye movements (following the therapist's finger or a light bar), tapping, or sounds alternating between left and right — while you hold a distressing memory or belief in mind.
The bilateral stimulation is thought to engage both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously, in a way that mimics what happens during REM sleep — the stage of sleep where the brain naturally processes and consolidates emotional experiences. You are awake and aware throughout. The therapist checks in regularly. You are not in a trance.
EMDR therapy typically follows eight structured phases:
History and treatment planning
The therapist gets to know you, understands your history, and identifies the specific memories or beliefs to target.
Preparation
You learn stabilisation and resourcing techniques so you feel grounded and safe before processing begins. This phase can take multiple sessions.
Assessment
You identify the target memory, the negative belief associated with it, and how distressing it feels in your body right now.
Desensitisation
The bilateral stimulation begins. You hold the memory in mind and notice what comes up — images, feelings, body sensations — without trying to direct it.
Installation
A positive belief is strengthened and installed to replace the negative one that was associated with the memory.
Body scan
You scan your body for any remaining tension or distress to ensure the processing is complete.
Closure
Each session ends with grounding and stabilisation, regardless of where the processing is in the moment.
Reevaluation
At the start of the next session, you check in to see how the processing has continued and what needs attention next.
Why does it work differently from talk therapy?
Traditional talk therapy works primarily at the level of cognition — understanding, reframing, making meaning. That is genuinely valuable. But trauma is stored in the body and the nervous system, not just in the thinking mind. It lives in the places that words do not always reach.
EMDR bypasses the need to narrate or analyse the experience in detail. You do not have to talk through everything that happened. You do not have to relive it in order to process it. The bilateral stimulation seems to help the brain do what it is designed to do — process and integrate — in a way that talking about it cannot always facilitate on its own.
This is also why EMDR can sometimes produce results that feel surprising in their speed. Not because it is a shortcut, but because it is working at a different level of the system.
Is it right for everyone?
EMDR is most well-researched for PTSD and trauma, but it is also used for anxiety, phobias, grief, depression, chronic pain, and a range of other presentations. That said, it is not the right fit for every person or every moment. Good preparation and stabilisation are essential — particularly for people with complex or developmental trauma. A trained therapist will assess whether and when EMDR is appropriate.
A note on finding an EMDR therapist
In Canada, EMDR therapists are trained through organisations like EMDR Canada and EMDRIA (the international association). When looking for a provider, it is worth asking about their specific EMDR training and how many phases of the protocol they complete. A well-trained EMDR therapist will not rush the preparation phase — and that preparation is often where the real groundwork of healing happens.
My practice opens in Vancouver in January 2027. I will be offering EMDR as part of my clinical work. Join the list to be notified when I am accepting clients.
If you are curious whether EMDR might be right for you, the best starting point is a conversation with a therapist who can assess your history and your readiness. What I can tell you from my own experience is that the shift it produced in me — from understanding my patterns intellectually to actually having a different, automatic response — was unlike anything I had found in any other modality. The cabinet got reorganised. The system updated. And things that used to take enormous effort just stopped being hard.
That is not a small thing.
Hilary McKee is an emerging psychotherapist completing her MA in Counselling Psychology at Yorkville University, and the Co-Founder and CEO of P.A.T.H. Therapy. She writes about therapy, the nervous system, and the work of healing. Her practice opens in Vancouver in January 2027, offering in-person and virtual sessions across British Columbia and Canada.