EMDR (short for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based therapy approach designed to help your brain process and heal from distressing experiences in the past using certain eye movements called bilateral stimulation.
During an EMDR session, you revisit these past experiences and perform certain eye movements guided by the therapist so that your brain can reprocess the experiences in a safe and structured way.
EMDR works based on your brain’s natural ability to heal itself. Instead of talking about your experiences, your brain will be doing the work of reprocessing the chosen memories. “Reprocessing” doesn’t mean you’re going to forget what happened, but the experiences won’t hold the same emotional sting and won’t keep interfering with your current life.
While EMDR is usually known for treating trauma and PTSD, it can also be used for a wider variety of other challenges that originate from life experiences, stress and negative self-beliefs, especially in cases where prolonged talk therapy hasn’t shown any significant improvements.
Every person’s experience is different, but over time you may notice that certain memories become less emotionally intense, triggers feel less overwhelming to you and you have the freedom to respond to situations with intention, rather than reacting from the past.
In our sessions, we may use EMDR to help you address:
Childhood trauma, neglect & abuse
Hypervigilance and panic attacks
Grief, bereavement and loss
Neurodivergent-related challenges
PTSD & complex trauma (CPTSD)
Emotional and psychological abuse
Low self-esteem & negative self-talk
Dysfunctional family environments
Anxiety and chronic stress
Perfectionism and people-pleasing
Fear of failure & rejection sensitivity
Adverse childhood experiences (ACE)
You may already understand where your patterns come from, why certain situations affect you or what you want to do differently. But the truth is, understanding something doesn’t always make it easier to change things for good. The unique thing about EMDR is that it can help you work through what has been holding you back, so you can begin to experience a deeper, longer-lasting type of change.
Feel less defined by past experiences and more present in the your day-to-day life
Create fulfilling relationships with greater trust, vulnerability & emotional connection
Navigate what life throws at you with confidence, flexibility and trust in yourself
Feel comfortable being yourself without the constant pressure to meet other people’s expectations
Handle difficult emotions, stress or conflict without falling back onto familiar reactions
Pursue your goals and opportunities with less fear of failure or fear of rejection
Make choices that respect your personal needs and values rather than old fears
We pride ourselves in offering high-quality online therapy for individuals in Pennsylvania who feel stuck in patterns they can’t seem to change – despite their best efforts to think or work their way through them.
Our work focuses on understanding and healing those underlying wounds together – so you don’t have to settle for coping with symptoms, but can actually change the patterns at the root and move through life feeling more confident, capable and in control.
EMDR is designed to help you process overwhelming experiences in a way that feels structured, collaborative and manageable. EMDR treatment follows a structured 8-phase process.
At Space Between The Words, our unique approach to EMDR is also neurodivergent-affirming. That means we’ll take the time to understand how you experience and process the world and then move at a pace that respects your nervous system. This may mean adjusting the pace, communication style, sensory environment or techniques we use so that therapy feels comfortable and accessible to you.
Before we begin, we’ll explore your history, identify experiences that may be contributing to current struggles and develop a plan for which experiences we want to target.
We’ll always make sure that you feel fully prepared for the treatment. We’ll practice eye movements, grounding and coping skills and you’ll have space to ask any questions before beginning deeper work.
Together, we’ll identify specific memories, beliefs, emotions or body sensations that seem connected to the experiences we’re targeting. During this phase, we’ll activate the memory that is being targeted and you’ll be asked to rate how distressing the memory feels.
After we’ve activated the specific memory, experience or emotion, we’ll use bilateral stimulation (such as guided eye movements) to help your brain begin processing. We keep checking in to see how you are feeling and whether the distress you’re experiencing is changing.
As your physical or emotional distress slowly decreases, we’ll start replacing old thoughts and patterns with healthier and more adaptive beliefs that support your healing and growth.
We’ll guide you through a body scan designed to help you check for any remaining physical tension or emotional activation connected to the memory.
Each session ends with dedicated time to help you return to feeling grounded and regulated before you go back out into daily life.
At the start of each future session, we’ll check back in with how you’re doing, assess your progress and determine what areas may benefit from continued work.
We know therapy can already feel hard enough to start. Cost and insurance confusion shouldn’t make it harder. That’s why we partner with Headway to accept over 45 insurance plans as in-network providers, including Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Carelon, Independence Blue Cross (IBX), Quest and more.
If your insurance isn’t in-network through Headway, you may still be able to receive reimbursement through out-of-network benefits using a service like Mentaya. If you’re unsure how any of this works, we can walk you through your options and help you figure out the best solution
EMDR is a great modality if you’re struggling with things like anxiety, trauma, grief, negative past experiences or painful memories that are making you feel “stuck” in the past and continue to affect your life today. It’s particularly helpful if you’ve tried talk therapy before and found little to no relief from it. If you’re unsure, feel free to schedule a free consultation so we can explore your unique situation and whether EMDR is the right approach for you.
Yes! Research actually suggests that EMDR can be highly effective through telehealth when provided by a trained therapist. For many clients, it can be a huge relief and comfort to be able to do an EMDR treatment from the safety and familiarity of their own environment while still experiencing meaningful results.
Yes. EMDR is actually one of the most extensively researched trauma treatments available today. It is recognized by organizations including the American Psychological Association and the World Health Organization.
Not at all! One of the really unique things about EMDR is that you don’t have to verbally relive or describe every painful detail of your trauma, if you don’t want to. Instead, we focus on how your body is experiencing the memory in the present moment and use that to assess progress.
The timeline varies depending on your goals, your history and the kind of experiences you are trying to target. Some people start noticing meaningful changes within just a few sessions, while others benefit from longer-term work. If duration of therapy is something you’re concerned about, we can discuss what treatment may look like for your specific situation during our consultation.
Finding the right therapist is hard! If you’re ready to get in touch with us, we invite you to schedule a free, no-pressure consultation with one of our therapists. You’ll get the chance to share what’s going on, ask any open questions and see if we would be a good match.
