By InDepth Therapy | Clinically reviewed by Barbara A. Humble, LCSW

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. For support with your specific situation, please consult a licensed mental health professional.

Something happened. Maybe a long time ago, maybe recently. You processed it the best way you knew how. Kept moving, kept functioning, told yourself you were fine. And maybe you mostly are. Except for the way certain things still catch you off guard. A smell, a tone of voice, a moment of conflict that shouldn’t feel as big as it does. The memory isn’t even always there, exactly. It’s more like the nervous system remembered even when the mind moved on.

That gap, between knowing you’re safe and feeling safe, is where a lot of people end up when they find EMDR.

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a structured, trauma-focused therapy with over three decades of research behind it, endorsed by the World Health Organization and used by clinicians worldwide to treat PTSD, anxiety, grief, and a range of other concerns that trace back to how difficult experiences get stored in the brain. This article walks through how EMDR works, what sessions actually feel like, who it tends to help, and how to know whether it’s a good fit for what you’re carrying.

What EMDR is — and what it actually does

EMDR is a therapy designed to help the brain finish processing experiences that got stuck before they could resolve.

Here’s the basic model. When something overwhelming happens, the brain’s normal memory consolidation process can get disrupted. Instead of the experience integrating as a past event (something that happened, with a clear before and after), it gets stored in a raw, unprocessed form. Sensory fragments, physical sensations, the emotional intensity of the original moment: all of it remains encoded in a way the brain can’t fully distinguish from the present. Which is why trauma doesn’t feel like a memory so much as something that keeps happening.

EMDR works by accessing that stuck material while simultaneously engaging bilateral stimulation. This is typically guided eye movements, but also taps on alternating hands or alternating tones through headphones. The bilateral stimulation appears to activate the brain’s natural processing system, similar to what happens during REM sleep. The memory gets worked through. Its emotional charge decreases. What was frozen starts to move.

The result, for most people, isn’t that the memory disappears. It’s that it becomes a memory: something that happened in the past, with a past tense that actually holds.

What EMDR is used to treat

EMDR was developed to treat PTSD, and that’s still where its research base is strongest. The World Health Organization recommends EMDR as a first-line treatment for PTSD, alongside trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. A meta-analysis of 26 randomized controlled trials published in PLOS ONE found EMDR produced medium-to-large effect sizes on PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety, and subjective distress.

But PTSD is not the only territory where EMDR has shown results. A 2021 systematic review in Frontiers in Psychology examined 90 studies covering EMDR applications beyond trauma and found positive effects across anxiety disorders, grief and loss, specific phobias, performance anxiety, depression, and addiction-related presentations.

In clinical practice, EMDR tends to be useful when:

• A past experience, whether a single event or a pattern over time, is still showing up in the present through intrusive thoughts, nightmares, heightened reactivity, avoidance, or physical symptoms
• Anxiety or depression has a clear emotional root that talk therapy has partially addressed but not fully resolved
• Grief has become complicated or frozen, when loss doesn’t seem to move through the way people expect
• Attachment wounds from childhood are shaping how someone responds in adult relationships
• A specific fear or phobia is organized around a past experience

At InDepth Therapy, EMDR is often used alongside Brainspotting therapy, a related but distinct trauma-focused approach working through sustained attention to eye positions associated with emotional activation. Some clients respond more readily to one or the other; some benefit from both at different phases of treatment. Our team carries training in both approaches, which means the work gets shaped to the person rather than the other way around.

What happens during an EMDR session

EMDR is not something that happens in a single session. It’s a structured treatment that unfolds across phases, and understanding the shape of it tends to reduce the anxiety of starting.

The early sessions focus entirely on preparation, sometimes one session, sometimes several. Your therapist will take a detailed history: what’s brought you in, the experiences you want to process, and what resources you already have for managing difficult material. This phase also involves learning specific stabilization skills, ways to contain or calm emotional activation between sessions. Nothing gets processed until you and your therapist both agree you’re ready.

The assessment phase identifies the specific memory to work on, the negative belief about yourself connected to it (“I’m not safe,” “It was my fault,” “I’m not enough”), and a more adaptive belief you want to move toward. You’ll also rate your current level of distress on a scale the therapist uses to track progress within and across sessions.

Processing is what most people imagine when they picture EMDR. You hold the memory briefly in mind, not all of it, not in extended detail, while the therapist guides bilateral stimulation. This continues in short sets, with check-ins between each one. Most people describe the experience as the memory moving: images shift, emotions change, the body’s response changes. Some of it is uncomfortable. None of it is out of your control. You remain present throughout, and your therapist remains present with you.

The process continues until the memory’s distress rating drops to near zero and the positive belief feels genuinely true, not just intellectually accepted. A body scan checks for lingering physical tension. The session closes with stabilization, and the next session begins with reevaluation before the work continues.

Most clients working on a specific, contained trauma complete meaningful processing in 6 to 12 sessions. Complex trauma involving multiple adverse experiences, early childhood events, or accumulated relational wounding typically requires more time. Your therapist will set realistic expectations from the start.

What EMDR feels like: the subjective experience

This is the question most people don’t ask in consultation, but almost everyone wants to know the answer to.

During processing, people often describe something like watching the memory from a distance they didn’t have before. Thoughts arise and shift on their own. The emotional intensity present at the start of a set tends to be lower by the end. Some people cry. Some people notice unexpected physical sensations. Some feel almost nothing, then find themselves thinking about something that seems unrelated to the original memory, associations the brain makes as it processes.

Between sessions, the work continues. Most people are told to expect things may surface in the days following: fragments of memory, vivid dreams, emotions that feel slightly closer to the surface. This isn’t a sign something has gone wrong. It’s the brain continuing to metabolize what started in session, and clinicians sometimes call it the integration period. It’s normal.

Some sessions are harder than others. Processing material that is deeply charged takes something out of you, and it’s worth building in some recovery time after intensive work. Not every session needs to be in full processing mode; skilled EMDR clinicians calibrate the pacing to what you can actually hold.

What most people describe once processing is complete on a particular memory: “It feels further away. I can remember it, but it doesn’t feel like it’s still happening. The charge is gone.”

That shift, from a present-tense wound to a past-tense experience, is what the treatment is after.

EMDR and relational trauma: when the wound is in the relationship

EMDR was built around single-incident trauma. But some of the most important work being done with the approach involves something more diffuse: the accumulated relational experiences that shape how people attach to others, how they respond to closeness and conflict, and what they unconsciously expect from the people they love.

Attachment wounds don’t always look like PTSD. They can look like getting flooded in arguments that feel bigger than they should. Or shutting down when a partner needs something emotionally. Or noticing that the same patterns keep repeating across different relationships, in ways that feel outside your control.

These patterns often have roots. EMDR can help identify and process the specific experiences, sometimes from childhood, sometimes from adult relationships, that set those patterns in motion. This is work that fits naturally alongside couples therapy, because what gets processed individually often changes what’s possible relationally.

At InDepth Therapy, we work with both individual trauma processing and couples therapy in Broomfield. When trauma histories are shaping relational dynamics, the two can run in parallel or in sequence, depending on what each person and each couple needs. We’ve written about how couples therapy works and when to start for those who want to understand how these two pieces fit together.

The clinical team at InDepth is positioned to hold both pieces, which is rarer than it should be. Most practices specialize in one or the other. We do both, in the same building, with clinicians who talk to each other.

What to look for in an EMDR therapist

EMDR is a trained skill, not a standard feature of every therapy license. There’s a meaningful difference between a therapist who attended a basic EMDR workshop and one who completed full training with ongoing consultation under a credentialed supervisor.

The EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) is the primary professional body for EMDR training and certification in the United States. Therapists who have completed EMDRIA-approved training have worked through at least 50 hours of EMDR practice under supervision. Certified EMDR Therapists have met additional requirements around ongoing case consultation and competency demonstration. When evaluating a therapist, it’s reasonable to ask about their training background and how much EMDR work they’ve done.

Beyond credentials, the therapeutic relationship matters here at least as much as it does in any other approach. EMDR requires the client to tolerate emotional activation in the presence of another person, which means feeling safe with your therapist is not optional. Most good EMDR clinicians offer an initial consultation for exactly this reason.

It’s also worth asking about the therapist’s experience with your specific type of concern. EMDR with single-incident trauma is different from EMDR with complex developmental trauma, and a therapist who works primarily with one population may not be the right fit for the other.

At InDepth Therapy, our clinical team includes trained EMDR clinicians with experience across trauma presentations, relationship issues, grief and loss, anxiety, and attachment-based concerns. Barbara A. Humble, LCSW, who brings over 30 years of clinical experience, is among our team members with advanced EMDR training.

Frequently asked questions

Does EMDR actually work?

Research and clinical endorsement support EMDR’s use across a range of presentations. The World Health Organization recommends EMDR as a first-line treatment for PTSD, as does the EMDR International Association following decades of accumulated research. A PLOS ONE meta-analysis of 26 randomized controlled trials found medium-to-large effect sizes for EMDR on PTSD symptoms, depression, and anxiety. EMDRIA notes EMDR has met the American Psychological Association’s criteria for an empirically supported treatment at the highest level.

How many EMDR sessions will I need?

There’s no fixed number, and anyone who promises a specific outcome in a set number of sessions is overpromising. A single contained trauma often yields substantial relief within 6 to 12 sessions. Complex trauma, or trauma involving early childhood experiences or accumulated relational wounding, typically takes longer: months, sometimes a year or more of treatment. Your therapist will give you an honest estimate early on and revise it as the work progresses.

Is EMDR covered by insurance?

Coverage varies by plan and by provider. Many major insurers, including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield/Anthem, and Cigna (all accepted at InDepth), cover EMDR when provided as part of a medically necessary treatment plan. Whether a specific session is covered depends on your plan’s mental health benefits, your deductible, and how the service is coded. The best first step is to check your coverage details or reach out to our team directly. We’re happy to help you understand what your plan includes before your first appointment.

Can EMDR make things worse?

Temporarily, it can be uncomfortable. Processing emotionally charged material stirs things up, and some clients find that the days following a session bring more vivid dreams, emotions closer to the surface, or memory fragments surfacing. This is normal, expected, and part of integration. The goal of early preparation sessions is specifically to ensure clients have stabilization skills to manage this between appointments. If material is being activated faster than it can be integrated, a skilled EMDR therapist will slow the pacing. The work should stretch you without exceeding your window of tolerance. If something feels off, say so. Your therapist needs that information to do the work well.

EMDR therapy in Broomfield with InDepth Therapy

InDepth Therapy is a group practice in Broomfield, Colorado, with a second location in Fort Collins. Our therapy and counseling services span individual therapy, couples work, family therapy, ADHD testing, and integrative wellness offerings. The clinical team carries training in EMDR, Brainspotting therapy, trauma-informed relational work, and neuroscience-informed approaches, all within a practice built on the understanding that trauma and healing are not separate categories.

EMDR at InDepth isn’t offered as a standalone technique disconnected from everything else we do. It sits within a clinical approach that understands why trauma shows up in the body, in relationships, and in the space between what people know and what they feel.

If you’re considering EMDR, or wondering whether your particular history is a good fit for it, reach out to our Broomfield team. You can also review our individual therapy services to get a fuller picture of how EMDR fits within our broader approach to care.

You don’t have to understand exactly what you need before you call. Figuring that out together is part of the first conversation.

InDepth Therapy serves individuals and couples in Broomfield, Thornton, Westminster, Arvada, Louisville, Boulder, and the greater Denver metro area. EMDR therapy and telehealth services are available throughout Colorado.