EMDR Therapy in Chicago: How Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Helps Heal Trauma
Trauma has a way of staying with us long after the event itself has passed. It can show up in unexpected moments: a sudden wave of anxiety, a recurring nightmare, or an overwhelming emotional response that seems disproportionate to the present situation. For many people living with the effects of trauma, traditional talk therapy provides meaningful support, but some find they need something more to fully process and heal from their experiences.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, commonly known as EMDR therapy, has emerged as one of the most effective and well-researched approaches for treating trauma and its lasting effects. At our Chicago group practice, we have witnessed the profound transformation that EMDR can facilitate when integrated into a comprehensive, personalized treatment plan.
Understanding Trauma and Its Effects on the Mind and Body
Before exploring how EMDR works, it helps to understand what happens in the brain and body when someone experiences trauma. Traumatic events, whether a single overwhelming incident or repeated exposure to distressing circumstances, can fundamentally alter how the brain processes and stores memories.
Under normal circumstances, our brains process daily experiences during sleep, filing away memories in an organized manner that allows us to recall them without experiencing the original emotional intensity. However, when something traumatic occurs, the brain's natural processing system can become overwhelmed. The memory becomes "stuck" in its original, unprocessed form, complete with all the sensory details, emotions, and physical sensations that accompanied the event.
This is why trauma survivors often describe their experiences as feeling perpetually present rather than safely in the past. A specific smell, sound, or visual cue can trigger the full emotional and physical response of the original trauma, even years or decades later. The logical part of the brain may understand that the threat has passed, but the emotional and survival-oriented parts of the brain continue to react as though the danger is immediate and real.
These responses are not character flaws or signs of weakness. They represent the brain's attempt to protect us from perceived threats based on past experience. However, when these protective responses become activated in situations that do not actually pose danger, they can significantly interfere with daily life, relationships, and overall wellbeing.
What Is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR therapy was developed in the late 1980s by psychologist Francine Shapiro, who observed that certain eye movements seemed to reduce the intensity of disturbing thoughts. Since then, EMDR has been extensively researched and refined, earning recognition from organizations including the American Psychological Association and the World Health Organization as an effective treatment for trauma and post-traumatic stress.
At its core, EMDR is an integrative psychotherapy approach that helps the brain reprocess traumatic memories so they can be stored in a more adaptive way. Rather than remaining frozen in time with all their original emotional charge, these memories become integrated into the broader narrative of a person's life, accessible without triggering overwhelming distress.
The name "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing" refers to the bilateral stimulation, typically side-to-side eye movements, that forms a central component of the therapy. While eye movements are the most common form of bilateral stimulation used, therapists may also employ alternating taps, sounds, or other forms of left-right stimulation based on what works best for each individual client.
It is important to understand that EMDR is not simply about the eye movements themselves. The bilateral stimulation appears to activate the brain's natural healing processes, similar to what occurs during REM sleep, but it works within a comprehensive therapeutic framework that addresses the whole person: their history, their present challenges, and their goals for the future.
The Eight Phases of EMDR Therapy
EMDR follows a structured eight-phase protocol that ensures thorough preparation, processing, and integration. Understanding these phases can help demystify what to expect from EMDR treatment.
Phase One: History Taking and Treatment Planning
Every EMDR journey begins with a comprehensive assessment. During this phase, your therapist works to understand your unique history, current symptoms, and treatment goals. Together, you identify the specific memories and experiences that may be contributing to present-day difficulties.
This phase is not simply about gathering information. It is about building the therapeutic relationship and developing a shared understanding of how past experiences may be influencing current patterns. Your therapist will help you identify not only the obvious traumatic events but also earlier experiences that may have shaped your beliefs about yourself and the world.
Phase Two: Preparation
Before any trauma processing begins, your therapist ensures you have the internal resources and coping skills needed to manage potentially intense emotions. This phase includes education about trauma and how EMDR works, as well as teaching specific techniques for emotional regulation and self-soothing.
The length of this preparation phase varies significantly from person to person. Some individuals come to EMDR already equipped with strong coping resources, while others benefit from more extended preparation work. At our practice, we never rush this phase. We believe that thorough preparation is essential for safe and effective trauma processing.
Phase Three: Assessment
In this phase, you and your therapist identify a specific target memory to work on. This includes not just the memory itself, but the negative belief about yourself that became attached to it (such as "I am powerless" or "I am not safe"), as well as the positive belief you would prefer to hold. Your therapist also helps you identify where you feel the disturbance in your body and rate the current level of distress associated with the memory.
Phase Four: Desensitization
This is the phase most people think of when they imagine EMDR therapy. While focusing on the target memory, you follow your therapist's fingers (or another form of bilateral stimulation) with your eyes in a side-to-side pattern. Sets of eye movements are interspersed with brief check-ins where you report whatever comes up, including new thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, or additional memories.
During this phase, the brain appears to make new connections and associations, allowing the traumatic material to be processed and integrated. Many people describe experiencing a series of insights or a gradual shift in how they perceive the original event. The memory does not disappear, but its emotional charge diminishes significantly.
Phase Five: Installation
Once the distress associated with the target memory has decreased, your therapist helps strengthen the positive belief you identified earlier. Using bilateral stimulation, this more adaptive belief is "installed" in connection with the original memory, replacing the negative self-perception that had been linked to the trauma.
Phase Six: Body Scan
Trauma is stored not only in our minds but in our bodies. During this phase, you mentally scan your body while thinking of the original memory and the positive belief, noting any residual tension or discomfort. If any physical disturbance remains, additional processing is conducted until the body feels clear.
Phase Seven: Closure
Each EMDR session ends with a closure phase designed to return you to a state of equilibrium, regardless of whether the target memory has been fully processed. Your therapist may guide you through relaxation exercises and will ensure you feel stable before leaving the session. You will also receive guidance on what to expect between sessions and how to manage any material that may continue to surface.
Phase Eight: Reevaluation
At the beginning of subsequent sessions, your therapist checks in about the target memory and any new material that may have emerged since your last appointment. This ongoing reevaluation ensures that treatment remains responsive to your evolving needs and that previously processed material has maintained its integration.
What EMDR Can Address
While EMDR was originally developed to treat post-traumatic stress, research and clinical experience have demonstrated its effectiveness for a wide range of concerns rooted in disturbing life experiences.
Complex and Acute Trauma
EMDR is particularly well-suited for addressing both single-incident traumas (such as accidents, assaults, or natural disasters) and complex trauma resulting from repeated or prolonged exposure to distressing circumstances. The structured protocol allows for systematic processing of multiple traumatic experiences while maintaining stability and safety.
Anxiety
Many anxiety disorders have roots in past experiences that taught the brain to perceive danger where none exists. EMDR can help identify and process these foundational experiences, reducing the intensity of anxiety responses and creating space for more adaptive reactions to present-day situations.
Depression
Depression often involves deeply held negative beliefs about oneself, the world, or the future. These beliefs frequently originate in early experiences of loss, rejection, failure, or helplessness. By processing the experiences that gave rise to these beliefs, EMDR can help shift the underlying cognitive and emotional patterns that maintain depressive symptoms.
Mood Challenges
Difficulties with emotional regulation, including intense mood swings, persistent irritability, or emotional numbness, often connect to unprocessed experiences that have left the nervous system in a state of chronic dysregulation. EMDR can help restore the brain's capacity for balanced emotional responding.
Parenting Challenges
Our own childhood experiences profoundly shape how we parent. Sometimes, interactions with our children trigger unresolved material from our own pasts, leading to reactions we do not fully understand or feel unable to control. EMDR can help parents process these triggers, freeing them to respond to their children from a place of presence rather than reactivity.
EMDR as Part of Comprehensive Care
At our Chicago group practice, we view EMDR not as a standalone technique but as one powerful tool within a broader therapeutic framework. We integrate EMDR with psychodynamic and relational approaches, recognizing that lasting healing requires attention to the whole person: not just their symptoms, but their relationships, their sense of self, and their capacity for meaning and connection.
This integrative approach reflects our belief in what is sometimes called "top-down" and "bottom-up" therapy. Top-down approaches work through insight, understanding, and meaning-making, helping you understand why you feel and behave as you do. Bottom-up approaches, like EMDR, work directly with the body and the nervous system, addressing trauma at its physiological roots. We find that the combination of these approaches often yields more comprehensive and durable results than either alone.
When you begin treatment at our practice, your initial intake with one of our licensed clinical psychologists will explore your history, current concerns, and goals in depth. Based on this conversation, we make personalized recommendations about treatment approach, including whether EMDR might be beneficial for your specific situation. If EMDR is indicated, you will be matched with a therapist trained in this modality who is determined to be the best fit for your needs.
What to Expect from EMDR Treatment in Chicago
If you are considering EMDR therapy, you likely have questions about what the experience will actually be like. While every person's journey is unique, here is a general sense of what you might expect.
The Therapeutic Relationship Comes First
Even though EMDR involves specific techniques and protocols, it remains fundamentally a relational therapy. The quality of the relationship between you and your therapist significantly influences treatment outcomes. You should feel safe, understood, and genuinely cared for by your therapist. If something about the therapeutic relationship does not feel right, it is important to discuss this openly or to seek a different fit.
You Remain in Control
A common concern about EMDR is that it will feel overwhelming or out of control. In reality, you remain fully conscious and in charge throughout the process. You can stop at any time, and your therapist will check in with you regularly. You do not have to share every detail of your traumatic experiences. EMDR can be effective even when you keep some aspects private.
Processing Continues Between Sessions
The brain's processing does not stop when you leave your therapist's office. Many people notice that memories, dreams, insights, or emotions continue to surface between sessions. This is a normal part of the healing process. Your therapist will help you develop strategies for managing whatever arises and will address this material in subsequent sessions.
The Timeline Is Individual
How long EMDR treatment takes depends on many factors, including the nature and extent of your trauma, your current resources and coping abilities, and your treatment goals. Some people experience significant relief after just a few sessions, while others benefit from longer-term treatment. We do not believe in rushing the healing process or forcing it to fit predetermined timelines.
Integration Matters
Processing traumatic memories is just one part of the healing journey. Equally important is integrating these experiences into a coherent sense of self and developing new patterns of thinking, feeling, and relating that support your wellbeing. This integration work happens both within EMDR sessions and through ongoing psychotherapy.
EMDR for Families: A Systems Perspective
Trauma rarely affects just one person. When a family member experiences trauma, the ripple effects extend throughout the family system. Children are particularly sensitive to the emotional states of their caregivers, and they often absorb stress and anxiety even when parents work hard to protect them.
Our practice specializes in working with family systems, and we bring this perspective to our EMDR work. We can work with multiple family members, including parents and children, couples, or entire families, helping each person process their own experiences while also attending to the relational dynamics that either support or hinder healing.
For parents, addressing your own unresolved trauma through EMDR can profoundly impact your capacity to be present, patient, and attuned with your children. For couples, processing individual traumas can remove obstacles to intimacy and connection. For families navigating shared traumatic experiences, coordinated treatment can help each member heal while strengthening the family as a whole.
When EMDR Might Be Right for You
EMDR is not the right choice for everyone or for every concern. However, it may be particularly worth considering if:
You have experienced traumatic events that continue to affect your daily life, relationships, or sense of self.
You have tried traditional talk therapy and found it helpful but feel you have hit a plateau in your progress.
You experience intense emotional or physical reactions that seem disproportionate to current circumstances.
You struggle with persistent negative beliefs about yourself that you cannot seem to shift through insight or willpower alone.
You are curious about approaches that address trauma at both the cognitive and somatic levels.
You are seeking an evidence-based treatment with a strong research foundation.
Beginning Your Healing Journey
If you are curious about whether EMDR might be helpful for you or your family, we invite you to reach out for a consultation. Our intake process begins with a brief phone conversation to ensure that outpatient therapy at our practice is appropriate for your needs. From there, you will meet with one of our senior clinicians, both licensed clinical psychologists, for a comprehensive intake session.
This initial conversation allows us to understand your unique history and current concerns in depth. Based on this understanding, we make personalized recommendations about treatment approach, modality, and clinician match. If EMDR is indicated, we will explain how it might be integrated into your overall treatment plan and answer any questions you may have.
We believe that the therapeutic process is built fundamentally on rapport and curiosity. Whatever approach we ultimately recommend, you can expect to explore a wide variety of your emotions, current challenges, and historical patterns with your therapist over time. Healing is not a linear process, and we are committed to walking alongside you through its inevitable twists and turns.
Trauma may have shaped your past, but it does not have to define your future. With the right support and treatment approach, the wounds that once seemed permanent can heal, freeing you to live with greater presence, connection, and wholeness.
For more information about our EMDR services or to schedule a consultation, please contact our Chicago practice. We look forward to learning how we might support your healing journey.
