Practice for Trauma Therapy & Crisis Support

(literally translated: “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing”) was developed by Francine Shapiro, an American psychologist and literary scholar, as a psychotraumatological treatment method for traumatized individuals.

EMDR is based on the assumption that bilateral stimulation through specific eye movements (or acoustic or tactile stimuli) can enable synchronization between the hemispheres of the brain and an internal reorganization of dysfunctional traumatic experiences. Reference is also made to the REM phases of sleep, during which rapid eye movements occur and which may be relevant to an enhanced processing of everyday experiences.

Although the beneficial effects of EMDR have been scientifically demonstrated, the proposed explanation for how it works, particularly the specific “healing” effect of eye movements, has not yet been scientifically established (see also the section Research and Scientific Reception).

Source: Wikipedia, “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing”

More Information