Guiding You Toward Healing: Overcome Trauma with EMDR Therapy
Experience face-to-face therapy in a comfortable and private setting, ideal for a more personal connection.
Access convenient and flexible therapy from anywhere, ideal for busy schedules or remote living.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, commonly called EMDR, is a structured, evidence-based therapy developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1989. It is one of the most thoroughly researched treatments for trauma and PTSD, and is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
EMDR is built on a simple but powerful insight: traumatic memories are stored differently in the brain than ordinary memories. When something overwhelming happens, the brain sometimes can’t fully process the experience. The memory gets “frozen,” still carrying the original sensations, emotions, and beliefs as if the event is still happening. This is why trauma survivors can feel suddenly flooded by fear, shame, or panic even when they are objectively safe.
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation- typically side-to-side eye movements, or alternating taps or tones- while you briefly hold a target memory in mind. This process activates the brain’s natural adaptive processing system, allowing the memory to lose its emotional charge, integrate with your broader life experience, and be stored as something that happened in the past- not something still happening now.
Helping You Process Trauma at Its Root, Not Just Manage the Symptoms
Many people living with the effects of trauma have tried talk therapy, medication, or coping strategies and still find themselves stuck. Memories that feel too raw to touch. Emotions that arrive without warning. A nervous system that never fully settled after what happened.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) works differently. Rather than asking you to talk through what happened in detail, EMDR works directly with how traumatic memories are stored in your brain and body, helping your nervous system complete the healing process it couldn’t finish at the time.
At Pasadena Trauma Therapy, our EMDR therapists specialize in applying this approach to complex trauma, childhood abuse, CPTSD, and dissociation, not just single-incident trauma. We offer in-person EMDR sessions in Pasadena, CA and virtual EMDR therapy across California.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based therapy designed to help people heal from distressing experiences and trauma. It can benefit individuals struggling with:
EMDR is effective for those who feel stuck in past experiences that continue to affect their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. It helps reprocess memories so they no longer feel overwhelming, fostering healing and resilience.
In an EMDR session, your therapist helps you process distressing memories using bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, or sounds). You briefly recall the memory while focusing on the stimulation, allowing your brain to reprocess it so it feels less overwhelming. Over time, this reduces emotional distress and reinforces healthier beliefs.
The eye movements in EMDR are thought to mimic what happens during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the phase of sleep during which the brain naturally processes and consolidates emotional experiences. By recreating this state while you are awake and supported by a trained therapist, EMDR allows the brain to do what it was unable to do on its own when the trauma occurred.
EMDR therapy follows a structured 8-phase protocol, though the pace is always guided by your readiness and what feels safe.
Phase 1 History and Treatment Planning. Your therapist gets to know your history, identifies the experiences that may be contributing to your current distress, and begins building a clear map for the work ahead.
Phase 2 Preparation. Before any trauma processing begins, your therapist will help you develop resources, grounding tools, internal safe places, and skills to manage distress between sessions. This phase is especially important for complex trauma and may take several sessions.
Phases 3-6 Assessment and Processing. Together, you identify a specific target memory and the associated image, negative belief, body sensation, and emotion. Bilateral stimulation begins. You follow where your mind takes you, your therapist guides the process, checks in regularly, and adjusts as needed.
Phase 7 Closure. Each session ends with grounding and a return to stability. Your therapist will give you tools to manage anything that continues to surface between sessions.
Phase 8 Reevaluation. At the start of each session, you and your therapist check in on what has shifted. Healing in EMDR often continues between sessions- in dreams, insights, or a quiet sense that something has changed.
The number of EMDR sessions needed varies based on the type and complexity of trauma.
Your therapist will tailor treatment to your needs, adjusting the pace to ensure a safe and effective healing process.
Yes, EMDR therapy is safe when conducted by a trained professional. It is an evidence-based approach that helps the brain process trauma in a structured way. However, because EMDR brings up distressing memories, some people may experience temporary emotional discomfort between sessions.
For those with complex trauma or dissociation, EMDR is adapted to ensure stability and safety, often incorporating grounding techniques before deeper trauma processing. Your therapist will guide you at a manageable pace to support healing without overwhelming you.
Unlike traditional talk therapy, which focuses on discussing and analyzing experiences, EMDR helps the brain reprocess distressing memories directly through bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, or sounds). This allows emotional healing without needing to talk in detail about the trauma.
Key differences:
EMDR is especially helpful for those who feel stuck in past trauma or find talking about it too overwhelming.
Yes, absolutely EMDR therapy can be done online and is just as effective as in-person sessions when conducted by a trained therapist. In virtual EMDR, bilateral stimulation is provided through:
Your therapist will ensure a safe, supportive environment and teach grounding techniques to help manage emotions between sessions. Online EMDR is a great option for those who prefer the comfort of their own space or have limited access to in-person therapy.
No, you do not need to relive your trauma in detail during EMDR therapy. The beauty of EMDR is that it focuses on reprocessing distressing memories without requiring you to describe them extensively. You will briefly recall the memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, or sounds), allowing your brain to process it in a way that reduces its emotional intensity.
Your therapist will guide you at a safe pace, ensuring that you do not feel overwhelmed. The goal is to help your brain release the trauma’s emotional charge, so it no longer feels as distressing or intrusive.
Standard EMDR protocols were originally developed for single-incident trauma- a car accident, an assault, a natural disaster. But many of the people we work with at Pasadena Trauma Therapy carry something far more layered: years of childhood abuse or neglect, repeated relational trauma, or the kind of ongoing harm that shapes the way a person understands themselves and the world.
This is called Complex PTSD (CPTSD), and it requires a different approach.
Our therapists are trained to adapt EMDR for complex trauma presentations, which means:
– Stabilization first. We spend significant time building internal resources, strengthening the therapeutic relationship, and developing your window of tolerance before approaching traumatic material. EMDR is never rushed.
– Parts-informed EMDR. Many clients with complex trauma have protective parts parts of themselves that have kept difficult memories locked away for good reason. Our therapists integrate EMDR with Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Parts Work to work respectfully with the whole system.
– Pacing for dissociation. Standard EMDR can be overwhelming for those with dissociative symptoms or dissociative disorders. We are trained in modified EMDR protocols that keep the work within your capacity to stay present.
– Attachment repair alongside memory processing. For those whose trauma happened in relationship, the therapeutic relationship itself is part of the healing. EMDR here is woven into a broader relational and somatic frame.
If you have been told you are “too complex” for EMDR, or if a previous experience with EMDR felt destabilizing, we encourage you to reach out. Complex trauma is our specialty.
