What is EMDR and How Would It Help My Child?

At Bright Star Counselling, we realize that it can be tough to help children and youth find the words they need to talk about their feelings. While there are many helpful and evidence-based approaches to better support them, several of these modalities may rely more on verbal speech than others, and sometimes that's where children struggle the most–especially so after anxiety-inducing or traumatic experiences.

Many children and youth experience anxiety, trauma, and phobias in ways that affect their emotional well-being, development, and behaviour. When children are young, oftentimes they haven't yet found the words to describe their emotions. This means as their psychological issues persist and remain unaddressed, the distress can remain unprocessed and inadvertently intensify phobias, trauma, and anxiety. 

As a result, different therapeutic approaches to best help children process and move forward from these moments of distress continue to grow, specifically looking at interpretations through the brain and body rather than solely relying on verbal expression. One of these approaches is called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), an evidence-based therapy that helps children and youth reduce symptoms of anxiety, trauma, and phobias by reprocessing how distressing events are stored and responded to.

How EMDR Works

To understand both how and why this method works, it’s important to understand what initially goes “wrong” when a traumatic memory is formed. Normally, the brain stores memories in a calm and organized way, accurately breaking down emotions, thoughts, and contexts into long-term memory, with the use of the hippocampus. As a result, when a typical event is remembered, it can be seen as something in the past, focusing on the memory itself, rather than the associating emotion. 

In contrast, traumatic memories fail the initial breakdown as they were having to be encoded under intense emotional distress, disrupting the “proper” process. The emotional aspects of the experience become stored mainly in the amygdala, while other portions of the memory, like contextual details, are fragmented. 

This means the different thoughts/events within that memory are poorly connected to one another, creating an incoherent and unorganized memory of the experience. Because of this disorganization, the traumatic memory feels vivid and present, making a child or youth feel like the memory itself is happening all over again. 

This idea of a traumatic memory being “stuck” in the present is exactly what EMDR aims to correct. It tackles this issue by supporting the brain in reprocessing the traumatic memories. Allowing the brain to organize the memory accurately and calmly, reducing emotional distress when these experiences are triggered. 

What EMDR Sessions Look Like

So, you must now be wondering what reprocessing even looks like! In simple terms, it changes the narrative of the memory from “there's danger now”, to “it's safe and over”. Even though this memory still exists, the goal is to remove that intensified emotional charge, creating a neutral memory. 

The key mechanism used in an EMDR session is called bilateral stimulation, which involves alternating stimulation to the left and right sides of the body or brain. It’s usually done through guided eye movements, however it can also involve alternating taps on the hands or knees, or sounds played from ear to ear. As this is being done, the child or youth is asked to briefly focus on the distressing memory, whether that be an event, a phobia, or a stressful situation.

Benefits of EMDR for Children and Youth

The most beneficial part of this reprocessing, especially for youths who struggle with language expression, is that they're not asked to speak of the event. Instead, they're encouraged to simply notice whatever thoughts, feelings, images, or body sensations come up. The therapist periodically begins and stops the stimulation as they do check-ins, allowing the brain to naturally move from one association to another. 

With children, it’s common to use these stimulation techniques in addition to play-based methods, like drawing, to mitigate any feelings of distress. These exact methods differ between child and case, but with the right therapist, children feel safe and learn to feel more comfortable with the memories as they become properly stored. 

After this treatment, a child can begin noticing a few improvements. Whether it be less nightmares, less emotional outbursts, or an improved sense of safety, clients begin feeling improvements after a few sessions. As treatment continues, the child can begin to view the experience differently, developing healthier beliefs about themselves and the world. 

Overall, EMDR serves as a powerful and sensitive approach towards healing phobias, trauma, and anxiety through its intricate design. By understanding how memories are stored in the brain, and how it varies from typical to traumatic memories, we can get a better understanding of how to approach the healing process. When EMDR is used, a client is able to do something different than communication, allowing a natural and safe healing process. 

With the right support, youth and children have an amazing capacity to heal. EMDR effectively helps this process, allowing healing, a sense of safety, and a greater emotional well-being.