Common questions about EMDR therapy

Psychotherapy for memories that never settled. You hold part of a memory in mind while your attention moves rhythmically left and right, and that divided attention lets the brain finish processing it could not finish at the time. The longer explanation is here.

The most convincing explanation is that holding a memory and tracking something at the same time uses up working memory, so the memory goes back into storage weakened. There are other explanations. The effect is well measured; the mechanism is not a closed question — and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling a certainty the field does not have.

EMDR is one of the most heavily tested trauma treatments there is. The World Health Organization recommends it for PTSD, in adults and in children, alongside exposure therapy and trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy.

No, and it is not meant to. It stays yours and you still know it. What changes is the charge — the way it pulls you back into a room you walked out of years ago.

No. You only need to be able to bring the memory to mind — you do not have to describe it.

We agree a signal before anything starts, and it works without explanation. If you use it we stop and go back to what we rehearsed in preparation. If that keeps happening it means I went too fast — my misjudgement, not your failure.

Between sessions there are sometimes more dreams or more thoughts about the subject; that usually lasts a few days and is expected. A serious worsening is a sign that processing began before preparation was finished. That is why preparation has its own phase and why I do not skip it.

No. Most people who contact me have no diagnosis at all. They have something that takes up room every day — panic, sleeplessness, a reaction that feels too big for its trigger. That is reason enough.

For a single recent event, usually six to twelve. For something long-running or from childhood, longer — and exactly how much longer I will tell you after the initial assessment, rather than guessing in advance.

The first phone call is free. A fifty-minute individual session is 80 KM, the same in person and online. All fees are here.

It does — the bilateral stimulation adapts to a screen. You need a private room and a stable connection, and I will say so if I think in person is safer in your case.

EMDR can be adapted for adolescents. How we work and how involved parents are is agreed according to age, the young person’s needs, and what safety requires. More on working with teenagers.

I do. The whole therapy can run in English, in person or online. Some of my clients are people in the diaspora who want to work in the language it happened in, and some want exactly the opposite — both are fine.

Then the phone call is exactly for that. Twenty minutes, no charge and no expectation that you continue. I will tell you honestly what I think, including that you may not need it.