Can EMDR help with panic attacks and phobias?
Short answer
Yes, when the panic or fear has a root you can point at — a first attack, an accident, something in childhood. We process that memory rather than only the symptom, and the fear of the next attack usually eases first. For a single clear phobia, four to eight sessions is often enough.
Panic is convincing in a way that few things are. Your heart speeds up, your breath shortens, your hands go numb, and your body sends you an entirely clear message that you are dying or losing control. Afterwards, knowing that it "was only a panic attack" does not help as much as it should, because your body has already contradicted it once.
So the larger part of the problem is usually not in the first attack but in what came after it: in carefully avoiding anything that might set one off, and in a world that has shrunk by one bus, one lift, one bridge.
What belongs here
- Panic attacks, with or without an obvious trigger
- Fear of the next attack, and the avoidance that follows from it
- Phobias — driving, flying, lifts, needles, the dentist, dogs, heights
- Fear of driving after an accident
- Anxiety that started from something specific and then spread
How it is processed
I look for three things: the first time it happened, the worst time, and the most recent time. Those are usually three different memories, and all three hold part of the charge.
They are processed the same way as any other memory. Once the first attack loses its weight, the body stops treating reminders as a warning — and only then does the avoidance have somewhere to give.
With phobias one step is added: after the past is processed we also work with a future scene — what it looks like to step into a lift without it. That is part of the protocol, not an exercise in positive thinking.
When EMDR is not the first choice
If your anxiety has no root you can point at, if it has been there for as long as you can remember and covers everything evenly, EMDR may help but is probably not where I would start. The same applies if there is an active addiction or eating disorder in the same period.
I will tell you that on the first call, and point you to two specific people rather than a directory.
Questions
What people ask me here first
I have no idea where my panic came from.
That is common and not an obstacle. Something you had not thought was connected often surfaces during mapping. If nothing does, we work with the earliest attack you remember — it is a good enough starting point.
I take medication for anxiety. Does that get in the way?
It does not, and I will not ask you to stop — that is your doctor's decision, not mine. Do tell me what you take, because some medication dampens the body sensation we track during processing, so I adjust the pace.
Will I have to get into a lift during a session?
No. EMDR is not exposure. We work with the memory in mind, in the room, not with an actual lift. If you want to test it afterwards, you do that yourself and at your own pace.
Twenty minutes, no charge
Tell me what happens and when it started. That is usually enough for me to know whether working together makes sense.