EMDR (Eye Motion Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapy that helps your brain heal from painful or traumatic experiences.
When something overwhelming happens, your brain sometimes gets “stuck” — as if it couldn’t finish processing what happened. EMDR helps your brain complete that process so the memory moves from feeling current and intense to something that happened in the past.

You still remember what happened, but it no longer feels like it’s happening to you right now.

Top-Down Vs. Bottom-Up Processing

Many types of therapy, like talk therapy, work from the top down — meaning they use your thinking brain (logic, insight, reflection) to understand and manage emotions.
This can be very helpful, but sometimes talking alone doesn’t reach the deeper, body-based responses that come from trauma.

EMDR works from the bottom up.
It helps your body and emotional brain communicate with your thinking brain, so all parts of your system can process the memory together.
You don’t have to force insight or reason your way through it — your brain naturally does the healing work once it’s given the right conditions.

🧠 Top-Down = “Let’s think through what happened.”
💓 Bottom-Up = “Let’s help your body and emotions release what’s stuck.”

🚂 The Train Analogy

Imagine your mind as a train traveling through your life story.
Each station represents an experience or memory. Usually, the train passes through each station, learns from it, and moves on.

But when something deeply distressing happens, the train can get stuck at that station — replaying the same sensations and emotions again and again.

EMDR helps the train get unstuck.
Through eye movements, tapping, or gentle back-and-forth sounds, both sides of your brain start working together again.
Your brain clears the “debris on the tracks,” allowing the train to continue moving forward — integrating that painful memory into your life story instead of looping it endlessly.

🎬 The Scary Movie Analogy

Think of your distressing memory as a scary movie your brain keeps playing on repeat.
Each time it plays, it feels like you’re in the movie — your heart races, your body tenses, and your emotions flood back.

In EMDR, you “watch” that movie again, but this time you’re safely in the theater seat with your therapist beside you.
The back-and-forth stimulation helps your brain realize:

“That happened before — I’m safe now.”

The movie doesn’t vanish, but it loses its power. You can remember it without reliving it.

🧠 The Triune Brain Analogy

Your brain has three main parts that work together like a team:

1. Survival Brain (Brainstem) – Keeps you alive and reacts automatically to danger (fight, flight, freeze).

2. Emotional Brain (Limbic System) – Feels and stores emotional memories.

3. Thinking Brain (Prefrontal Cortex) – Makes sense of experiences, plans, and helps you feel grounded and safe.

When something traumatic happens, your survival and emotional brains take over to protect you.
Your thinking brain goes offline, so the memory doesn’t get processed completely — it’s stored as raw emotion, sensation, or body tension.

Later, when something reminds you of that event, the survival brain reacts as if the danger is happening again.

EMDR helps reconnect these three parts.
The bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, or tones) helps calm the survival system, soothe the emotional brain, and re-engage the thinking brain.
Your brain finally finishes processing the event and recognizes,

“That was scary, but it’s over. I’m safe now.”

What You Can Expect

• EMDR is done in a safe, supportive environment.

• You stay in control the whole time.

• The goal isn’t to erase the memory — it’s to reduce the emotional charge attached to it.

• Over time, reminders of the event lose their power. Your body and mind both know: the danger has passed.

A Simple Way To Remember It

Talk therapy works from the top down.
EMDR works from the bottom up.

Together, they help your whole brain heal — not just your thoughts, but your emotions and body too.