EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is a structured therapy that encourages the patient to focus briefly on a traumatic memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements, but also tones or taps), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the traumatic memories.

EMDR is usually done with a therapist. However, you can also just do self-administered EMDR on your own - as often and whenever you want without any costs! Most people don't seem to know this great "do it on your own" option exists - I didn't. So my main goal with this post is to just make you aware of the fact that: "Hey, there's this great therapeutic tool called EMDR, and you can just do it!". And bearing some important caveats in mind, I highly recommend it. I've been doing emotional work like extended meditation retreats, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Ideal Parent Figures (IPF), Focusing, etc., for a long time, but self-administered EMDR has actually been one of the most helpful techniques of them all to me!

Also, I've found EMDR helpful for a much broader set of problems than the official EMDR protocol implies. You can use it for anything "trauma" in the broadest sense of the word - any unhelpful emotional schema; any strongly negatively charged emotion, belief, or memory that is kind of stuck in unconsciousness.

EMDR also doesn't have to be this complicated thing at all. I don't think you need to know more than there is in this blog post. You can totally 80/20 this, i.e. get 80% of the benefits from just 20% of the knowledge/effort.

How to do self-administered EMDR

Read here how to do EMDR with a therapist: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/therapy-medication/emdr-therapy.htm

For self-administered EMDR, you simply do the same, just without the therapist! So to summarize the most important steps of the official protocol, you:

Identify:
- A specific scene or picture that best represents the traumatic event you’re targeting with this treatment. This is your “target.”
- A negative or unhelpful belief that is associated with the traumatic event. For example, “I am helpless,” “I am worthless”, or “I fucked up and therefore I’m a bad person.”
- A more wholesome alternative positive belief you would rather believe instead. This belief should reflect what is appropriate in the present. It should als

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Chris Ahrweiler

Chris Ahrweiler

Chris Ahrweiler

Chris Ahrweiler