Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing was discovered by Francine Shapiro.
EMDR is a useful treatment technique to access and reprocess traumatic experiences. Shapiro believes that when a person is overwhelmed by difficult emotions—that moment gets “frozen in time.”
The idea behind EMDR is that strong, negative or frightening emotions are not stored in the brain in the way normal memories are. Instead, they become locked in the nervous system with original thoughts, sounds, and feeling states.
When this locked information gets triggered in daily life it can cause a person to feel helpless, scared, and, out of control. EMDR helps people to reprocess these difficult memories and feelings with less emotional intensity and a greater sense of safety and control.
