EMDR is a great modern method for establishing a foundation for deep CPTSD work. If you do not know what either of these are, this post is for you. In the sections summarized below we’ll walk through EMDR and PTSD in easy-to-understand layman’s terms and provide some external resources along the way to get you started.
What Makes EMDR Such a Great Modern Method?
How Does EMDR Relate Emotions and The Body?
Will this Modern Method Work for Me?
How to Identify If You Have Trauma.
What Was Not the Best About EMDR.
How This Modern Method Might Fall Short.
EMDR at a Glance
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a great modern method for trauma recovery. EMDR uses a format of guided eye motion and reflective talk therapy intervals. The process is then repeated to explore the traumatic event. Guided eye motion is done using a light bar or having the therapist move their fingers back and forth. Either way, the idea is to follow this movement with your eyes while recounting the event. Eye movement can sometimes be combined with other body movements, like tapping with the hands or squeezing clickers.
What Makes EMDR Such a Great Modern Method?
The reason EMDR is such a good modern modality is because it focuses on emotions and how they are present in the body. I had a good therapist who implemented the process steps exactly as identified by the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). When done this way, there is an objective process for getting the conscious mind out of the way by asking it to focus on a mental picture of the traumatic event.
This is important because subconscious thoughts and feelings can be recognized when the conscious mind is busy and out of the way.
How Does EMDR Relate Emotions and The Body?
In trauma recovery, accessing subconscious thoughts is essential.
Many coping strategies — both conscious and unconscious — are built around minimizing, dismissing, or repressing emotions in the moment as a survival mechanism. Telling oneself that “things were not that bad” is a common adaptation that keeps the logical mind dominant and allows survival to continue amidst overwhelming experiences.
EMDR offers a structured approach to lower these cognitive defenses and allow deeper emotional material to surface. The general process involves guided eye movement intervals, followed by reflective periods focused on identifying emotional and physiological responses within the body.For those new to somatic awareness, recognizing emotions and locating them within the body may take time. Moments of delay or uncertainty are natural and part of the learning process.
With practice, emotional mapping becomes more intuitive, allowing previously hidden material to surface and integrate.
Accessing new emotional insights and associating them with bodily sensations creates a new internal landscape — one where the true impacts of trauma can be witnessed, honored, and ultimately transmuted through conscious healing.
Will This Modern Method Work for Me?
In the journey of trauma recovery, accessing the deeper layers of the subconscious mind is essential.
Many survival strategies — both conscious and unconscious — are designed to minimize, dismiss, or repress emotions in the moment to preserve stability. Narratives such as “it wasn’t that bad” or “I managed just fine” serve to keep the logical mind dominant, allowing life to continue amidst internal fractures. Yet true healing requires more than survival; it requires permission for the hidden to surface. EMDR offers a structured gateway to lower cognitive defenses and invite deeper emotional material into awareness.
The process typically involves guided eye movement intervals, paired with reflective periods dedicated to noticing emotional and physiological responses within the body. For those newly learning somatic awareness, recognizing and locating emotions in the body may take time. Moments of delay, numbness, or uncertainty are not obstacles — they are sacred thresholds of reconnection.
With practice, emotional mapping becomes more intuitive, revealing buried layers of the self once protected by silence. Through this deeper witnessing, a new internal landscape emerges — one where the true impacts of trauma can be honored, integrated, and ultimately transmuted through conscious healing.
How to Identify if You Have Trauma.
Find a trained therapist who will assess your situation and circumstances to identify if EMDR is the right modality to use.
How to Tell if a Therapist is Certified in EMDR?
EMDR International Agency is the certifying agency that sets the standards for training and certification of the EMDR process. Their website has a section to search specifically for EMDR-certified therapists. Therapists will also list EMDR as one of their specialties, along with phrases like trauma care or trauma recovery in their bios.
Therapists use a variety of methods to assess mental and emotional patterns, including structured checklists aligned with common attributes of trauma responses, such as those identified in PTSD frameworks.
These behavioral and situational markers serve as guidelines to help both therapist and client recognize survival patterns that may be active in the background of daily life. Recognizing these patterns creates an opportunity for conscious intervention, opening the way to integrate new processes that support sovereignty and healing. An EMDR-certified therapist, in particular, is trained to guide this recognition work with structured support, providing a foundation for deeper emotional and energetic integration.
What is PTSD or CPTSD?
PTSD is a spectrum, as with anything else that is human. Like colors, there are varying degrees and intensities in nearly anything a human can do. A popular topic at the moment is Complex PTSD (CPTSD). This is an additional trauma category that has evolved to cover people who have survived long periods of recurring trauma. This would be someone who has survived years of repeated incidents of abuse or torture.
Remember that abuse can be more than sexual or physical assault. There is also emotional and mental abuse. Anything that targets emotions, like being told you are ugly, dumb, or incapable, is a type of abuse.
You can find more in-depth descriptions of PTSD or CPTSD on the National Health Services website, but the point is to say that EMDR will work for CPTSD as well.
What was Not the Best About EMDR?
To do EMDR, you do have to recount the traumatic events, and with CPTSD, this will mean recounting multiple events. The therapist will take note of what the events are and ask where you would like to start. This can be uncomfortable and exhausting, but I have not found a trauma therapy that gets around feeling the emotions.
To mitigate the impacts of having to “feel the feels,” consider the bonus tip at the bottom of our post, “The Unexpected Value You Will Gain From Therapy,” for things to consider when scheduling appointments and “Finding a Good Fit, Behaviors to Avoid in a Therapist” as behavior 3 was specifically with EMDR work.
How This Modern Method Might Fall Short.
Modern modalities such as talk therapy and EMDR offer valuable starting points for trauma healing.
While EMDR can be highly effective, it may have limitations when addressing deeply repressed or body-stored memories. Its emphasis on conscious imagery can sometimes leave deeper somatic imprints untouched.
Nonetheless, modern therapeutic frameworks are often the most accessible and supportive way to begin the healing process. They provide critical tools for identifying emotions, building emotional resilience, and establishing a stable foundation for deeper work.
Many who later explore mystical or energetic modalities find that their earlier engagement with modern therapy provides essential skills for safely navigating profound energetic resolution.
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