EMDR Therapy in Orlando, Florida
A structured approach to helping people process distressing experiences, trauma, anxiety, and memories that continue affecting the present.
Sometimes you know intellectually that something is over, but your emotions or body still react as though the experience is happening now. Certain memories, situations, relationships, sounds, places, or circumstances can trigger anxiety, fear, shame, anger, or physical tension long after the original experience has passed.
Podcast Episode
Understanding EMDR Therapy, Trauma, and the Journey Toward Healing
Discover how EMDR therapy helps people process painful experiences, understand emotional triggers, and move toward healing — while exploring the relationship between mental health, science, and Christian faith.
About EMDR
What Is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured, evidence-based psychotherapy originally developed by psychologist Francine Shapiro. It is best known for helping individuals process distressing memories associated with traumatic experiences, reducing the emotional intensity those memories carry.
EMDR is recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma-related distress. Research also supports its use for anxiety and other conditions where distressing memories contribute to current difficulties.
EMDR is much more than eye movements. It involves a structured eight-phase treatment approach that addresses history, preparation, assessment, reprocessing, and integration — not a single technique applied in isolation.
EMDR is not appropriate for every client or every concern. A thorough clinical assessment is completed before EMDR is recommended, and it is always delivered within a broader therapeutic relationship.
The Process
How Does EMDR Work?
During EMDR, a person briefly focuses on distressing material while engaging in bilateral stimulation — typically guided side-to-side eye movements, alternating tapping, or alternating auditory tones. Researchers continue studying exactly why this process is helpful. One proposed explanation involves working-memory processes that reduce the vividness and emotional intensity of distressing memories. The precise mechanisms remain an active area of research.
1. History & Treatment Planning
The therapist and client identify relevant history, current concerns, and potential targets for treatment. A thorough assessment helps determine whether EMDR is appropriate.
2. Preparation
The therapist explains the process, establishes trust, and teaches coping strategies to help the client manage distress during and between sessions.
3. Assessment
A specific memory, image, or current trigger is identified. The client identifies associated negative beliefs, desired positive beliefs, emotions, and body sensations.
4. Desensitization & Reprocessing
While holding the distressing material in mind, the client engages in bilateral stimulation. The therapist periodically checks in: "What are you noticing?" Thoughts, emotions, images, or new associations may arise.
5. Installation
The positive belief the client identified is strengthened and associated with the original memory.
6. Body Scan
The client scans for any remaining physical tension or discomfort associated with the memory.
7. Closure
Each session ends with stabilization. If processing is incomplete, the therapist helps the client return to a state of equilibrium before leaving.
8. Reevaluation
At the start of subsequent sessions, the therapist and client review progress and determine next steps.
What EMDR May Help With
What Can EMDR Be Used For?
EMDR has particularly strong research support as a treatment for PTSD and trauma-related distress. Clinicians may also incorporate EMDR when working with distressing experiences associated with a range of other concerns.
- Traumatic experiences and PTSD
- Accidents and frightening events
- Grief and loss
- Bullying and relational wounds
- Rejection and shame
- Anxiety and fears
- Distressing memories
- Current triggers connected to past experiences
- Relationship wounds
- Divorce and family transitions
EMDR is not automatically the best treatment for every client. Treatment recommendations are based on individualized clinical assessment.
You Don't Have to Have a "Big" Trauma
Does Something Have to Be "Traumatic" for EMDR?
Not every distressing experience fits someone's idea of a major trauma. Sometimes experiences that appear relatively small from the outside continue to carry significant emotional meaning.
Being repeatedly criticized or embarrassed growing up, experiencing bullying, losing an important relationship, a frightening medical experience, rejection, a significant accident, experiencing a painful failure, or feeling powerless during an important event — these kinds of experiences can leave lasting impressions on how a person thinks, feels, and responds to the world.
EMDR does not require a person to have experienced a catastrophic event. What matters clinically is whether a past experience continues to affect how someone thinks, feels, or functions in the present.
What to Expect
What Happens During EMDR?
Treatment generally begins with history-taking and preparation rather than immediately processing difficult memories. Before reprocessing begins, the therapist and client work to establish safety, coping resources, and a clear understanding of what will happen.
During reprocessing, the therapist may periodically ask: "What are you noticing?" Thoughts, memories, emotions, images, sensations, or new associations may arise. The therapist follows the client's process rather than directing what should come up.
Faith-Integrated Care
EMDR and Christian Counseling
For clients who desire Christian-integrated counseling, faith can be incorporated into treatment in a respectful, clinically appropriate, and client-directed way.
Faith may become relevant when exploring themes involving identity, shame, grief, suffering, forgiveness, hope, meaning, relationships, or beliefs about God. Christian integration is always optional — clients are never required to incorporate prayer, Scripture, or religious discussion into EMDR or counseling.
EMDR is a psychotherapy — not a spiritual practice. Bilateral stimulation is not prayer, and EMDR is not presented as a method of receiving spiritual revelation.
Christian-integrated counseling can make space for lament, difficult questions, grief, boundaries, hope, and emotional honesty — without suggesting that painful emotions simply need more faith, or that forgiveness must happen before healing can begin.
Podcast Episode
Understanding Trauma, Memory, Healing, and the Role of Faith.
A conversation exploring how trauma affects memory and healing — and how faith can intersect with that process.
Common Questions
EMDR Questions & Answers
Wondering Whether EMDR May Be Right for You?
You do not need to decide on your own whether EMDR is the right approach. Counseling begins with understanding what you are experiencing, what you hope to change, and which treatment options may best fit your needs.
If you are interested in learning more about EMDR, trauma therapy, anxiety treatment, or Christian-integrated counseling, request a consultation or appointment with Lakeview Counseling & Consulting.