If you’re considering EMDR therapy in Tampa, you probably have questions. And if you’re like most people who reach out to me, some of those questions might be holding you back from getting started. Let’s clear up the confusion and talk about what EMDR actually is—and what it isn’t.
EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a specialized form of psychotherapy. EMDR is an empirically validated trauma treatment for both psychological and physical symptoms stemming from adverse life experiences, including traumatic events and distressing memories.
The therapy works by targeting trauma memory and traumatic events, facilitating desensitization and reprocessing EMDR to reduce distress. During sessions, clients recall adverse life experiences while engaging in bilateral eye movements, which are thought to mimic processes similar to those occurring during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This may support the brain’s natural healing process and help restructure emotional responses.
EMDR is recognized by major organizations for treating trauma and trauma-related disorders. It is considered as effective as exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for treating trauma, and is often preferred for its unique approach compared to other therapies.
What is EMDR?
When I work with EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, I’m offering you something that goes beyond just talking through your pain. This isn’t me sitting back while you do all the heavy lifting—it’s a partnership where I guide you through a structured approach that helps your brain do what it naturally wants to do: heal. I use bilateral stimulation, often through guided eye movements, because I’ve seen how this helps your mind process and integrate those difficult memories that have been weighing you down. I’m not trying to erase what happened; I’m helping you transform how it lives inside you.
I’ve chosen to specialize in EMDR because both the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association recognize what I see in my practice every day—this approach works for post traumatic stress disorder, and it reaches so much further than that. When I sit with clients dealing with anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, chronic pain, or any mental health challenges rooted in trauma or stressful events, I’m not categorizing their pain or deciding what they should feel. Instead, I’m working alongside them to reduce the emotional charge of those traumatic memories, so they stop hijacking your daily life. I believe in meeting you where you are, not where textbooks say you should be.
Whether you’re carrying traumatic stress, wrestling with ongoing anxiety, or working through other distressing life experiences, I see EMDR as creating space for healing that honors both rigorous research and the messy, beautiful reality of being human. I’m not here just to help you manage symptoms—that’s professional, but it’s not personable. I want to walk with you as your mind and body truly process what happened, so you can step forward with the resilience and peace that were always yours to claim. Sometimes the breakthroughs happen organically, sometimes they’re specially formulated, but either way, I’m not the one steering this ship—I’m just holding steady while you find your way home to yourself.
The Role of the EMDR Therapist
When I work as an EMDR therapist, I know I’m much more than someone just facilitating—I see myself as walking alongside you in whatever healing needs to happen. From that very first time we sit together, my main thing is making sure you feel safe, that you can explore whatever difficult stuff comes up at whatever pace feels right for you. Before we dive into any EMDR work, I listen to understand your story and what you’ve been through, and we figure out together what treatment might look like. I don’t expect you to have all the answers; I expect you to know your own experience.
When we’re doing EMDR therapy, I try to guide you through it step by step, but honestly, I’m mostly following your lead on which memories or experiences need attention. I’ll explain what’s happening in the process, answer whatever questions you have, and check in because I want to make sure you feel steady and held. If things get overwhelming during a session, I use what I’ve learned to help you manage those feelings, but I know it’s not really me steering the ship—the healing happens organically from you. I believe in meeting you where you’re at and seeing you get better day by day, session by session.
I’ve received the training for this approach and I stay current with research and what works, but if anything, I give the illusion of expertise while knowing the real work comes from you. My knowledge helps ensure your treatment works and responds to what you actually need, but being professional is okay—being present with you in the process of healing from trauma is what’s worthwhile. I view your results as something that can happen naturally when we create the right conditions together.
Phases of EMDR: What Actually Happens in a Session?
When people ask me what happens in an EMDR session, I don’t give them a textbook answer. I believe in being honest about the journey we’re taking together. EMDR unfolds through eight phases, but I see them less as rigid steps and more as a natural progression where healing can happen organically.
- History-Taking and Treatment Planning: I start by listening to what you want. I don’t expect you to know the solutions; I expect you to understand your struggles. I listen until you finish describing what’s troubling you, and I note each specific thing you want to target. We create a plan together, but I know that sometimes breakthroughs happen that we never formulated.
- Preparation: This is where I build trust with you. I believe in meeting people where they are, and that means ensuring you feel safe before we dive deep. I teach you ways to ground yourself and cope with whatever intensity might surface. Being present and participating is what leads to real change.
- Assessment: Here, we identify the memories that are steering your ship in ways you don’t want. We explore not just what happened, but how it lives in your body and mind. I don’t judge what comes up; I just help you see it clearly.
- Desensitization and Reprocessing: This is where the real work happens, though honestly, I give myself the illusion of control here. While you focus on that targeted memory, we use bilateral stimulation—eye movements, tapping, whatever feels right. Your brain does the heavy lifting; I just help create the conditions for it to happen.
- Installation: Once the emotional charge around that memory starts to fade, we work on strengthening something positive to take its place. I believe in self-determination, so we find what feels authentic to you, not what I think you should believe.
- Body Scan: Your body holds wisdom that your mind sometimes misses. We check in with what’s happening physically, because healing isn’t just mental—it’s whole-person work. I want you to feel freedom in your own skin.
- Closure: I never let you leave my office without feeling grounded and stable. Each session ends with techniques that bring you back to safety, no matter how deep we’ve gone. Being professional is okay, but being personable is worthwhile—I want you to feel truly cared for.
- Re-evaluation: When you return, we review what shifted between sessions. Sometimes the most meaningful insights happen between our meetings. I believe in transparency about what’s working and what needs adjustment.
Moving through these phases together, I’ve watched people transform their relationship with trauma, anxiety, chronic pain, and other struggles that once felt impossible to overcome. Each session is tailored to you because I don’t believe in one-size-fits-all healing. My goal is to be present with you as you process what needs processing, reduce what feels too intense, and ultimately find more creativity and freedom in your life. I view your results as something that can happen when we create the right conditions and you do the brave work of showing up.
Question 1: Is Eye Movement Desensitization (EMDR) Like Hypnosis or a Trance?
Short answer: No.
This is probably the most common misconception I hear. People imagine lying back in a chair while I wave a pocket watch and put them “under.” That’s not what happens.
During EMDR, you’re fully awake and in control the entire time. You’re aware of what’s happening in the room, you can stop whenever you need to, and you’re actively participating in the process. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation—usually eye movements, tapping, or audio tones—to help your brain process traumatic memories. But you’re not checked out or in some altered state.
Think of it more like guided mental processing. Your brain does the heavy lifting, and the bilateral stimulation just helps it along. You stay present, you stay safe, and you stay in the driver’s seat.
Question 2: Can I Just Do EMDR Therapy on My Own at Home?
I get why people ask this. There are EMDR apps, YouTube videos, and self-help guides out there. And yes, technically you could try to replicate the eye movements or use bilateral audio on your own.
But here’s the thing: EMDR isn’t just about moving your eyes back and forth. The real work happens in how a trained therapist guides you through the process, helps you stay grounded when things get intense, and knows when to slow down or shift gears. Trauma processing can bring up overwhelming emotions, and trying to manage that alone—without proper support or training—can actually make things worse.
Self-guided EMDR is like trying to perform surgery on yourself after watching a few instructional videos. Technically possible? Maybe. A good idea? Absolutely not. EMDR is most effective—and safest—when done with a trained therapist who can help you navigate what comes up.
Question 3: Do I Have to Talk About Every Detail of My Traumatic Memories?
One of the things I love most about EMDR is that it doesn’t require you to relive your trauma in exhaustive detail. You don’t have to tell me every horrifying moment of what happened to you. In fact, you don’t even have to talk about it out loud if you don’t want to.
EMDR focuses on how the memory is stored in your brain and body, not on creating a narrative of the event. We identify the distressing memories, notice what negative emotions and body sensations come up with them, and then use bilateral stimulation to help your brain reprocess it. The memory itself often becomes less vivid and less distressing without you having to rehash every detail. The goal is to reduce subjective distress and help you achieve relief from the emotional impact of traumatic memories.
This makes EMDR especially helpful for people who’ve avoided therapy because the thought of “talking about it” feels unbearable. You can heal without having to relive it.
Question 4: How Many EMDR Therapy Sessions Will I Need?
This is the question everyone wants a specific answer to, and I wish I could give you one. The truth is, it depends.
Some people experience significant relief after just a few sessions, especially if they’re working on a single traumatic event. Research shows that single trauma victims often experience relief in fewer sessions, while multiple trauma victims may require more time for successful treatment. Others—particularly those dealing with complex trauma or multiple traumatic experiences—may need more time. EMDR isn’t a one-size-fits-all quick fix, but it is generally faster than traditional talk therapy for trauma. Successful treatment with EMDR is often achieved in fewer sessions compared to other approaches.
What I can tell you is this: we’ll work at your pace, and we’ll check in regularly about how you’re doing and what you’re noticing. Some weeks you’ll feel like you’ve made huge progress. Other weeks might feel slower. That’s all part of the process, and it’s completely normal.
Question 5: What If EMDR Makes Things Worse?
This is an understandable fear, especially if you’ve spent years trying to keep painful memories at bay. The idea of opening them up can feel terrifying.
Here’s what I want you to know: EMDR is designed to help you process trauma, not retraumatize you. EMDR specifically helps clients process painful events in a safe and structured way, facilitating emotional healing and resilience. A good EMDR therapist will spend time in the beginning building your capacity to handle distress. We call this “resourcing”—developing skills and strategies to help you stay grounded and safe before we even touch the traumatic memories.
Yes, processing trauma can be uncomfortable. You might feel emotional during or after a session, and sometimes things can feel stirred up for a day or two. But that’s different from making things worse. It’s your brain doing the work of healing, and it’s temporary. With proper preparation and pacing, EMDR helps you move through the pain rather than getting stuck in it.
If at any point the process feels like too much, we slow down. You’re not on a timeline, and we’re not in a race. Your safety and stability always come first.
The Question You Should Be Asking
Here’s the question I wish more people asked before starting EMDR:
“What does healing actually look like for me?”
Because EMDR isn’t about erasing your past or pretending the trauma didn’t happen. It’s about changing your relationship to those memories so they don’t control your present. It’s about getting to a place where you can think about what happened without your body going into panic mode. It’s about reclaiming the parts of yourself that trauma took away.
Healing doesn’t mean you’ll never feel sad or angry about what happened. It means those feelings won’t define your entire life anymore. It means you’ll have more space for joy, connection, and peace.
That’s what EMDR can help you get to. And that’s worth asking about.
Ready to Get Started?
If you’re in the Tampa area and you’re ready to explore EMDR therapy, I’d love to talk with you. Whether you’re dealing with a single traumatic event, complex PTSD, anxiety, or something else entirely, EMDR might be the right fit. EMDR is recognized for its effectiveness in reducing PTSD symptoms and, in many cases, can even lead to the loss of a PTSD diagnosis. Organizations such as Veterans Affairs endorse EMDR therapy for treating PTSD in military populations.
Reach out for a free consultation. Let’s talk about what you’re struggling with, what you’re hoping for, and whether EMDR can help you get there.
Because when you get better, the world gets better.
