Eye Movement Therapy

What is Eye Movement Therapy?

Eye Movement Therapy is based on the idea that our eye movements are connected to how our brain processes memories and emotions. Our brains tend to hang on to difficult emotions and memories. This is thought to allow our brains to protect us against these difficult emotions and memories from ever happening again. However, keeping these emotions and memories fresh in our brain can create flashbacks, nightmares, and the feeling of being stuck in the past. Eye Movement Therapy can quickly reduce the intensity of these memories by moving them into the past.

How it works

Traumatic memories are often stored differently from normal memories. Normally, your brain stores memories smoothly and connects them to other things you remember. But during upsetting events, this networking process stores the memories differently. Your brain can sort of 'go offline,' causing a disconnect between what you feel, hear, or see at the time and what your brain logically thinks later. It's as if your brain keeps these memories as open wounds, unable to recognize that the danger has passed. This stops the brain from having a chance to fully heal.

In a typical session, a therapist guides your eye movement back and forth to create bilateral stimulation. The bilateral stimulation helps your brain communicate between the thinking and memory processing regions of the brain. This process helps restore the difficult memories in a way that stitches up the open wound to heal properly. It turns the memory from an overpowering emotional responses into factual past memories. In other words, your wound will turn from an open cut to a scar.

Eye Movement Therapy is different from talk therapy. During Eye Movement Therapy, you do not have to talk in detail about painful memories or life experiences. You get to decide what you want to share with your therapist. The rest requires that you are ready to let go of the difficult feelings and images.

Who Should Consider Eye Movement Therapy?

Eye Movement Therapy is effective in treating anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),  depression, eating disorders, trauma, obsessive compulsive disorder, dissociation, phobias, and grief. Research studies have shown it can effectively reduce symptoms and improve quality of life for many individuals. People often feel a sense of relief and are better equipped to handle tough feelings, after going through eye movement therapy.

Evidence of Effectiveness.

Research shows that bilateral eye stimulation can help a person move faster than many other methods of therapy. By stimulating both thinking and emotion sides of the brain at once, bilateral stimulation has shown evidence of a rapid decrease in distressing emotional responses and images. Eye movement therapy is a relatively new therapy. Research is growing in support of the power of eye movement’s ability to produce healing in a shorter time frame. See a full list of research in the link below.

How to find Eye Movement Therapy

Common forms of Eye Movement Therapy include Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART). If you are interested in eye movement therapy, it is essential to discuss your interest with a qualified therapist to see if it’s right for you.

Further Reading

To learn about ART: https://acceleratedresolutiontherapy.com/what-is-art/ 

To learn about EMDR: https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/

For a full list of research done on eye movement and EMDR: https://www.emdr.com/research-overview/

Video Explaining Eye Movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg842qP83yc

Research Evidence for Eye Movement Therapy

Chen, Y. R., Hung, K. W., Tsai, J. C., Chu, H., Chung, M. H., Chen, S. R., Liao, Y. M., Ou, K. L., Chang, Y. C., & Chou, K. R. (2014). Efficacy of eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing for patients with posttraumatic-stress disorder: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PloS one, 9(8), e103676. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103676

Khan, A. M., Dar, S., Ahmed, R., Bachu, R., Adnan, M., & Kotapati, V. P. (2018). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy versus Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in Patients with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials. Cureus, 10(9), e3250. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.3250 

Rodenburg, R., Benjamin, A., de Roos, C., Meijer, A. M., & Stams, G. J. (2009). Efficacy of EMDR in children: a meta-analysis. Clinical psychology review, 29(7), 599–606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.06.008

Shapiro F. (2014). The role of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in medicine: addressing the psychological and physical symptoms stemming from adverse life experiences. The Permanente journal, 18(1), 71–77. https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/13-098