What Does EMDR Treat?

Kyle Lincoln
Aug 19
13 min read

Butterfly on flower with text — Cover for *7 Days Inside: EMDR* "What Does EMDR Treat?"

Episode Summary

In this episode of 7 Days Inside: EMDR, Kyle Lincoln and co-host Kellyn explore a question many people bring to therapy: What does EMDR actually treat beyond PTSD? You will hear how EMDR is best known for post-traumatic stress—and why it can also help when current struggles are rooted in unresolved life experiences. Kyle shares a case example (“Maggie”) to show how a small but painful memory can shape beliefs like “my feelings are a burden,” and how EMDR helps the brain reprocess that stuck experience into a healthier, present-day perspective.

We also unpack today’s essential concept—Dual Awareness—the ability to keep one foot in a memory while staying grounded in the present. Then Kyle guides a practical, portable skill: the Butterfly Hug, a gentle bilateral tapping practice you can use to steady your nervous system. Whether you are new to EMDR or preparing for reprocessing, you will leave with a clearer understanding of what EMDR treats, why it works, and a tool you can start using today.

Disclaimer: The content shared in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not replace professional EMDR training, certification, or therapy. For official training or resources, please visit EMDRIA.org.

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Episode Transcript

Transcript, Introduction (Part 1)

[Kyle]: Hi everyone, and welcome back to 7 Days Inside: EMDR. I'm Kyle Lincoln, a mental health counselor based in Salem, Massachusetts.

[Kellyn]: And I'm Kellyn.

[Kyle]: As a reminder, we've designed this podcast specifically for those of you who are curious about EMDR, and for those who may have already begun treatment and are in the stabilization and preparation stages.

[Kellyn]: In our last episode, we built a foundational understanding of what trauma is. So, where do we go next, Kyle?

[Kyle]: Today, we’ll answer a question we get all the time: "What can EMDR actually treat besides PTSD?" I recently attended an EMDR conference for counselors with breakout sessions on using EMDR to treat anxiety, childhood attachment issues, depression, BPD, grief, dissociative disorders, OCD, even medical conditions like fibromyalgia. While we might not get into the mechanics of each of these, we will especially focus on how EMDR treatment applies to things rooted in unresolved life experiences.

[Kellyn]: Honestly, I didn’t realize that EMDR was used so broadly, so I look forward to learning more about this today. And as we do in each episode, we’ll follow our three-part structure: exploring the main topic, defining an essential EMDR idea, and practicing a new skill.

[Kyle]: Today's essential idea is a core skill called "Dual Awareness," and our practice exercise is a self-soothing technique called the "Butterfly Hug."

[Kellyn]: Sounds great. Let's begin.

Transcript, EMDR Treatment Beyond PTSD (Part 2)

[Kyle]: Today's episode is asking, "What conditions can EMDR actually treat?" It sounds simple, but people often wonder if EMDR can help with what they're experiencing—especially if they don't have PTSD.

[Kellyn]: Right! Like, I always assumed EMDR was strictly for things like soldiers coming back from war or people who've survived really intense situations. I never thought about it being used for, what did we just say? Right... depression, anxiety, or personality disorders.

[Kyle]: Right and you’re definitely not alone in thinking that. It's true: EMDR is primarily known and recommended as a first-line treatment for PTSD. Major groups like the World Health Organization and the American Psychological Association recognize it as highly effective specifically for trauma. I offer clinical supervision to trauma therapists in Ukraine who find EMDR so useful for their clients who are living in an active warzone, facing threats to their and families’s lives. Also, EMDR was first used to treat veterans and people who were on active duty. So, associating it with what counselor might call “capital T” trauma is good and correct. “Capital T” meaning it meets PTSD diagnostic criteria.

But here's the interesting part—EMDR can help with other things too. For example, I use it in my office treating people with childhood memories of neglect, social anxiety, grief and loss, and things that might be thought of as “little t” traumas, clients that don’t have a PTSD diagnosis and have never experienced life threatening situations.

[Kellyn]: Okay, but how does it help with something like anxiety or depression? That feels pretty different from PTSD, doesn't it?

[Kyle]: Great point. It seems like you are asking if anxiety and depression are also rooted in unresolved memories, is that right?

[Kellyn]: Yes.

[Kyle]: Here's why EMDR can still be effective. EMDR was designed to address unresolved experiences—memories or moments your brain hasn’t fully processed. Trauma and anxiety actually have a lot in common, and anxiety is often the first and most prominent everyday feature of PTSD. A lot of times people think anxiety is heritable, like “it runs in the family” which is not strictly true. Genes account for something like 30% of it. Anxiety is a learned response that is often helped by resolving the underlying memories that might fuel anxious responses. Depression is a little different in that it is biological and therefore EMDR is considered an adjacent therapy for depression. It will help with things like negative self-beliefs, often rooted in unresolved memories, that often make depression feel worse, but it won’t take away your brain’s mood patterns. That is usually helped with a combination approach including medication and physical activity.

[Kellyn]: So, you're saying that even if someone doesn't have a clear trauma story, like something we see in people who have PTSD, they might still have these “stuck” memories and could therefore benefit from EMDR?

[Kyle]: I think so. Because sometimes our brains store experiences in ways that keep us stuck. This doesn’t always mean having “a clear trauma story.” It could be anything that still emotionally affects you in ways that don’t match your present-day reality. Clinically, we see people benefit from EMDR when their current struggles tie back to unresolved past experiences.

[Kellyn]: Okay, that makes a lot more sense now. So EMDR treatment is less about a person’s specific diagnosis and more about understanding if your current problems have roots in past experiences that haven’t been fully dealt with.

[Kyle]: 100%. There are some people who focus their research on the body sensations of past experiences, so it is important that we define past experiences broadly.

[Kellyn]: Alright, but how about personality disorders? Can EMDR even be used to help treat clients with that?

[Kyle]: Yes in fact. Let’s do a case study. I’ll share an example of someone (not diagnosed with PTSD, by the way).

Let me illustrate this with a heavily adapted story from my practice. I want to tell you about Maggie, a client who reached out to me initially not because she identified trauma in her life, but because she was stuck in an emotional cycle she couldn’t explain. Maggie described it like this: "I haven’t had anything traumatic happen—I’ve had a pretty normal life—but I don't understand why certain little things hit me so hard."

[Kellyn]: So then, in that case, I’m guessing Maggie didn't even think EMDR would apply to her situation.

[Kyle]: No, Maggie was hesitant enough about coming to therapy; even a little apologetic. like her issues weren't "big enough." But as we talked more, a clear pattern emerged: seemingly minor interactions—like someone abruptly canceling plans or being slightly impatient—could send her into intense anxiety or emotional shutdown. These reactions weren’t just random mood swings; they were consistently triggered by similar situations.

[Kellyn]: So why choose EMDR for Maggie’s situation specifically?

[Kyle]: Maggie's reactions were so predictable and automatic, it suggested these weren’t just surface-level emotions. Her symptoms aligned closely with patterns we often see in personality disorders—particularly emotional sensitivity, intense reactions to perceived rejection, and difficulty regulating emotions. Interestingly, recent research by psychologist Ad de Jongh has demonstrated that EMDR can effectively treat exactly these types of emotional struggles. It’s been found particularly helpful for addressing the underlying memories that fuel these emotional reactions and patterns.

[Kellyn]: Oh, so that’s how EMDR treatment is connected to personality disorders then.. Alrighty so what happened when you started using EMDR with Maggie?

[Kyle]: Well, during EMDR, a specific childhood memory came up. Maggie recalled vividly standing in the kitchen as a twelve-year-old, trying to tell her mom why she was upset. Her mother, probably exhausted or overwhelmed, sighed and said, "You always make things bigger than they really are." It wasn't dramatic, but Maggie clearly remembered the emotional sting. At that moment, she internalized a belief—something like, "If I express my feelings, I'm a burden and people will pull away."

[Kellyn]: MI

[Kyle]: It’s not just about how severe an event is by some external objective standard, but about how the brain stores the memory. Maggie’s brain essentially froze that emotional moment—her sense of shame, the feeling of rejection—and created a degree of emotional sensitivity to comments like this. That’s precisely what EMDR aims to address: memories that haven't been fully processed.

[Kellyn]: That’s actually incredible that using EMDR therapy you can pinpoint what memory is having a lasting effect on a person, like this comment Maggie’s mom made to her. So once you identified that memory, what did EMDR therapy actually look like?

[Kyle]: We activated the memory, helping Maggie briefly recall the feelings connected to that event. Then we introduced bilateral stimulation, which might be eye movements or gentle tapping, which allowed her brain to safely reprocess and finally integrate that stuck memory. Over time, Maggie naturally replaced her old negative belief with healthier, adaptive beliefs like "My feelings matter," and "Expressing myself doesn't push others away."

[Kellyn]: And what happened for Maggie?

[Kyle]: Over time, as her brain reprocessed that memory, its emotional charge faded. The old belief that her feelings were a burden was naturally replaced by a new, more adaptive one: "My feelings are valid, and it's safe to express them." As a result, when a friend canceled plans, she no longer spiraled. She could just see it for what it was—a change of plans, not a personal rejection. Her brain had finally closed a painful loop that had been running for years.

[Kellyn]: It sounds like that specific skill you mentioned—that ability to stay present while looking back—was the key that made the whole process safe.

[Kyle]: It is the key. That skill, Dual Awareness, is so fundamental to how EMDR works. In fact, in our next segment, we will be exploring it more deeply.

Transcript, Essential Concept, Dual Awareness (Part 3)

[Kyle]: As a reminder, in each episode, we’re taking a few minutes to highlight one essential concept that helps prepare you for EMDR reprocessing. These are the building blocks of how EMDR works. Today’s concept is called Dual Awareness.

It’s the skill of being in two places at once—the memory, and the present. You’re letting a memory come up, but you’re also staying grounded in what’s true right now.

[Kellyn]: So you’ve got one foot in what happened, and one foot in the here and now?

[Kyle]: That might sound easy—like, “Of course I know I’m sitting in a chair.” But when a memory has emotional weight, it doesn’t always feel like remembering. It can feel like reliving. That’s what we call re-experiencing a trauma.

[Kellyn]: That sounds similar to dissociation. Is that what you’re talking about?

[Kyle]: Nice! You’re learning all the lingo. Right. Sometimes trauma memories don’t feel like memories. Your heart races, your muscles tighten, your mind goes blank—because the brain thinks the threat is happening again. When that takes over, you’re no longer processing. You’re dissociating. Dual awareness is what shifts your processing system back into motion. It’s the condition that makes healing possible.

[Kellyn]: So this is kinda like BLS, bilateral stimulation? Like, you are being grounded in the present by eye movements or tapping yet at the same time thinking back to a past experience.

[Kyle]: MI. That’s a perfect example. And we often introduce people to the idea of dual awareness by practicing BLS. It’s awkward at first. But once your brain figures out how to hold both things, past and present, it starts to settle. In EMDR, we’re doing something similar. One part of you is touching the memory. Another part of you is watching it from a safe place.

I compare the process to watching the scenery while riding on a train. You can observe memories “go by” like scenery while without getting derailed, so to say.

[Kellyn]: Haha nice. So someone might say, “This memory feels intense—but I do feel grounded.” That second awareness is key. It keeps the brain in the present even while it’s working with the past.

[Kyle]: Right. Thinking about Maggie, dual awareness is defined as being able to remember memories of her mom while tapping or doing eye movements in the present.

[Kellyn]: That keeps people from getting overwhelmed?

[Kyle]: Clients process memories in the presence of a counselor. Sometimes they do get overwhelmed, and sometimes people do dissociate. I like to say that dissociation is natural, like an overflow valve built into you, and so if someone gets overwhelmed or loses that connection to the present, we pause. It’s just information. We go back to grounding, breathing, resourcing. EMDR doesn’t force anything. The goal is to make space for something new to happen—and that only happens when both past and present are online.

[Kellyn]: I can see why it is important to learn the emotional regulation techniques early on in EMDR before reprocessing begins.

[Kyle]: Good point and a good place to end. In the first parts of EMDR therapy we aren’t asking clients to go back into traumatic memories. We are practicing skills that promote dual awareness so that your system learns how to inhabit the past and present. That’s when reprocessing can begin safely.

In our next segment, we will be introducing one skill called Butterfly tapping that will help you reinforce this skill of maintaining dual awareness.

[Kellyn]: Sounds nice!

Transcript, Skill-Building Exercise, Butterfly Hug with Positive Affirmations (Part 4)

[Kellyn]: So far we’ve practiced diaphragmatic breathing, creating a safe calm mental state, and visualizing the Light Stream. What are we learning today?

[Kyle]: Today we’re trying a technique called the Butterfly Hug. It’s a simple tapping procedure that helps people feel more grounded and calm. We often use it in EMDR as part of Phase Two—when we’re building up someone’s ability to manage big emotions and stay steady in their body.

[Kellyn]: I don’t think I’ve heard of that before. Can listeners do this by themselves?

[Kyle]: I’ll admit, the name Butterfly Hug does sound like it’s about hugging someone—but it’s actually a position you take by yourself. You cross your forearms over your chest like a self-hug and rest your hands on your shoulders. That’s the butterfly position. Then, while holding that posture, you begin gently patting your shoulders—left, right, left, right—in a steady rhythm. That pattern of alternating taps helps calm the nervous system and shift your body into a more regulated state.

[Kellyn]: So it’s more about the rhythm of the pats than the touch?

[Kyle]: It’s both. This rhythm activates both sides of the brain through bilateral stimulation. We use that in EMDR to help people integrate what they’re feeling. And when you pair the tapping with kind, grounding words, it can help the body feel safe and supported.

Let’s walk through it together.

If you’re listening somewhere safe, go ahead and get comfortable.

Now cross your forearms over your chest—like you’re giving yourself a gentle hug. Place your right hand on your left shoulder, and your left hand on your right shoulder, so your fingertips are resting just below your collarbones.

Now start to tap slowly—left hand, then right hand. Back and forth. Left… right… left… right…

[Kellyn]: Okay, I think I’ve got it now.

[Kyle]: Good. And if this position doesn’t feel comfortable, you can also try tapping your hands on your knees or alternating your fingers on your lap. What matters is the back-and-forth rhythm.

As you keep that tapping going, listen to these phrases. You can repeat them silently, or just notice how your body responds to hearing them.

I am safe right now.

I am not alone.

I am doing the best I can.

I am learning to care for myself.

I am allowed to feel what I feel.

If one of those resonated with you, repeat that in your mind a few times as you continue tapping.

Take a breath in…

and out…

And continue tapping as we add a few more:

I can pause.

I can rest.

I can begin again.

Now let your hands come to stillness. Let them fall into your lap or rest by your sides. Take one more breath in… and out…

[Kellyn]: That felt really easy. Like I didn’t have to work hard to calm down—my body just started to shift.

[Kyle]: That’s exactly what we want. The Butterfly Hug gives your nervous system something predictable and rhythmic—something to follow when everything else feels unsteady. It’s used all over the world, even in crisis zones, because it’s portable and simple and it works.

[Kellyn]: I can see this being helpful when you feel emotionally stirred up but don’t necessarily have words for what’s going on. And if you do know what’s going on, you can bring yourself down with encouragement instead of spiraling.

[Kyle]: Absolutely. That’s when this tool is at its best. And by adding affirmations—statements that your body needs to hear—you’re not just calming yourself, you’re also practicing self-compassion. You’re reminding your nervous system that it’s not stuck.

Like all the tools we’ve practiced so far, this works best if you use it before you need it. Try it once or twice this week—even when you’re doing okay. Let your body build that pathway back to calm.

Transcript, Wrap-up (Part 5)

[Kellyn]: Thanks for being with us today.

[Kyle]: If you’ve made it this far, you’ve done something important. You’ve asked not just whether EMDR is for people like you—but whether your patterns, your reactions, your inner world, might have a story worth understanding. That kind of curiosity is part of healing.

[Kyle]: And if you felt even a little bit calmer during that exercise—

[Kellyn]: or if it felt harder than you expected—

[Kyle]: that’s okay too. It’s all part of learning what your nervous system has been holding, and what it still needs.

[Kellyn]: So, Kyle, what’s should we look forward to next time?

[Kyle]: Next time, we’ll walk through what Phase 3 looks like in EMDR. After you are ready to work through memories, you learn how to isolate a single memory and frame it for treatment.

[Kellyn]: If you found this episode helpful, we’d love it if you shared it with a friend or left a review—it helps others find us. And as always, we’ll include links to mental health resources on the website kylelincolncounseling.com. .

[Kyle]: Thanks again for listening to 7 Days Inside: EMDR. We’ll see you next week!

Resources for What Does EMDR Treat?

EMDR Preparation Skills Checklist. I designed this checklist is a tool to help you practice and master the grounding and resourcing skills that form the foundation of EMDR therapy. Consistent practice helps these skills become second nature, allowing you to access them whenever you need to feel more stable and calm. Use this log to track your practice and make notes to discuss with your therapist.

Butterfly Hug—Step-by-Step Guide. Use colors on a body outline to turn abstract feelings of tension into a concrete image that you can actively soothe and release.