EMDR For Anxiety? Facts and Myths

EMDR For Anxiety? Facts and Myths.

EMDR. It’s become an insanely popular therapy over the last few years. Originally developed as a trauma recovery tool, EMDR is often touted as being appropriate or effective in many more clinical circumstances. But … is it? Is EMDR an anxiety disorder recovery treatment? This week I’m joined by Florida therapist Anne Thomas to talk about EMDR, what it is, what it isn’t, and how it might be applied in the context of panic disorder, agoraphobia, and other anxiety disorders.

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The Highlights

Anne Thomas is a friend of mine, and a new therapist practicing under supervision in Florida. Anne has been trained in EMDR by EMDRIA and is using EMDR in her clinical practice. Most important, Anne has no agenda in that she has no books to sell, courses to sell, or speaking engagements that she wants to be hired to do. I trust to to address this topic.
EMDR was originally developed as a a trauma-resolution modality but has since expanded and become quite popular and often mentioned on social media platforms.
There is some confusion in the anxiety disorder community about EMDR. Is it “good for anxiety”?
Anxious people that are struggling often just want to feel better so its natural to look for treatments that will accomplish that. Its even understandable for many of our friends to hope that therapies like EMDR will cure them without the need to do scary exposures or face intense fear.
Sometimes EMDR is held up as a miracle therapy that can fix almost any mental health problem. This adds to the confusion.
In our community, we’ll either hear people say that EMDR didn’t help them at all, or that it helped them with trauma (or other emotional issues) but not with their anxiety problems.
Anne explains how EMDR can be used to challenge negative cognitions and beliefs that can be obstacles in the recovery process. EMDR may be useful in weakening negative beliefs while helping to reinforce more positive beliefs.
“This is too much for me.”
“I’m too weak. I’m not strong or brave.”
“I’ve suffered for too long to get better.”
“What if it comes back or I never get better?”
“I don’t deserve to get better.”
“People around me hate my anxiety. I’m ruining everything.”
These are excellent examples of negative cognitions/beliefs that might be addressed using EMDR techniques. If those beliefs can be weakened, you might make room for more adaptive, positive beliefs to take hold.
This is not a fix for fear or anxiety. Anne explains how the fear and the anxiety will still be there, and that there will still be hard work to do.
EMDR might make help you start to move forward where you may have been stuck. It might help you believe in yourself and your ability to get better. It won’t magically make you better.
I LOVE that Anne has named her EMDR light bar “Brenda”. But as cool as the light bar and bilateral stimulation might be, Anne is also careful to explain that moving your eyes back and forth in therapy is not going to banish your fear or your anxiety.

So … is EMDR “good for anxiety”? The answer as usual is not so clear. It sure seems like it can be one helpful tool in your recovery arsenal. A properly trained EMDR might make use of EMDR as part of your recovery plan. So it might be helpful in recovery. That’s not bad, right?

As always, be mindful of absolute statements and grandiose promises. Nobody – including therapists – should be promising you that EMDR will cure you. Nobody should be declaring it a miracle treatment. And nobody should ever blame you or make you feel bad if EMDR isn’t terribly effective for you. That’s not ever your fault or indication that you are specially broken or beyond hope.