In My Healing Era: How EMDR Therapy is Helping Gen Z Collectively Overcome Mental Health Issues

EMDR Therapy can be helpful for a variety of symptoms Gen Z clients may be experiencing, including anxiety, depression, low self-confidence, and identity struggles.

If you opened your phone right now and started scrolling through Instagram, the odds of coming across an ad for an online therapy service are pretty high. You’d also come across posts defining various therapy buzzwords - “gaslight”, “toxic”, “setting boundaries”. Or, maybe you’re seeing everyone “holding space” for Defying Gravity. But… What does this all mean? How do you know what therapy you need? And how do you find the right therapist to work with? Maybe you’ve tried talk therapy before, and felt like you were talking in circles, cycling through the same themes that come up week after week. Perhaps you’ve been in therapy previously but never never vibed with therapists using outdated, stale models, especially as a member of Gen Z looking for someone who can connect on a deep level, helping you to untangle the layered webs of emotions you experience day in and day out. Enter into the chat: EMDR therapy.

What is EMDR therapy?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, or EMDR therapy, is a trauma-focused therapy that has become increasingly popular in recent years. You may have seen examples of people engaging in EMDR therapy in TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy or Law and Order, or maybe someone who has done it has popped up on your TikTok for you page (FYP) talking about their experience. EMDR is different from other types of therapy that you may have heard of, like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). EMDR uses a trauma-informed approach to target thoughts, emotions, and body sensations that come with the experience of trauma without the need to explain the trauma in great detail. EMDR work specifically with a part of your brain (limbic brain) that is responsible for fight or flight. This part of the brain is not able to communicate well with cognitive methods such as CBT, which is why your therapy may feel like it’s missing something or not quite helping in the daily way you’d like. Additionally, EMDR uses a form of “bilateral stimulus” (BLS) to aid in reprocessing the negative memories. BLS is a clinical term for movements that involve both the left and right side of the body, such as tapping on your legs, holding ‘buzzers’ that alternate vibrating from left to right, listening to tones that go from ear to ear, or moving your eyes side to side with the help of your therapist. BLS works by activating our brain’s information processing system, helping the information that we are focusing on to move from the emotional area that it may be stuck in (limbic brain!), to the long term area (prefrontal cortex) with other memories. We sometimes use this technique in our day-to-day life without noticing - going for a walk when you feel stressed, or tossing a ball back and forth in your hands as you sit in a meeting.

How does EMDR therapy work?

So, what can you expect during the process of EMDR therapy? EMDR consists of 8 “phases”, each one aimed to make progress towards your healing. In phase 1, or “history taking and treatment planning”, you and your therapist will work on getting to know each other and working together to create a treatment plan that aligns with your goals. You will also spend some time identifying what you would like to work on - taking the time to explore negative beliefs that you may hold about yourself or the world around you as a result of things you have experienced in the past. Commonly targeted negative beliefs can be, “I can’t do anything right”, or “it’s my fault that this happened to me”. 

Your therapist will also guide you through the next phase, “preparation”. The preparation phase can take place over the course of a few months, depending on the person. This phase will consist of identifying your current strengths, supports, and coping skills. You will also learn new coping skills that you can utilize both in and out of the therapy room. Your therapist may also use this time to incorporate other therapeutic techniques such as Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help explore “parts” of yourself on a deeper level, aiding in the healing process. 

Once you and your therapist feel that you are ready to move forward, you will move into phases 3 and 4 - assessment and desensitization (respectively). These phases often happen together, as the goal of phase 3 is to briefly assess readiness to move into the desensitization phase. In phase 3, you and your therapist will identify a “pause” and “stop” signal, and a resource to use at the end of the session to help bring you back to baseline before the session ends and you return to your normal life. This is integral for mutual trust and safety within the therapy room. Your therapist will also ask you some questions to establish a baseline of how you are feeling. From here, your therapist will guide you through “reprocessing”, or the desensitization phase. During this phase, you will use the bilateral movements while you recall a specific, previously identified memory. You will continue to think about the memory, and your therapist will check in every so often to see what you are “noticing” in your body/emotionally. This part of EMDR requires very little talking, as your brain does most of the work! 

Once you feel like the memory that you are focusing on is no longer disturbing or upsetting in any way, you and your therapist will move into phase 5, which is also called “installation”. With continued guidance from your therapist, you will continue to use BLS to strengthen a positive belief about yourself and the memory (i.e., “I am good enough” or “I did the best I could”) until it feels completely true. Your therapist will then guide you through phase 6, completing a ‘body scan’ in which you check in with the different parts of your body and ensure that they are not holding onto any residual tension. Phase 7, “closure”, will happen each time you meet with your therapist to engage in desensitization, as it is a time to practice the coping skills that you have been learning before wrapping up your session. Phase 8 is considered “re-evaluation”, in which your therapist will check in with you to make sure that the progress made in previous sessions has remained. 

What is EMDR used for?

When you are thinking about going to therapy, you may think that EMDR is not for you because perhaps you haven’t experienced a “major” trauma, or maybe you haven’t been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is a common misconception! While it is often used to treat individuals with PTSD or past trauma, EMDR is a therapy that can also be effective for numerous different diagnoses or experiences, ranging from depression, anxiety, or low self-esteem to chronic pain, medical trauma, or somatic disturbances. Regardless of the technical diagnosis, EMDR is helpful in changing negative beliefs about yourself and improving your day-to-day life experience by reducing negative feelings of an experience.

How can EMDR therapy help Gen Z?

While all of this may sound overwhelming, rest assured that you and your therapist will work hard to make sure you feel prepared, and your therapist will be there every step of the way to support you. EMDR is evidence-based - meaning there has been scientific research done with real people to show that it actually works to help your brain heal from trauma. Unlike some of the “life-hacks” you may see on your feed, EMDR is based on science, not just vibes. The clinical research shows that EMDR is highly effective at reducing symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and more. You will come out on the other side noticing less discomfort in your body when you think about the traumatic memory, and a shift away from the negative beliefs about yourself that you previously identified. You may notice increased self-esteem or self-confidence, increased ability to tolerate your bad days, and most importantly - you will feel healed.  

Authorship: This blog was written by Lizzie Birmingham, LSW. She uses EMDR therapy and IFS-informed EMDR therapy to work with Gen Z populations, adults, and neurodivergent women who have experienced relational trauma such as attachment ruptures and family related trauma. Lizzie specializes in working with Gen Z-aged clients who utilize EMDR for various diagnoses and symptoms, such as grief and loss (including break ups),  anxiety, and trauma.

Disclaimer: The information in this blog is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for mental health care nor a recommendation or endorsement for any particular treatment plan, organization, provider, professional service, or product. The information may change without notice. No claims, promises, or guarantees are made about the completeness, accuracy, currency, content or quality of information linked. You assume all responsibility and risk for any use of the information.

The Willow Space for Trauma Treatment is an outpatient, trauma-focused therapy group founded by Joe Woodbridge and Erin Ziegelmeyer. Located on the Main Line of Pennsylvania in Paoli, we specialize in helping adolescents & adults struggling with traumatic responses and disorders of all kinds, including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), attachment wounding, and relational trauma. We provide EMDR therapy to address symptoms such as anxiety and phobias, depression, low self-esteem, grief, panic, and dissociation. We offer ongoing support as well as EMDR intensives; both of which are informed by IFS, EMDR, DNMS, DBT, CBT, Polyvagal Theory, attachment theories, and developmental theories, among other therapeutic principles.