The Healing Thread
How EMDR Works When You Feel Stuck in Talk Therapy
You understand your patterns but still feel stuck. Learn how EMDR helps when talk therapy alone isn’t enough.
11/5/2025
You’ve done the work.
You’ve talked about your past, named your patterns, and gained insight into why you react the way you do.
So why does it still feel like you’re stuck in the same emotional loops?
If you’ve ever left a session thinking, “I understand it, but I still feel it,” you are not alone. Insight and change don’t always happen at the same pace, especially when trauma has trained the body to stay on guard.
When Talking Isn’t Enough
Talk therapy focuses on thoughts, beliefs, and understanding. Those tools are powerful, but some memories are stored deeper than words can reach.
When the nervous system has been through repeated stress or trauma, it doesn’t just remember events. It remembers sensations, feelings, and moments when the body felt unsafe. That’s why you might intellectually know you’re safe but still feel anxious, tense, or on edge.
How EMDR Goes Deeper
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) helps your brain finish what it could not process before.
Through gentle bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, or tones), EMDR activates the brain’s natural healing system.
You don’t have to relive every detail of the past. The goal is to help your brain reprocess the memory so it can move it from “this is happening now” to “this happened, and I survived.”
Clients often describe feeling lighter, calmer, and more grounded as their body begins to trust that the past is truly over.
What Readiness Looks Like
You don’t need to be falling apart to start EMDR. You just need curiosity and capacity.
Before beginning reprocessing, EMDR starts with preparation and resourcing. This means building emotional tools, grounding strategies, and safe imagery that help your nervous system stay anchored.
Safety comes first. Pacing is part of the process.
When You Feel Stuck, It Doesn’t Mean You’ve Failed
If talk therapy gave you awareness but not relief, you haven’t done anything wrong.
It simply means your healing may need to include the body as well as the mind.
Your story doesn’t end with “I understand why.”
It continues when your body finally feels that truth too.
Ready to go beyond insight and feel actual relief?
Learn how EMDR can help your brain and body move from stuck to steady.
Schedule a free consultation to see if trauma-informed EMDR therapy is right for you.
What to Expect in EMDR Therapy (From a Therapist Who Gets It)
If you’ve heard of EMDR therapy but aren’t sure what to expect, this post walks you through what actually happens in a session and how it helps your brain and body finally feel safe again.
10/29/2025
You’ve probably heard of EMDR therapy, but maybe you’re not sure what it actually feels like.
If you’ve tried talk therapy and still feel stuck in old patterns, you’re not alone. EMDR isn’t about rehashing your story. It’s about helping your brain and body finally recognize that the danger has passed. (You can learn more about EMDR therapy and how it works here.)
What EMDR Actually Is
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.
It’s a therapy approach that helps your brain process distressing memories in a more adaptive way so they stop feeling like they’re happening right now.
During EMDR, you’ll focus on a memory or belief while engaging in gentle bilateral stimulation such as side-to-side eye movements, taps, or sounds.
This process helps your brain integrate information that got “stuck” during trauma, reducing emotional intensity over time.
What a Typical EMDR Session Looks Like
Here’s what you can expect:
Grounding and preparation: We start by building safety. You’ll learn regulation tools before we go anywhere near difficult memories.
Identifying the target: Together, we choose what memory, image, or belief is linked to current distress.
Processing: Using bilateral stimulation, your brain begins to reprocess what happened, shifting from “I’m not safe” to “It’s over, and I survived.”
Integration and closure: Sessions always end with grounding, reflection, and ensuring you leave feeling stable. (If you’d like to see what this process can look like in my practice, visit the EMDR therapy page for more details.)
What It’s Not
EMDR isn’t hypnosis or reliving trauma in detail.
You’re fully present and in control throughout the process.
Most clients describe EMDR as intense but surprisingly freeing, like their brain is finally catching up to what they already know logically.
Why It Works
Trauma memories aren’t stored like regular memories. They’re fragmented, sensory, and emotional.
EMDR helps reconnect those fragments so your nervous system can recognize that you’re safe now.
Healing doesn’t mean forgetting what happened. It means remembering without reliving.
A Gentle Reminder
You don’t have to know everything about EMDR to take the first step. You just need a safe space to explore it at your own pace.
If you’re curious about how EMDR therapy in South Carolina could help you move from survival mode to real healing, I’d be glad to talk about what that could look like for you. You can schedule a free consult here.