EMDR and Phenomenology

An alternative explanation for the functioning of EMDR therapy based on phenomenological insights


EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapeutic approach created by Francine Shapiro, widely used in the treatment of trauma, especially PTSD, but also applied to anxiety, phobias, grief, and disturbing emotional experiences.


Basically, the patient is asked to evoke a disturbing memory (image, thought, emotion, and bodily sensation) while receiving alternating bilateral stimulation, mainly through guided eye movements (right–left), although alternating taps on the hands or alternating sounds in the ears can also be used.


A possible alternative explanation, grounded in phenomenological insights, for the effects observed in EMDR can be formulated based on the somatodynamic organization of emotional experience.


Here, I start from the hypothesis, supported by phenomenological observations, that emotions generally seem to have bodily pathways of tension organization, in which certain regions assume a dominant role (for example, the solar plexus region in experiences of fear - see).


These pathways would not be mere peripheral effects of emotion, but active components of its bodily constitution.


In this context, regions such as the eyes and the throat would play a central role in orienting emotion-related bodily tension (see) and attention (see).


In habitual emotional situations, oculomotor adjustments and micro-activities in the throat region could contribute to directing tension toward the bodily regions where a given emotion manifests.


The bilateral stimulation characteristic of EMDR, by intensely engaging eye movements and possibly associated adjustments in the throat region (which, as observed, seems to assist attentional redirection), could temporarily disorganize these bodily pathways.


When this occurs simultaneously with the evocation of an emotionally charged memory, such somatic interference could prevent tension from following its habitual trajectory of organization, interrupting the automatic coupling between memory, bodily pattern, and emotional manifestation.


For example, if, as phenomenologically perceived, a given emotion involves a reconfiguration of these regions to assume a “subtle internal posture,” orienting tension toward a specific point in the body, then eye movements disconnected from this process end up interfering with it.


They disrupt precisely the spontaneous articulation between eyes, throat, and the central bodily zone toward which the emotion would tend to direct tension. 


Similarly, when the therapist alternates taps between the patient’s hands, attention is shifted from one pole to another, preventing the eye–throat axis from freely organizing itself toward the bodily core of the emotion.


From this perspective, the reprocessing promoted by EMDR would involve a reconfiguration of the functional link between the evoked memory and the bodily mode of emotional activation.


Thus, the typical subjective experience - where the memory persists but is deprived of its original emotional charge - could be understood as the result of the dissolution or weakening of the somatic pathways that previously sustained the emotional response associated with that memory.


In addition, EMDR’s bilateral stimulation may introduce an additional difficulty in the imaginative construction of the memory itself, which, as phenomenologically observed, seems to involve ocular activations that support the spatial and narrative organization of the remembered scene (see).


When the eyes are induced to move rhythmically in ways unrelated to the internal logic of the memory, the continuity of the evoked image tends to fragment.


The scene becomes less vivid, less immersive, and attention has difficulty settling into a stable internal framing. In this way, the memory may be accessed without consolidating as a full perceptual simulation, which may contribute to the weakening of the bodily emotional engagement associated with its evocation.


This still speculative hypothesis suggests that part of EMDR’s efficacy may reside in its capacity to intervene at fine-grained bodily levels that participate in the constitution of emotion, opening space for future investigations that articulate phenomenological description, attentional dynamics, and the somatovisceromotor organization of emotional experience.



Check out these posts to understand the phenomenological approach used in providing these descriptions of experience: 1) What is Phenomenology; 2) Naturalization of Phenomenology; 3) Micro-Phenomenology; 4) Intersubjective Validation; 5) Embodied Cognition; 6) 4E

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