EMDR Therapy: Can It Heal Your Trauma? (Part 1)
6/11/202652 min
EMDR therapy is one of the most effective treatments for trauma, anxiety, and PTSD — and most people have never heard of it.
In this episode of RECOVERable, licensed clinical psychologist and trauma expert Dr. Jenny Hughes breaks down exactly what EMDR therapy is, how it works, and whether it's right for you.
Dr. Hughes covers:
✔ What EMDR therapy actually is — and what it isn't
✔ How trauma gets "stuck" in your brain (and how EMDR unsticks it)
✔ The difference between EMDR and traditional talk therapy
✔ All 8 phases of an EMDR session, explained step-by-step
✔ Whether EMDR works for anxiety, depression & complex PTSD
✔ Common myths about EMDR — and what the science says
✔ Why you should NEVER try to do EMDR on your own
✔ How to find a certified EMDR therapist
If you've been struggling with trauma, anxiety, or depression — and feel stuck — this conversation gives you a clear, practical understanding of one of the most powerful healing tools available.
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🕒 CHAPTERS
0:00 — Introduction: What Is EMDR Therapy?
1:12 — How Trauma Affects Your Brain
3:02 — Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Therapy
3:37 — EMDR Myth vs. Fact ⚡ Lightning Round
9:47 — What EMDR Therapy Actually Is
12:05 — How to Find the Right EMDR Therapist
13:41 — EMDR vs. Brain Spotting: What's the Difference?
14:37 — What Can EMDR Treat?
15:58 — The Science & Research Behind EMDR
18:13 — What a Client Experiences During EMDR
22:33 — EMDR Session Walkthrough: All 8 Phases
36:35 — Do You Have to Relive Your Trauma?
39:33 — EMDR vs. Talk Therapy
41:09 — What If You Don't Know What to Target?
43:17 — Risks of EMDR Therapy
44:25 — Can You Do EMDR on Yourself?
45:59 — Does EMDR Work for Anxiety & Depression?
50:01 — In-Person vs. Virtual EMDR
51:20 — Where to Find Help & What's Next
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RECOVERable is a production of Recovery.com — the best place to find mental health and addiction treatment.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJenny Hughes· Guest0:00
You don't wanna do EMDR on your own because having that therapist there to be with you and your emotions in this process is absolutely critical to the healing.
Terri McGuire· Host0:11
Licensed clinical psychologist and trauma expert, Dr. Jenny Hughes, joins us to explore how brain spotting and EMDR help to process traumatic memories.
Jenny Hughes· Guest0:21
EMDR is such a cool intervention because- Yeah ... you can share as much or as little with me, the therapist, and still have really powerful and profound outcomes.
Terri McGuire· Host0:31
So does EMDR make you relive the trauma?
Jenny Hughes· Guest0:34
It depends.
Terri McGuire· Host0:35
Welcome to Recoverable. I'm your host, Terri McGuire. So have you ever talked a problem or a condition to death, but the feeling you have from it is still stuck in your body? Today, we're joined by trauma therapist and psychologist, Dr. Jenny Hughes, to talk about two types of therapy that heal the parts of your brain that words alone can't reach. Today, we'll be learning about eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, and next week we're gonna dive into the lesser known, but growing practice of brain spotting. Welcome, Dr. Hughes.
Jenny Hughes· Guest1:12
Thank you so much for having me.
Terri McGuire· Host1:13
Delighted. I look forward to learning about this 'cause it's- Yeah ... new to me, and I assume there are gonna be some viewers who also don't know a lot about it, but it has great reputation, so.
Jenny Hughes· Guest1:23
Yeah.
Terri McGuire· Host1:23
This is about the answering the top questions on the internet, and it was very interesting researching EMDR because there were two