EMDR therapy · Hermosa Beach & online across California
What Is EMDR Therapy? How It Works and What a Session Is Like
You’ve heard EMDR can help with something that still hits hard, and you’d like to know what you’d actually be doing before you say yes. Here is the plain version: what happens in the room, and where the research is strong and where it’s thin.
Lisa Chen, LMFT · EMDR trained · IFS Level 2
Hermosa Beach or online in California · Published fees
What changes
What changes with EMDR?
The memory stays. The charge goes. You hold it in mind through short sets of eye movements, taps or tones, say what you notice between sets, and the brain finishes filing it as something that happened, in the past.
History and preparation
Your goals, a first target, and skills for staying steady. No eye movements yet; for some people this takes several sessions.
Assessment
The image, the belief it carries, the one you’d rather have, and two numbers to track: distress out of 10, the better belief out of 7.
Processing
Short sets, then: what do you notice? Distress comes down in steps. Then the belief you want is strengthened until it feels true.
Closure and re-evaluation
Every session ends with you feeling steady. The next one starts by checking what held.
The goal isn’t to relive the memory. It’s to let your brain finish processing it. EMDR has its strongest research support for PTSD; for phobias, performance fears and the beliefs behind drive it is smaller and mixed, and your therapist will tell you plainly what fits.
In the room
What happens in an EMDR session
One 50-minute processing session, in order. Preparation comes first and can take a few sessions; this is what a session looks like once you’re working on a target. Open a row for what you’d actually notice.
The first few minutes: a check-in
Your therapist asks what the week was like and whether the last target still carries a charge. If something from last time surfaced, it goes on the list. You decide together what to work on today. No eye movements yet.
Naming the target
You pick the memory and name its parts: the strongest image, the belief it left you with (“I’m not safe”, “It was my fault”), the belief you’d rather have, the emotion, and where you feel it in your body. Then two numbers: how disturbing it is from 0 to 10, and how true the better belief feels from 1 to 7. Those numbers are the instrument for the rest of the hour.
The sets: 20 to 40 seconds each
You hold the image, the belief and the body sensation in mind while your eyes follow a light or your therapist’s hand, or you feel slow taps in your palms, or hear a tone in one ear then the other. A set is short. Your therapist says, “Follow the light. Don’t steer. Just notice.” You don’t have to talk during a set, and you don’t have to keep the memory in focus. Whatever comes, comes.
Between sets: “What do you notice?”
After each set your therapist asks what you noticed, you say it in a sentence or two, and they say “go with that” and start the next set. You are not analysing or being asked to relive anything. New connections tend to surface on their own: a detail you’d forgotten, a thought that fits today better than the old belief, a shift in your body. Distress comes down in steps, not a straight line, and the number is checked every few sets.
Installing the belief you want
Once the memory’s charge is low, usually a 0 or 1, you hold it together with the belief you’d rather have (“I’m safe now”) through a few more short sets until it feels true, a 6 or 7. Then a body scan: you think of the memory and the new belief while checking your body for leftover tension, and work with whatever is still there.
The last ten minutes: closure
Every session ends with you steady, whether or not the target is finished. If it isn’t, your therapist helps you set it down with a calming skill you practised in preparation, tells you what may come up over the week, and asks you to jot down anything that does. You leave settled, not raw.
Next session: re-evaluation
The next session starts by checking what held. If the old memory is still quiet a week later, you move to the next target, or to today’s triggers, or to a future template: a rehearsal of the next flight, talk or meeting going the way you want.
Eyes
You follow a moving light or your therapist’s hand from side to side. The original method, and where EMDR gets its name.
Taps
Small handheld paddles pulse in your palms, left then right. Many people prefer taps because they can close their eyes.
Tones
Headphones play a tone in one ear, then the other, at a pace your therapist sets with you. The usual choice online.
Can you do this on yourself? Not for hard memories. Processing is done with a trained clinician who can adjust the pace and stop when needed. Some therapists teach slow self-tapping, the butterfly hug, as a calming skill. That settles you in the moment; it isn’t treatment. If weekly sessions feel too slow for what you’re carrying, see EMDR intensives.
Your EMDR therapists
Lisa Chen, LMFT
Lisa founded Lisa Chen & Associates Therapy and trains and supervises its associates with Clinical Director Bob Northcutt, LMFT. Much of her EMDR work is with high achievers: not always PTSD, often the early moments where results started to decide worth. She sees clients at the Hermosa Beach office, 2615 Pacific Coast Hwy, and online across California.
- EMDR trainedWeekly sessions and one-to-three-day intensives
- IFS, Level 2Trust inside first, then the memory
- Wharton and Wall StreetShe’s sat in the rooms you’re describing
EMDR here, in Hermosa Beach and online: Lisa Newman, LMFT · Laura Malandrino · Jessica Slavin
EMDR questions
What does EMDR stand for?
EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Psychologist Francine Shapiro developed it in the late 1980s. Desensitization means the memory loses its emotional charge, and reprocessing means the brain files it as something that happened in the past. Eye movements are one way to deliver the back-and-forth, along with taps and tones.
Does EMDR work?
For PTSD, the WHO, the VA and Department of Defense, ISTSS and the American Psychological Association all include EMDR in their guidelines, though they differ on how strongly they rank it. For anxiety, phobias and performance fears, the research is smaller and mixed. Researchers also still debate how much the eye movements add on their own.
How does EMDR work in the brain?
The leading explanation is that holding a memory in mind while following the back-and-forth loads your working memory, which makes the memory less vivid and less intense so the brain can store it differently. Some researchers also point to REM sleep, but that remains a hypothesis. The exact mechanism is still being studied.
What happens in an EMDR session?
After preparation, you and your therapist name a target memory, the belief it carries and where you feel it in your body. You then hold it in mind while following short sets of eye movements, taps or tones, and report what you notice after each set. Sessions run 50 minutes and end with you feeling steady.
What are the eight phases of EMDR?
History and planning, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, and re-evaluation. The first three come before any eye movements. Desensitization is the short sets with check-ins while distress comes down; installation strengthens the belief you want; the body scan checks for leftover tension; closure means every session ends with you steady; re-evaluation starts the next session by checking what held. EMDR also works across past memories, present triggers and a rehearsal of the future.
Can I do EMDR on myself?
Not for difficult memories. Processing should happen with a trained clinician who can adjust the pace, support you through strong reactions and stop when needed. Some therapists teach slow self-tapping as a calming skill, but that settles you in the moment and is not a substitute for treatment. If a memory feels overwhelming, wait for professional support.
Can EMDR be done online?
Yes. We offer EMDR over secure video to clients anywhere in California. Your therapist can guide eye movements on screen, or use tones or self-tapping at home, and the structure of the session stays the same. Some people prefer the comfort of their own room. We also see clients in person in Hermosa Beach.
How many EMDR sessions will I need?
It varies, and no one can promise a number. A single upsetting event may need fewer sessions than a long history, and preparation comes first. Your therapist reviews progress at the start of each session and adjusts. Some clients choose an intensive, which packs several hours of EMDR into one to three days.
Alongside EMDR: EMDR intensives · Internal Family Systems · Trauma therapy · How we treat
What EMDR is used for here: Trauma · Anxiety · Burnout · Perfectionism · Imposter syndrome · High achievers · Public speaking