Published on July 15, 2025 by Zencare Team. Written by Shereen Mohsen,Psy.D at Relucent Psychology Group.
Singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus recently told The New York Times that Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) “saved my life.” She explained that the trauma therapy helped her let go of stage fright and long-standing anxiety.
When celebrities share mental-health wins, the conversation gets louder. For clinicians, that spotlight is a chance to demystify effective treatments; for readers, it’s a reminder that anyone can struggle with trauma — and anyone can heal. As an EMDR-certified psychologist in San Jose, I see daily how this approach changes lives far from the red carpet. Let’s unpack what EMDR therapy is, how it works, and why Miley’s story matters.
What Is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. In plain English, it’s a structured psychotherapy that helps the brain re-file distressing memories so they stop “popping up” with full-blown emotional intensity.
How EMDR Works: The 8-Phase Protocol (quick snapshot)
- History-taking & treatment planning – We map out trauma targets and build safety.
- Preparation – Clients learn resourcing skills (e.g., calm place visualizations).
- Assessment – We measure how upsetting a memory feels (Subjective Units of Distress, or SUDS).
- Desensitization – Guided side-to-side eye movements, taps, or tones while recalling the event.
- Installation – We pair the memory with an adaptive belief (“I’m safe now”).
- Body scan – Checking that distress has left the body.
- Closure – Stabilizing before the session ends.
- Re-evaluation – Making sure gains stick next time.
The bilateral stimulation (those eye movements or taps) taxes working memory just enough to let the brain digest the memory without experiencing overwhelm. It can also help people unlock negative thinking patterns that can contribute to overwhelming negative feelings. Numerous studies show EMDR therapy effectively reduces PTSD symptoms — and even depression and anxiety. The World Health Organization recommends EMDR as a first-line treatment for trauma-related stress in adults and children.
A Deeper Dive into an EMDR Session: What to Expect
Many clients come to EMDR after years of traditional talk therapy, feeling stuck. They're often surprised by how different EMDR feels. It's not about endlessly discussing the trauma; it's about processing it.
Your First EMDR Session: Building the Foundation
Your initial EMDR sessions, typically the first 1-3, are primarily focused on Phases 1 and 2: History-Taking and Preparation. Think of this as laying the groundwork for a safe and effective healing journey.
- Getting to Know You (History-Taking): This isn't just about your trauma. The therapist asks about your life story, your strengths, your current challenges, and your goals for therapy. We'll explore your support system, your coping mechanisms (both healthy and unhealthy), and any previous therapy experiences. This helps your therapist understand the full picture of who you are and where you want to go. Together you’ll identify potential “target memories” — specific past events that continue to cause distress. These aren't necessarily the "biggest" traumas; sometimes it's a series of seemingly small events that accumulate and create a significant impact. You’ll also prioritize these targets based on their current impact on your life.
- Building Your Resource Kit (Preparation): This is a crucial and often overlooked part of EMDR. Before you even touch on distressing memories, your therapist will equip you with internal resources to manage any emotional intensity that might arise during processing. This includes:
- Calm Place Visualization: You’ll be guided through creating a vivid mental image of a peaceful, safe place where you can retreat if you feel overwhelmed. This becomes your internal sanctuary.
- Container Exercise: For clients who feel easily overwhelmed or have intense emotional responses, they might practice a "container" exercise. This involves mentally placing distressing thoughts or feelings into a secure, imagined container, allowing them to temporarily put them aside until they’re ready to process them.
- Self-Soothing Techniques: You’ll explore grounding techniques with your therapist, like deep breathing, mindfulness exercises, or sensory experiences, like holding something comforting or focusing on sounds. These are tools you can use both in and out of sessions.
A client of mine, let’s call her Sarah, initially came to me feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Her first few sessions were entirely dedicated to building her resource kit. She found the calm place visualization incredibly helpful, describing her "safe place" as a quiet cabin by a lake, where she felt completely at peace. She also learned a simple breathing exercise that she could use whenever her anxiety spiked. By the time we moved to processing, she felt much more confident in her ability to manage her emotions.
Moving into Processing: Sessions 4-10 (and Beyond)
Once you're resourced and feel prepared, we move into the core of EMDR: Phases 3-7 (Assessment, Desensitization, Installation, Body Scan, Closure). This is where the actual reprocessing of memories occurs.
- Assessment: For a specific target memory, your therapist will help you identify the most distressing image, negative belief you hold about yourself related to that memory (e.g., "I'm not safe," "I'm helpless"), and how strongly you believe that negative thought (on a 1-7 scale). Your therapist will also measure your Subjective Units of Distress (SUDS) – how upsetting the memory feels on a scale of 0-10, with 10 being the most distressing.
- Desensitization: This is the most active phase. While you hold the target memory in mind, your therapist will guide you through bilateral stimulation. This could be:
- Eye Movements: Following the therapist’s fingers as they move side-to-side.
- Tappers: Holding small devices that vibrate alternately in each hand.
- Auditory Tones: Listening to tones that alternate in each ear through headphones. The bilateral stimulation helps your brain process the memory. You'll simply notice what comes to mind – thoughts, feelings, images, sensations. There’s no need to "try" to do anything. The processing is often organic and sometimes unexpected. You and your therapist will work in sets, taking short breaks between each to check in.
- Installation: As the distress of the memory decreases, you and your therapist work to strengthen a positive belief about yourself related to that memory (e.g., "I am safe now," "I am strong"). Your therapist will guide you to measure how true this positive belief feels on a 1-7 scale.
- Body Scan: Your therapist will guide you to gently scan your body for any residual tension or discomfort associated with the memory. The goal is to clear any physical manifestations of the trauma.
- Closure: At the end of a processing session, your therapist ensures you are stable and grounded. If you haven’t fully processed a memory, you will be prompted to use the resourcing techniques you learned to contain any remaining distress until the next session.
Mark, a previous client of mine, sought EMDR for persistent nightmares and flashbacks related to combat. In his early processing sessions, he often described intense physical sensations and vivid images from his experience. We used eye movements, and during breaks, he would report shifts in his perception of the events. By his eighth session, the intensity of his nightmares had significantly decreased. He moved from feeling helpless to believing, "I did the best I could."
Beyond Initial Processing: Sessions 10+ (and the Ripple Effect)
As you progress in EMDR, your sessions become less about acute distress and more about integrating your healing and strengthening your newfound resilience. This is Phase 8: Re-evaluation.
- Checking Gains: At the start of each subsequent session, you and your therapist will revisit previously processed memories to ensure that the distress has remained low and the positive beliefs are still strong. This ensures the gains are stable.
- Processing Related Memories: Often, processing one core trauma can reveal other, related memories that also need attention. You and your therapist might identify "feeder" memories that contributed to the initial trauma, or explore current triggers that still cause mild distress.
- Addressing Current Triggers: While EMDR focuses on past memories, its impact extends to the present. You might process current triggers that bring up remnants of past trauma, using the same bilateral stimulation techniques.
- Strengthening Adaptive Beliefs: The focus shifts to reinforcing your new, healthier self-perceptions and integrating them into your daily life. You and your therapist discuss how your relationships, decisions, and overall well-being are improving.
Trauma and Healing: A Therapist’s Perspective
Trauma isn’t just “big events.” It can be chronic bullying, medical procedures, or family chaos. Unprocessed experiences often sit in the brain’s emotional centers (amygdala) rather than the logical filing cabinet (prefrontal cortex). That’s why talking about the event sometimes helps only a little — you’re still feeling it.
How EMDR differs from talk therapy or CBT
| Approach | Main Tool | Why It Might Fall Short for Trauma |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional talk therapy | Insight & discussion | Can re-activate painful memories without fully reprocessing them. |
| CBT | Thought reframing | Helpful for current thoughts, but traumatic memories may stay state-dependent (body reacts before the mind can think). |
| EMDR | Bilateral stimulation + structured memory processing | Targets root memories directly, rewiring how the nervous system stores them. |
Realistic outcomes
Treating trauma with EMDR usually leads to clients experiencing a quick drop in distress during sessions, sometimes from a 9/10 (10 being the most distressing experience) to a 1 or 0. That can feel miraculous, but sessions can also be emotionally intense.
In my practice I once worked with a client who froze every time she heard fireworks due to childhood domestic violence. After four EMDR sessions she reported, “I still hear the boom, but my body stays calm. It’s just a sound now.” That functional change, not simply “positive thinking”, is what makes EMDR therapy stand out as being an incredible, often life-changing therapy experience for people.
Celebrity Mental Health in the Spotlight: Why It Matters
When a public figure like Miley Cyrus broadcasts her therapy journey, three things happen:
- Normalization – Fans realize therapy isn’t just for people who “can’t cope.” The need for therapy occurs for the very people we look up to are inspired by.
- Stigma-busting – Talking about PTSD or panic no longer feels taboo.
- Curiosity – People Google “What is EMDR therapy?” and land on credible pages (hello, Relucent EMDR Therapy).
Other celebrities have shared similar stories. Prince Harry, Evan Rachel Wood, and Sandra Bullock have all credited EMDR therapy for trauma recovery. When famous voices echo clinical data, the public takes note.
The Impact of EMDR: How It Changed Miley’s Life
In the interview, Miley Cyrus described visual flashbacks tied to early fame and family upheaval. EMDR therapy helped her revisit those memories without the “electrical charge,” allowing healthier self-confidence on stage.
Why her story mirrors common client outcomes
- Reduced physiological arousal – Heart-pounding anxiety often fades.
- New core beliefs – From “I’m unsafe” to “I can handle this.”
- Ripple effect – Better sleep, decision-making, relationships.
It’s crucial to note EMDR therapy isn’t a celebrity luxury. In community clinics, veterans’ hospitals, and private practices like mine, people from all walks of life use EMDR to heal, often in fewer sessions than traditional exposure therapy.
Is EMDR Right for You?
| Good candidate signs | Maybe choose another path first |
|---|---|
| Single-incident trauma (car crash, assault) | Active substance dependence without stabilization |
| Chronic relational trauma willing to process | Severe dissociation that prevents staying grounded |
| PTSD with nightmares & flashbacks | Immediate crisis (suicidal intent—start with safety planning) |
Safety
Over 30 randomized controlled trials confirm EMDR is safe and effective for PTSD, often outperforming medication alone. Side effects are usually temporary: vivid dreams, emotional tiredness, or new insights between sessions.
Finding an EMDR-trained therapist
Look for clinicians certified by EMDRIA (the EMDR International Association). On our Relucent therapist team, several clinicians, including me, hold EMDR certification and integrate it with modalities like Internal Family Systems and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for deeper work.
Closing Thoughts – Moving Toward Trauma-Informed Healing
Trauma can keep life stuck on repeat, but effective treatments exist. EMDR therapy isn’t magic, it’s a method grounded in brain science and decades of research. If Miley Cyrus’ story sparked your curiosity, consider it an invitation: you don’t have to relive pain forever.
Whether you pursue EMDR, somatic work, or traditional talk therapy, the key is starting somewhere safe and supportive. If you’re in California and ready to explore trauma-informed therapy, visit Relucent Psychology Group to learn how we can help. Your healing might not make headlines, but it will transform the story you tell yourself.