Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing ( EMDR) is a psychotherapy treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories. Adaptive information processing model posits that EMDR therapy facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories and other adverse life experience to bring these to an adaptive resolution. After successful treatment with EMDR therapy, affective distress is relieved, negative beliefs are reformulated, and physiological arousal is reduced. During EMDR therapy the client attends to emotionally disturbing material in brief sequential doses while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus. Therapist directed lateral eye movement are the most commonly used external stimulus but a variety of other stimulus including hand - tapping and audio stimulation are often used hypothesizes that EMDR therapy facilitates the accessing of the traumatic memory network, so that information processing is enhanced, with new associations forged between the traumatic memory and more adaptive memories or information.

EMDR therapy affect the brain: our brains have a natural way to recover from traumatic memories and events. This process involves communication between the amygdala ( the alarm signal for stressful events), the hippocampus ( which assist with learning, including memories about safety and danger), and the prefrontal cortex ( which analyze and controls behavior and emotion) while many times traumatic experiences can be managed and resolved spontaneously, they may not be processed without help.