EMDR Therapy in Los Angeles
Evidence-Based Trauma Therapy for What Talk Therapy Alone Couldn't Reach
Some experiences don't respond to talking about them. You've processed the story, you understand the timeline, you can explain what happened and why it affected you the way it did. And the body still braces. The same memories still surface at inconvenient moments, as intense as the first time. The same patterns keep showing up in your relationships, your nervous system, your sense of who you are and what you deserve. This is an indication that the experience is stored somewhere talking can't fully reach.
EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing — was developed specifically for this. It works at the level where traumatic and distressing experiences are actually held: in the nervous system, in the body's threat-response, in the implicit memory that shapes how you move through the world long after the event itself has passed. If you've been in therapy before and found that understanding what happened wasn't enough to change how it feels, EMDR may be a good option for you.
I offer EMDR therapy in Los Angeles and throughout California via virtual sessions.
How EMDR Works
When something overwhelming happens, the brain's natural processing system can get disrupted. Instead of integrating the experience the way ordinary memories do, the event gets stored in a fragmented, unprocessed state — still carrying the original sensations, emotions, and beliefs that were present at the time. Years later, something in the present environment can activate that stored material and your system responds as if it's happening now, because in a neurological sense, it still is.
EMDR works by engaging the brain's natural information-processing system while you hold a distressing memory in awareness. Through bilateral stimulation, typically eye movements, tapping, or auditory tones, the brain is able to do what it couldn't do at the time: process the experience, integrate it, and file it as something that happened rather than something that is still happening. The memory doesn't disappear. What changes is the charge it carries and the meaning it holds.
Most people describe the shift as the memory becoming quieter. The images become less vivid. The emotions less overwhelming. The beliefs that formed around the experience: I'm not safe, I'm not enough, I can't trust anyone, begin to loosen their hold. What replaces them tends to feel more like clarity than resolution, a sense of being able to look at the past without being pulled back into it.
What EMDR Can Help With
EMDR has the strongest research base for PTSD and single-incident trauma, but its clinical application extends considerably further than that. In my practice, I use EMDR to work with people navigating a range of experiences, including childhood trauma and early attachment wounds, relationship and betrayal trauma, anxiety and chronic hypervigilance, perfectionism and the internalized criticism that underlies it, grief and complicated loss, patterns of self-doubt or shame that have resisted other forms of treatment, and the residue of experiences that don't fit neatly into a diagnostic category but have nonetheless shaped how a person relates to themselves and others.
EMDR is particularly well-suited to people who are self-aware and articulate about their history but find that awareness hasn't translated into the kind of change they were hoping for. If you've done significant talk therapy and feel like you've hit a ceiling, that is often exactly where EMDR becomes most useful.
A Depth-Oriented Approach
I don't use EMDR as a standalone protocol. I integrate it into a broader depth-oriented framework that draws on relational therapy, somatic awareness, and Internal Family Systems, because the goal isn't just symptom reduction, it's genuine understanding of the patterns underneath the symptoms and the capacity to actually live differently.
This means that EMDR in my practice is embedded in a real therapeutic relationship. Before we approach any traumatic material directly, we spend time building the foundation: understanding your history, developing your capacity to stay regulated while engaging difficult material, and establishing the internal resources your nervous system needs to feel safe enough to process rather than shut down.
The actual EMDR processing tends to unfold more slowly and more gently than people sometimes expect. We move at the pace your system can tolerate, which is different for everyone. Some people notice significant shifts in a small number of sessions. For others, particularly those with complex or developmental trauma, the work is more gradual. What I'm attentive to throughout is not just the resolution of specific memories, but the broader question of how those memories have organized your sense of yourself — and what becomes possible when they begin to reorganize.
What to Expect
If you're considering EMDR and haven't done it before, it's natural to have questions about what the process actually feels like. Most people come in with some version of the same concern: that they'll be asked to revisit painful experiences without adequate support, or that the process will feel mechanical or detached. In my experience, the opposite tends to be true.
The early sessions are largely preparatory. We'll talk through your history, identify the experiences most relevant to what you're working on, and develop stabilization resources you can draw on inside and outside of sessions. You will not be pushed into processing before you're ready.
When we do begin processing specific memories, I'll ask you to hold the target experience in awareness while following a form of bilateral stimulation. You won't be required to narrate the memory in detail. You'll simply notice what comes up: images, sensations, emotions, thoughts, and we'll follow the process as it unfolds. Most people find it more manageable than they expected, and many describe the experience as surprisingly organic, as if something the mind has been trying to do on its own is finally getting the support it needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes. Research supports the effectiveness of EMDR delivered via telehealth, and in my practice I've found virtual sessions to be fully workable for this modality. Bilateral stimulation is adapted for the online format, typically using eye movements following a visual prompt on screen, or self-administered tapping. Many clients find the familiarity and privacy of their own space actually supports the work.
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Talk therapy primarily engages the parts of the brain involved in language, narrative, and conscious reflection. EMDR works at a different level, engaging the implicit memory system where traumatic experiences are stored. For many people, this means EMDR is able to create shifts that insight-oriented work hasn't been able to produce, not because talk therapy failed, but because it was working on a different layer of the problem.
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No. EMDR does not require you to narrate your history in detail. You hold the experience in awareness internally while the processing unfolds, but you are not asked to describe it comprehensively or relive it in the way some people fear. The approach is guided and contained.
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This varies considerably depending on the nature and complexity of what you're working through. Single-incident trauma may show meaningful resolution in a handful of sessions. Developmental or complex trauma typically requires more time, woven into a longer course of treatment. I'll be honest with you about what I observe as we go, and we'll make those decisions together.
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No. While EMDR has the most robust research base for PTSD, it is clinically effective for a much wider range of presentations: anxiety, relational patterns, shame, perfectionism, grief, and more. If distressing experiences from your past are shaping how you feel and function in the present, EMDR is likely worth exploring.
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I am an out-of-network provider. Depending on your plan, you may be eligible for partial reimbursement through out-of-network benefits. I'm happy to provide a superbill you can submit to your insurance company.
If You're Considering EMDR
The people who find their way to EMDR often share something in common. They've done work on themselves, sometimes significant work, and they've arrived at an honest recognition that understanding what happened hasn't been enough to change how it lives in them. If that's where you are, I'd be glad to talk about whether EMDR and this approach might be the right fit.
A consultation is a conversation, not a commitment. You're welcome to come with questions.
