Resources for the space between sessions.
Short videos that explain EMDR without the jargon, books worth your time, grounding tools you can use tonight, and the numbers to call when you need someone right now.
Understanding it first is allowed.
Most people research EMDR for a while before they book anything — and that's a completely reasonable way to approach a decision about your own nervous system. Everything below is here so you can learn at your own pace, with no one waiting on an answer.
EMDR explained, in a few minutes.
Three short videos — two from EMDRIA, the professional association that sets EMDR standards, and one showing what a session looks like from the outside. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.
The eight phases, quicklyA plain-language walk through the structure of EMDR treatment, from history-taking to re-evaluation. Watch on YouTube →
How it works and who it's forWhy unprocessed memories keep firing, what bilateral stimulation does, and how widely EMDR is recognized as a PTSD treatment. Watch on YouTube →
EMDR on cameraPrince Harry and Evan Rachel Wood processing on screen — useful if you're picturing something dramatic and want to see how ordinary it actually looks. Watch on YouTube →
Reading about it isn't the same as doing it — but it's a real place to start.
Before your first sessionWhere to get reliable answers.
Trauma is a field with a lot of noise in it. These are the organizations clinicians actually cite.
EMDRIA — About EMDR Therapy
The EMDR International Association's public library: how EMDR works, what to expect, and separate primers on PTSD, anxiety, depression, and childhood trauma.
emdria.org →EMDR Institute
Founded by Francine Shapiro, who developed EMDR in 1987. Good for the history of the method and the research base behind it.
emdr.com →American Psychological Association
The APA's PTSD treatment guideline entry on EMDR — a straight look at the evidence, written for the public rather than for marketing.
apa.org →VA National Center for PTSD
Free, plain-English education on trauma and PTSD treatment, plus self-assessment tools. Written for veterans, useful for anyone.
ptsd.va.gov →EMDR Research Foundation
Funds and publishes EMDR research. Where to go if you want the studies themselves rather than a summary of them.
emdrfoundation.org →NAMI
The National Alliance on Mental Illness — free support groups, family education programs, and a helpline for navigating the mental health system.
nami.org →Six books worth the time.
A short list rather than a long one. You don't need to read any of these to start therapy — but if you're the kind of person who wants to understand what's happening to you, these help.
The book most people are handed first, and for good reason: it explains why trauma lives in the body and not only in the story you tell about it. Dense in places — it's fine to read it in pieces.
From the developer of EMDR, written for clients rather than clinicians. The clearest self-help introduction to what EMDR is actually doing.
A conversation, not a textbook — and the gentlest entry point on this list. It reframes the whole question from what's wrong with you to what happened to you.
For anyone who keeps running into a pattern that seems older than they are. Useful for family-of-origin work and the beliefs you inherited without agreeing to them.
Practical and unfussy. Especially good if the work in front of you is less about a single event and more about relationships that keep costing you.
On stress, trauma, and building genuine capacity rather than just pushing through. Written for high-performing people who are quietly running on empty.
Four things you can do right now.
Grounding doesn't erase what happened. It gives your body evidence that the danger isn't happening at this moment — which is what makes the rest of the work possible.
5–4–3–2–1
- Name five things you can see.
- Four things you can feel touching your skin.
- Three things you can hear.
- Two things you can smell.
- One thing you can taste.
Say them out loud if you can. The point isn't the list — it's that noticing detail pulls attention out of the memory and back into the room you're actually in.
Box breathing
- Breathe in through your nose for four counts.
- Hold for four.
- Breathe out slowly for four.
- Hold empty for four. Repeat four times.
The long exhale is doing the work — it's the part that signals your nervous system to stand down. If four counts feels like too much, use three.
The butterfly hug
- Cross your arms over your chest, hands resting near your collarbones.
- Tap slowly — left, right, left, right.
- Breathe normally and let whatever comes up simply pass through.
This is bilateral stimulation, the same principle EMDR uses, in its simplest self-soothing form. Stop if it intensifies things rather than settling them.
The container
- Picture a container strong enough to hold anything — a safe, a vault, a locked box.
- Place what you're not ready to work on inside it.
- Close it. Notice that you decide when it opens.
Used in EMDR preparation to end sessions contained rather than raw. It isn't avoidance — it's choosing the timing, which is often the part trauma took away.
If you need someone tonight.
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