EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and reprocessing. It is a type of therapy used to treat trauma. Trauma is defined by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services administration as “an event or circumstance resulting in: physical harm, emotional harm, and/or life threatening harm.” More broadly I define it as anything that overwhelms an individuals ability to cope. These traumas can be single events or a series of events or circumstances. EMDR uses something called bilateral stimulation (either through a light, buzzers or tones) to help the brain reprocess traumas, and more toward a healthy resolution. At the end of successful treatment with EMDR the traumatic memories will no longer create disturbance in an individual. They will still remember the incident, but without disturbance.