EMDR Therapy in Los Angeles and California
Some experiences stay with you in ways that don't respond to understanding alone. You can know, intellectually, that you are safe — and still find yourself triggered, reactive, or stuck in patterns that feel impossible to shift. That is not a failure of insight. It is the way certain kinds of distress live in the body, below the level of language.
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EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing — is a therapy designed to work at that level. It helps the brain complete the processing of experiences that got stuck, so they lose their grip on your present-day life.
If you have tried talk therapy and found that understanding your history wasn't enough to change how you feel, EMDR may be what you have been looking for.
What EMDR is — and what it actually does
EMDR was originally developed to treat trauma and PTSD, and that remains its strongest evidence base. But the way it works makes it useful across a much wider range of experiences — anxiety, phobias, grief, chronic shame, the emotional residue of difficult relationships, and more.
The core idea is that when something overwhelming happens, the brain sometimes can't process the experience the way it normally would. The memory gets stored in a raw, unintegrated form — with all the original emotion, body sensation, and distorted beliefs intact. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (most often side-to-side eye movements, though tapping and audio tones can also be used) to help the brain reprocess those stored experiences. Over time, the memory becomes less charged. It doesn't disappear, but it stops feeling like it is happening right now.
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What this looks like in session is less dramatic than people often expect. We spend time preparing before any reprocessing begins, making sure you have the internal resources to move through the material safely. The work itself can feel strange at first — activating a memory while following a visual prompt — but many people find it more tolerable than talking about difficult experiences in detail. You do not have to narrate everything that comes up.
How I use EMDR in my work with women
My practice focuses on the experiences that are most common in the lives of women — and many of them are exactly the kind that EMDR is built to address.
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Birth trauma is one of the clearest applications. A frightening birth, an emergency that felt out of control, a moment when you felt unheard or dismissed — these experiences can leave a lasting imprint that affects how safe you feel in your body, your relationship with your baby, and your sense of yourself as a mother. EMDR is one of the most effective tools available for processing birth trauma in a way that creates real, lasting relief.
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I also use EMDR with clients navigating perinatal anxiety, postpartum OCD, and perimenopause anxiety — particularly when the anxiety has roots in earlier experiences that the hormonal transitions of womanhood have brought back to the surface. Pregnancy and the postpartum period have a way of activating unresolved material from childhood, past relationships, or previous losses. EMDR gives us a way to address those roots, not just manage the current symptoms.
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Beyond perinatal work, EMDR is useful for any woman carrying the weight of experiences that have not fully resolved — childhood adversity, relationship trauma, grief, or a pervasive sense of not being enough that has followed her across many chapters of her life.
What to expect when we work together
EMDR is not something that happens in the first session. Before any reprocessing begins, we take time to build a foundation — understanding your history, identifying the experiences we want to work with, and making sure you have grounding and stabilization skills in place. Some people need several sessions of preparation before the reprocessing phase feels right.
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That pacing matters, and I will never rush it.
Once we are in the reprocessing phase, sessions typically follow a structured protocol, though the experience itself is your own. What comes up during EMDR — the memories, images, emotions, and body sensations — will be unique to you. My role is to help you stay resourced and oriented as you move through the material, and to help you integrate what shifts between sessions.
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EMDR can be used as a standalone treatment or integrated with other approaches, including CBT and ACT, depending on what you need. I offer in-person sessions in Studio City and telehealth throughout California. Virtual EMDR is effective and has strong research support — so if getting to an office is a barrier, that does not have to stand between you and this work.
Frequently asked questions about EMDR therapy
Is EMDR only for PTSD?
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No. EMDR has its strongest research base in PTSD, but it is widely used for anxiety, depression, grief, phobias, chronic shame, and the lasting effects of difficult or painful experiences that don't meet the clinical threshold for PTSD. If something from your past is still shaping how you feel and function today, it may be a good candidate for EMDR work — regardless of whether that experience would be formally categorized as trauma.
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Does EMDR require me to talk about everything that happened?
Not in the way that traditional talk therapy does. EMDR does not require you to narrate your experiences in detail. You will hold a memory or image in mind while engaging in bilateral stimulation, and what comes up during that process is yours — you share what feels useful, but the work does not depend on verbal disclosure. Many people find this a significant relief, especially when the material feels hard to put into words.
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How many sessions does EMDR take?
It depends on what we are working on. A single, discrete event — a specific birth experience, one traumatic incident — may resolve in fewer sessions than a more complex history with multiple layers of earlier experiences. We will assess this together and you will always know where we are in the process. I do not use a one-size-fits-all protocol.
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Can EMDR be done online?
Yes. Virtual EMDR uses bilateral stimulation through the screen — typically a moving visual prompt, tapping cues, or audio tones — and research supports its effectiveness. Many of my clients do EMDR sessions via telehealth from their homes, which can actually make it easier to access the calm and safety needed for this work. If you are in California and want to explore EMDR remotely, I would be glad to talk through what that looks like.
