EMDR therapy can help when anxiety, fear, painful memories, or deeply held negative beliefs continue to affect how you feel or move through daily life. It may be used for trauma-related symptoms as well as concerns such as panic, grief, and performance anxiety. As a certified EMDR practitioner in Scarsdale, NY, I provide individualized treatment that is carefully paced around your needs, goals, and readiness.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, commonly called EMDR, is a structured form of psychotherapy developed to help people process distressing memories and experiences.
During EMDR, I guide you through bilateral stimulation while you focus on a specific memory or experience. This may involve guided eye movements, tapping, or sounds. Bilateral stimulation supports the brain’s natural ability to process what happened, which may reduce the memory’s emotional intensity and make it feel less disruptive.
You remain awake, aware, and in control throughout the session. You do not have to describe every detail of an experience, and you will not be asked to begin reprocessing before we have determined that you feel adequately prepared.
EMDR was originally developed to treat PTSD, but decades of research have shown it to be effective for a wide range of issues — from anxiety and panic to grief, depression, and performance blocks.
When an experience is overwhelming, the brain may not process and store it in the usual way. The memory can remain closely connected to the fear, physical sensations, and beliefs present at the time. This helps explain why you can know that you are safe now and still feel as though the threat is happening again.
EMDR is one of the most extensively researched therapies for trauma. It's recognized as an effective treatment by the World Health Organization, the American Psychological Association, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Over 30 randomized controlled trials have demonstrated its effectiveness, and it remains one of only a handful of therapies recommended by these organizations specifically for the treatment of PTSD.
During EMDR, bilateral stimulation helps activate the brain’s natural information-processing system while you focus on parts of the experience. This allows the memory to be reprocessed and connected with new information, so it can feel less immediate and emotionally intense. The experience is not erased, but it may become easier to remember without reliving the original reaction.
Talk therapy can help you develop insight, understand patterns, and put your experiences into words. But insight does not always change the emotional or physical response that remains connected to it. EMDR focuses more directly on the emotions, physical sensations, and nervous-system responses connected to an experience. These approaches can complement each other, and I draw from both according to your needs.
History and Assessment — We start by getting to know each other. I’ll learn about your background, what’s bringing you in, and what you’d like to be different. Together we’ll determine whether EMDR is the right approach for your situation.
Preparation and Resourcing — Before we do any processing, I’ll walk you through exactly how EMDR works and teach you grounding and self-regulation skills. This phase makes sure you feel steady and prepared — not just informed, but genuinely ready.
Identifying the Target — We pinpoint the specific memory, experience, or belief to focus on, along with the emotions, body sensations, and negative beliefs connected to it. We’ll also identify the positive belief you’d like to hold instead.
Desensitization — This is the core of EMDR. While you hold the target memory in mind, I’ll guide you through sets of bilateral stimulation — typically eye movements or tapping. You simply notice what comes up: images, thoughts, feelings, physical sensations. You don’t have to narrate every detail. Your brain does the processing; I’m there to guide and support you through it.
Installation — Once the emotional charge of the memory has decreased, we strengthen the positive belief you identified earlier, anchoring it in place of the old, negative one.
Body Scan — We check in with your body to see if any tension, discomfort, or activation remains connected to the memory, and clear whatever comes up.
Closure — Every session ends with making sure you feel grounded and stable before you leave. I’ll review any between-session practices that can support your progress.
Reevaluation — At our next session, we check in on what’s shifted, note anything new that came up, and adjust the treatment plan as needed.
I bring more than 20 years of clinical experience and specialized trauma training to my work as a certified EMDR practitioner.
My approach is careful, collaborative, and integrative. I do not use EMDR as a one-size-fits-all protocol or assume that every difficult experience should be addressed in the same way. I consider your history, current circumstances, nervous-system responses, and readiness. Depending on what you need, I may integrate EMDR with Somatic Experiencing, Internal Family Systems Therapy, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
My goal is to help you understand what is happening while also creating opportunities for meaningful emotional and physical change.
I offer sessions in a calm, private office in Scarsdale, as well as virtual therapy when clinically appropriate.
EMDR may be considered when a past experience or present-day trigger continues to affect your emotions, physical responses, relationships, confidence, or daily life.
You do not need to have a formal PTSD diagnosis to ask whether EMDR may be appropriate. At the same time, EMDR is not automatically the right treatment for every person or every concern. An individual assessment is an important part of deciding how to proceed.
I also offer short-term, adjunctive EMDR for clients who want to remain with their current therapist while working with me on a specific trauma, fear, or treatment goal.
A consultation gives us an opportunity to discuss what you are experiencing, what you have already tried, and what you would like to change. I will be honest about whether I believe my experience and approach are a good fit for your needs. When another provider or type of support would be more appropriate, I will share that openly and may recommend additional resources.
Adjunctive EMDR is for clients who already have a therapist but would benefit from using EMDR to address a particular issue. With the client’s written permission, I collaborate with the referring therapist before treatment begins to clarify the purpose of the referral, how the work fits the existing treatment plan, and how we will communicate throughout.
Adjunctive EMDR is short-term by design. Once we’ve addressed the specific issue that prompted the referral, my involvement ends and the client continues forward with their primary therapist.