Helinä Häkkänen, psykologi ja psykoterapeutti | Elokuu 2016
The history of EMDR therapy begins in the late 1980s with one important observation: could eye movements influence how disturbing thoughts and memories feel? American psychologist Francine Shapiro developed this observation into a therapeutic method that later became known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR.
The history of EMDR is interesting because the method did not begin as a fully formed theory. It developed step by step: first as an observation about the calming effect of eye movements, then as a treatment protocol for traumatic memories, and later as a broader psychotherapeutic approach based on memory processing. Today, EMDR therapy is an internationally known treatment method, especially for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. It is used by trained therapists around the world to help people process traumatic and distressing memories that continue to affect the present.
In this article, we talk about the history of EMDR therapy. If you are interested in eye movement therapy, you can continue reading on Mielenjuuri’s EMDR therapy service page or contact us to ask whether EMDR could be suitable for your situation.
Francine Shapiro and the origin of EMDR therapy
Francine Shapiro was an American psychologist best known as the founder of EMDR therapy. The origin of EMDR is often traced to 1987, when Shapiro noticed that certain eye movements seemed to reduce the emotional intensity of disturbing thoughts.
This observation was not yet a complete therapy method. It was the beginning of a question that Shapiro began to explore more carefully: could eye movements help people process traumatic or disturbing memories?
In the early stage, the method was called Eye Movement Desensitization, or EMD. The focus was mainly on desensitization: reducing the emotional disturbance connected to a memory. Later, Shapiro noticed that something broader was happening in therapy. Clients were not only becoming less distressed. Their thoughts, bodily reactions, emotions and beliefs about themselves could also change. For this reason, the word reprocessing was added to the name. The method became EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.
The origin of eye movement therapy in PTSD treatment
EMDR therapy was originally developed for the treatment of traumatic memories and PTSD. In Shapiro’s early research, the method was used with people whose experiences were clearly traumatic, including war veterans and women who had experienced sexual violence.
This is an important part of EMDR history. EMDR did not begin as a general relaxation technique or a wellbeing trend. It began as a trauma-focused psychotherapeutic method designed to help people process memories that remained intensely disturbing.
In PTSD, a person usually suffers not only because something terrible happened, but because the event continues to become activated in the mind and body. The memory may return as flashbacks, nightmares, bodily hyperarousal, avoidance or a feeling that the danger is not fully over. The original aim of EMDR therapy was to help the brain process these kinds of traumatic memories so that they would no longer dominate the present.
Why did EMD become EMDR?
The change from EMD to EMDR is an important part of EMDR development. The original name, Eye Movement Desensitization, described the reduction of distress connected to a memory. This was important, but it did not fully capture what seemed to happen during treatment.
As Francine Shapiro developed the method further, she began to understand the process more broadly. The memory did not only become less disturbing. It could begin to organise differently. New understanding could emerge. Bodily reactions could change. A negative belief about the self could begin to give way to a more realistic and compassionate belief.
This is why the word reprocessing was added. Reprocessing describes the idea that, in EMDR therapy, the memory does not simply become “weaker.” It can become connected to a broader and healthier memory network.
This remains one of the most important things to understand about EMDR therapy. The aim is not to erase the memory. The aim is for the memory to stop becoming activated in the present with the same emotional and bodily intensity.
The AIP model and the development of EMDR therapy
The development of EMDR therapy is not only about eye movements. One of the most important steps in EMDR’s history was the development of the Adaptive Information Processing model, often called the AIP model.
According to the AIP model, human beings have a natural ability to process experiences and connect them to broader memory networks. Most difficult experiences gradually become part of autobiographical memory. A person can remember what happened, but the memory no longer repeatedly disturbs the present.
In traumatic or highly stressful situations, however, this natural processing may become disrupted. The memory may be stored in a form where the emotions, bodily reactions, thoughts and sensory impressions remain close to their original state. In this situation, a present-day trigger may activate the old memory network, even when the person rationally knows that they are safe.
The AIP model gave EMDR therapy a broader theoretical foundation. EMDR was no longer only a technique involving eye movements. It became a way of understanding how unprocessed memories can continue to affect the present, and how therapy can help those memories connect with more adaptive information.
How EMDR therapy spread internationally
As EMDR therapy developed, it began to spread from the United States to other parts of the world. EMDR training programmes started in Europe, Australia, Central America and South America. National and international EMDR associations also began to develop training standards, ethical guidelines and professional communities around the method.
This stage was essential for the development of EMDR therapy. A new therapeutic method needs more than promising clinical observations. It needs trained therapists, research, supervision, criticism, ethical standards and professional structures.
The history of EMDR therefore shows two things at the same time: rapid international interest and the need to demonstrate effectiveness through research. In the early years, the method was also met with scepticism, which is understandable. The idea that eye movements could influence the emotional intensity of traumatic memories can sound unusual at first. Over time, as research and clinical experience accumulated, EMDR therapy gradually became established especially within trauma treatment.
EMDR therapy and humanitarian work
One distinctive part of EMDR history is its connection to humanitarian work. EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs, known as EMDR-HAP, was created to support trauma training and treatment in communities affected by war, violence, disasters and other large-scale crises.
EMDR training and trauma-focused support have been brought to areas where many people have experienced overwhelming events and where local mental health resources may be limited. This does not mean that EMDR is a simple or quick solution to collective trauma. It does, however, show that the development of EMDR therapy has included a strong practical and humanitarian dimension from early on: how can we help people whose experiences have exceeded ordinary coping capacity?
How did EMDR become a recognised trauma treatment?
EMDR therapy became more widely recognised through research, training and clinical guidelines. Today, EMDR is included in several international guidelines for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.
This does not mean that EMDR is the only trauma therapy or that it is suitable for everyone. There are several evidence-based approaches to trauma treatment, including trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy and other trauma-focused psychotherapies. What makes EMDR distinctive is the way it combines memory activation, bilateral stimulation, bodily reactions, negative and positive beliefs, and adaptive reprocessing.
International recognition did not happen all at once. It has been a process of several decades, during which EMDR therapy has been studied, criticised, refined and applied in different clinical settings. This is also a sign of a healthy treatment method: it should not remain dependent only on the founder’s original observations, but should develop through research, training and clinical practice.
EMDR therapy in Finland
In Finland, EMDR therapy is still less familiar to many clients than cognitive behavioural therapy or traditional talk therapy. However, awareness of the method has increased significantly. More and more people seek EMDR therapy because they have heard about it from another person, a healthcare professional or the media.
In Finnish, EMDR is often called “silmänliiketerapia,” which literally means eye movement therapy. This term is understandable because eye movements are the most visible part of the method. However, EMDR therapy is broader than eye movements alone. It is a complete therapeutic process that includes assessment, preparation, target memory selection, structured processing and follow-up.
Many clients still ask in the first session whether EMDR is “real therapy” or whether eye movements can truly affect a memory. These are important questions. The history of EMDR helps answer them: EMDR therapy has developed from an initial observation into a research-supported trauma-focused psychotherapeutic approach.
EMDR therapy today
Today, EMDR therapy is used by trained therapists in many countries. It is best known as a treatment for PTSD and traumatic memories, but its clinical use has expanded over time. EMDR therapy may be used in situations where distressing memories, bodily reactions and negative beliefs about the self continue to affect present-day functioning.
These may include anxiety, panic symptoms, prolonged grief, bullying experiences, work-related trauma, violence, shame-based memories, stress related to legal proceedings, and performance blocks in sports or performing arts.
It is important to say this carefully: the strongest and most established evidence for EMDR therapy remains in
the treatment of PTSD. In other areas, research is developing, and the use of EMDR should always be assessed carefully and individually.
The development of EMDR does not mean that it has become a universal solution for all psychological suffering. A more accurate way to put it is this: EMDR has developed from a treatment for traumatic memories into a broader way of understanding and processing experiences that remain disturbingly stored in the mind and body.
Why is the history of EMDR important for clients?
For clients, the history of EMDR is not just a professional detail. It helps explain why the method exists.
EMDR therapy was developed to help people whose painful experiences did not ease through time, talking or rational understanding alone. Many traumatised people know that what happened is over. Yet the body reacts as if it were still happening. The development of EMDR therapy is connected to this exact question: how can a memory change so that the past begins to feel like the past?
The history of EMDR also helps us approach the method realistically. EMDR is not a magic cure. It does not suit every person or every situation at every moment. It requires a trained therapist, careful assessment, safe pacing and sometimes substantial preparation. At the same time, EMDR therapy has developed over several decades from Francine Shapiro’s original discovery into a widely recognised trauma-focused treatment method used around the world.
Summary: the history of EMDR therapy
The history of EMDR therapy begins with Francine Shapiro’s observation in the late 1980s. She noticed that eye movements seemed, in certain circumstances, to reduce the intensity of disturbing thoughts and memories. This led first to EMD and later to EMDR, when the method was understood to involve not only desensitization but also reprocessing.
The origin of eye movement therapy is strongly connected to the treatment of PTSD and traumatic memories. Since then, EMDR development has moved toward a broader psychotherapeutic framework in which the AIP model explains how unprocessed memories can continue to affect the present.
Today, EMDR therapy is a worldwide treatment method used especially in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Its history reminds us of something essential: psychological suffering is not always caused by a lack of understanding. Sometimes the problem is that the memory has not yet been able to settle into the past.
Next, you can visit Mielenjuuri’s EMDR therapy service page or contact us_if you would like to discuss whether EMDR treatment could be suitable for your situation.
More EMDR articles:
- How Does EMDR Therapy Work? The AIP Model, Bilateral Stimulation and the Brain’s Ability to Process Information
- How does EMDR treatment proceed? The eight phases of the process
- What is EMDR therapy used for? Help with trauma, anxiety, depression and burnout
- Is EMDR therapy effective? A review of the research evidence
- Specialized applications of EMDR therapy: from sport psychology to forensic psychology
- The history of EMDR therapy: from Francine Shapiro’s discovery to a global treatment method
References and further reading
Shapiro, F. (1989). Eye movement desensitization: A new treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 20(3), 211–217.
Francine Shapiro’s original article introducing the eye movement-based method for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures. 3rd edition. Guilford Press. A key foundational work on EMDR therapy, describing the method’s theory, protocol, and the Adaptive Information Processing model, or AIP model.
EMDR Institute. History of EMDR. The EMDR Institute describes EMDR therapy as having developed from Francine Shapiro’s 1987 observation into an internationally used trauma therapy method.
World Health Organization. (2023). Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) guideline for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. In the WHO mhGAP guidelines, EMDR is mentioned as one of the psychological treatments for PTSD.
World Health Organization. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): psychological interventions. WHO material on psychological treatments for PTSD includes EMDR among the treatment methods for post-traumatic stress disorder.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2018). Post-traumatic stress disorder. NICE guideline NG116. The NICE guideline on PTSD mentions EMDR as one treatment for PTSD in adults in certain situations.
