Do You Have to Believe in EMDR for It to Work?

Do You Have to Believe in EMDR for It to Work?

Short Answer: No. You do not have to strongly believe in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for the process to have an effect. Research examining expectations has found that eye movements can reduce the vividness and emotionality of distressing memories even when participants have different expectations or are given different explanations about how EMDR works. Being willing to participate and follow the process matters, but you do not have to convince yourself beforehand that EMDR will work.

Key Takeaways

• You do not have to be convinced that EMDR will work before you try it.
• Skepticism does not automatically prevent EMDR from having an effect.
• Experimental research suggests expectations have only a limited influence on the memory effects produced by eye movements.
• You still need to participate in the process, such as bringing the target to mind and following the bilateral stimulation.
• Being curious or open to seeing what happens is enough; you do not need to manufacture confidence.
• Expectations can influence psychotherapy in general, but they do not appear to fully explain EMDR's effects.

What Does “Believing in EMDR” Mean?

People can mean several different things when they ask whether they need to believe in EMDR.

They might wonder:

• Do I need to expect it to work?
• Do I need to understand how it works?
• Do I need to feel confident about the process?
• Will skepticism stop it from working?
• Is EMDR mainly a placebo effect?

These are slightly different questions.

You do not need unquestioning confidence in EMDR.

It is possible to participate while feeling uncertain, curious, skeptical, or simply unsure what to expect.

What Has Research Found About Expectations?

Researchers have tested whether people's expectations about EMDR change the effects of eye movements.

In one study, participants recalled unpleasant autobiographical memories while making eye movements. Some participants already knew about EMDR, while others did not. Researchers also gave participants different explanations about how EMDR was supposed to work.

Eye movements reduced memory vividness and emotionality across the groups. Prior knowledge appeared to provide only a modest boost in one experiment, while experimentally giving people correct or incorrect information about EMDR did not meaningfully change the effect in another.

The researchers concluded that the eye-movement effect appeared fairly robust against differences in prior expectations.

What If You Expect EMDR Not to Work?

That does not automatically mean it will fail.

Another set of experiments tried to change participants' expectations by telling them that the procedure would either be effective or ineffective.

Participants then recalled unpleasant memories either while making eye movements or while keeping their eyes still.

The eye-movement condition still produced reductions in memory vividness and emotionality, and those effects did not differ significantly based on the verbal suggestions participants received.

That does not prove expectations never matter.

It does suggest that simply thinking, “I am not sure this will work,” does not necessarily cancel the effect of the procedure.

Is EMDR Just a Placebo Effect?

The evidence does not support reducing EMDR to a simple belief-based or placebo process.

Expectations and other nonspecific factors can influence many forms of treatment. That is true across medicine and psychotherapy.

But research specifically examining EMDR expectations has found that the effects of recalling a memory while making eye movements persist even when expectations are manipulated or participants receive inaccurate information about the supposed mechanism.

That makes it difficult to explain the observed effects solely as:

“People improve because they expect EMDR to work.”

Researchers continue to study exactly how much of EMDR's overall treatment effect comes from its specific procedures and how much comes from broader psychotherapy factors.

Do You Need to Understand How EMDR Works?

No.

Researchers themselves are still studying EMDR's full mechanism.

Several explanations have been proposed, and one of the leading accounts involves working memory.

The basic idea is that recalling a distressing memory uses mental resources, while following eye movements or another attention-demanding task also uses those resources. Doing both at once may make the memory less vivid or emotionally intense when it is recalled later.

You do not need to understand that theory for the task itself to occur.

In fact, research that gave participants different explanations of how EMDR supposedly worked found that the explanation they received had little effect on the outcome of the eye-movement procedure.

Do You Have to Feel Confident Before Starting?

No.

You can begin EMDR while thinking:

• “I am curious.”
• “I do not know whether this will work.”
• “This seems unusual.”
• “I want to see what happens.”
• “I am skeptical, but I am willing to try it.”

None of those reactions means you are doing EMDR incorrectly.

Confidence may develop after someone experiences the process, but it is not a requirement for beginning.

What Does Matter More Than Belief?

Participation matters.

EMDR is not something that happens merely because you sit in the room or watch a moving object.

During reprocessing, you generally need to:

• Bring the target memory or other material to mind
• Notice the related thoughts, emotions, images, or body sensations
• Follow the bilateral stimulation
• Notice what changes between sets
• Continue engaging with what comes up

You do not need to believe that a change will happen.

You do need to actually participate in the task.

Is Being Skeptical a Problem?

Not by itself.

EMDR can look unusual if you have never seen it before.

Following a moving target, listening to alternating sounds, or using tapping while thinking about a memory is not necessarily what people imagine when they think of psychotherapy.

It is reasonable to wonder why those actions would make any difference.

Research has examined exactly this issue by testing people with different levels of prior knowledge and different expectations. The results suggest that skepticism or unfamiliarity does not automatically prevent the eye-movement procedure from affecting memory vividness and emotionality.

Can Expectations Still Matter?

Possibly.

It would be too strong to say expectations never matter.

Expectations can influence how people approach many treatments. They may affect motivation, participation, persistence, attention, or how someone interprets changes.

Researchers studying EMDR have also found some modest expectancy-related effects in certain experiments. For example, prior EMDR knowledge appeared to enhance the eye-movement effect somewhat in one study, although that result was not consistently reproduced when expectations were experimentally manipulated.

So the evidence does not suggest that expectations are completely irrelevant.

It suggests that they are unlikely to be the whole explanation.

What If You Think EMDR Sounds Strange?

You can still try the process without pretending that it makes intuitive sense.

Many psychological treatments involve tasks that may seem unusual before someone understands their purpose.

With EMDR, the useful question is not:

“Do I believe strongly enough?”

It is more practical to ask:

“Can I follow the process and notice what happens?”

That leaves room for skepticism without turning the session into a test of belief.

Should You Try to Convince Yourself It Will Work?

You do not need to.

Trying to force yourself into a positive expectation may create unnecessary pressure.

You do not have to tell yourself:

“This definitely will work.”

A more neutral approach is enough:

“I am willing to see what happens.”

That keeps the focus on your actual experience rather than on whether you are feeling optimistic enough.

What If Nothing Changes Right Away?

That does not necessarily mean you failed to believe strongly enough.

EMDR responses vary.

A person may notice:

• A quick shift
• A gradual change across several sets
• A new memory or association
• A change in emotion
• A change in body sensation
• Very little change during a particular set

There is no reason to conclude that a slow response means you were insufficiently positive or confident.

The process is not a test of your attitude. People working with experiences connected to anxiety may also notice that changes happen gradually rather than all at once.

Is EMDR Different From Positive Thinking?

Yes.

EMDR is not based on repeating positive statements until you believe them.

Although EMDR can eventually involve strengthening a more adaptive belief, the reprocessing procedure involves working with memories, emotions, thoughts, images, beliefs, body sensations, and bilateral stimulation.

The goal is not to talk yourself into feeling differently.

Changes are meant to emerge through the processing itself.

What About the Therapeutic Relationship?

In therapist-guided EMDR, the relationship with the therapist can still matter.

Trust, communication, collaboration, and understanding the process can influence how comfortably someone participates in psychotherapy.

That is different from saying EMDR only works because someone believes in the therapist or expects success.

Research on expectations suggests that the specific memory effects associated with the eye-movement task cannot be explained solely by what participants were told to expect.

The same principle can apply when EMDR is being used for experiences connected to stress.

What About Self-Guided EMDR?

The same general principle applies to structured self-guided EMDR.

With Virtual EMDR, the user works independently through a structured online process and manages their own pacing and available bilateral stimulation settings.

You do not have to persuade yourself that the program will work before beginning.

You can approach the process with curiosity, follow the instructions, notice what happens during and between sets, and evaluate your own experience.

The important distinction is between belief and participation.

Belief is not required.

Participation is part of the process.

Conclusion

You do not have to believe strongly in EMDR for it to have an effect.

Studies examining expectations have found that recalling a distressing memory while making eye movements can reduce its vividness and emotionality even when people have different prior knowledge or receive different information about how effective the procedure should be.

That does not mean expectations are completely irrelevant. They can influence many aspects of psychotherapy.

But EMDR is not a test of faith or positive thinking.

You do not need to convince yourself that it will work.

A much simpler starting point is enough:

be willing to participate, follow the process, and notice what happens.