How Fast Should Bilateral Stimulation Be in EMDR?

How Fast Should Bilateral Stimulation Be in EMDR?

Short Answer: There is no single bilateral stimulation speed that is right for every Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) session. The pace can vary depending on whether you are using eye movements, sounds, or tapping, what part of the EMDR process you are in, and how you respond to the stimulation. Faster stimulation is often associated with memory reprocessing, while slower stimulation may sometimes be used for calming, resourcing, or when a gentler pace works better. The goal is not to reach a particular speed but to use a pace that allows you to follow the stimulation while staying engaged with the EMDR process.

Key Takeaways

• There is no universal “correct” speed for bilateral stimulation.
• The pace may change during different parts of an EMDR session.
• Eye movements, sounds, and tapping do not necessarily use exactly the same speed.
• Faster is not automatically better.
• Slower is not automatically more effective either.
• The useful pace is one that lets you follow the stimulation while remaining engaged with what you are working on.
• In online or self-guided EMDR, adjustable stimulation settings can make it easier to find a workable pace.

What Does Bilateral Stimulation Speed Mean?

Bilateral stimulation is the repeated stimulation used during EMDR, often moving or alternating from one side to the other.

It can include:

• Following a visual target from side to side with your eyes
• Hearing sounds alternate between the left and right ears
• Alternating taps on the left and right sides of the body

The speed refers to how quickly these movements, sounds, or taps repeat.

With visual stimulation, for example, a slower setting gives your eyes more time to travel from one side to the other. A faster setting makes that back-and-forth movement happen more quickly.

With sounds or tapping, speed refers to how quickly the stimulation alternates between sides.

Is There a Standard EMDR Speed?

Not one that applies to everyone.

EMDR guidance describes bilateral stimulation as being delivered in sets, but the exact speed may be adjusted rather than fixed at one universal rate. Resources for online EMDR similarly describe the use of methods such as metronomes or applications with variable speeds, reflecting the fact that pacing can be changed.

The appropriate pace can depend on several things:

• The type of bilateral stimulation being used
• What you are working on during that part of the session
• How easily you can follow the stimulation
• How you respond as the processing continues

Because of these differences, a speed that feels natural for one person may feel unnecessarily fast or slow for another.

Is Faster Bilateral Stimulation Better for Reprocessing?

Not automatically.

Traditional EMDR practice has often used relatively rapid eye movements during active memory reprocessing. One idea is that a faster attention-demanding task places greater demands on working memory while the memory is being recalled.

But that does not mean that increasing the speed indefinitely improves EMDR.

The stimulation still needs to be something you can follow. If the visual target moves so quickly that you continually lose track of it, the extra speed is not necessarily useful.

Research and clinical guidance also show that stimulation speed can be adapted rather than treated as a fixed rule. EMDR resources discussing specific populations, for example, describe circumstances in which slower dual-attention stimulation may be used.

The important point is that faster is a setting, not a goal by itself.

When Might Slower Bilateral Stimulation Be Used?

Slower stimulation can be used for several reasons.

For example, a slower pace may simply be easier to follow. It may also be used during exercises focused more on calming, stabilization, or strengthening a positive resource rather than directly reprocessing a distressing memory.

Some EMDR protocols specifically emphasize adjusting both the speed and the length of eye-movement sets to the individual rather than using the same settings for everyone.

That does not mean slow stimulation is always preferable. It means speed is one of several parts of the EMDR process that can be adjusted.

A slower pace may sometimes feel easier when working with experiences connected to anxiety.

Does the Best Speed Depend on the Type of Bilateral Stimulation?

It can.

Eye Movements

With visual stimulation, the target needs to move at a pace that allows your eyes to follow it from side to side.

The width of the movement matters as well as speed. EMDR International Association guidance for virtual EMDR notes that visual stimulation should allow eye movements to travel across the midline rather than being limited to a very narrow area.

So visual stimulation is not simply about making a dot move as quickly as possible. The movement needs to remain usable.

Alternating Sounds

With auditory bilateral stimulation, tones or other sounds typically alternate between the left and right ears.

Because your eyes do not have to physically track a moving object, the experience of speed may feel different from visual stimulation.

The pace can still be adjusted depending on the purpose of the stimulation and how the person responds.

Tapping

Alternating tapping also has its own natural pace.

Some people may find a slower, steady rhythm comfortable, while others may naturally use a somewhat quicker alternation.

As with the other forms, there is no need to match a universal number of taps per minute for the stimulation to count as bilateral stimulation.

Does Bilateral Stimulation Have a Specific Beats-Per-Minute Setting?

You may see programs, videos, or metronomes describe bilateral stimulation using beats per minute or cycles per second.

Those numbers can be useful for controlling a device consistently, but there is no universally accepted beats-per-minute number that everyone doing EMDR should use.

Some research papers and EMDR discussions describe frequencies in the general range of one to a few cycles per second in particular experimental or clinical contexts. For example, EMDRIA material discussing traumatic brain injury cites research involving low-frequency stimulation around 1–3 hertz. However, that information comes from a specific context and should not be turned into a universal prescription for all EMDR sessions.

In practical terms, it is more accurate to think of speed as adjustable rather than as a number you need to get exactly right.

What If the Eye Movements Feel Too Fast?

If you repeatedly lose the visual target or find yourself concentrating entirely on trying to keep up with it, reducing the speed may make the stimulation easier to follow.

The bilateral stimulation is supposed to work alongside your attention to the memory, thought, feeling, or sensation being processed.

You should not have to turn the exercise into a test of how quickly your eyes can move.

Similarly, if the stimulation feels so slow that following it requires almost no attention, another pace may work better.

This is one reason adjustable speed can be useful.

Can the Speed Change During the Same EMDR Session?

Yes.

Bilateral stimulation does not necessarily need to remain at exactly the same speed from the beginning of the session to the end.

The pace may be adjusted as the work changes.

For example, the stimulation used while directly processing a distressing memory may differ from the stimulation used during a calming or resource-focused exercise.

EMDR protocols also commonly use stimulation in discrete sets rather than running it continuously throughout the entire session.

After a set, you pause, notice what comes up, and then continue as appropriate.

How Does Speed Relate to Working Memory?

One leading explanation for the effects of eye movements in EMDR involves working memory.

Working memory is the limited mental space you use to temporarily hold and work with information.

Recalling a vivid memory requires some of that capacity. Following a moving target or performing another attention-demanding task requires capacity too.

Doing both at the same time may create competition for those limited resources.

This has led researchers to investigate whether changing the difficulty or speed of the secondary task changes how strongly it taxes working memory.

That research helps explain why stimulation should be engaging enough to require attention. But it does not establish that the fastest possible stimulation produces the best therapeutic result.

Bilateral Stimulation Speed in Self-Guided EMDR

Speed is especially noticeable in online and self-guided EMDR because software can allow the stimulation settings to be adjusted directly.

With the Virtual EMDR self-guided program, for example, users can select and adjust available bilateral stimulation settings themselves.

That makes it possible to find a visual or auditory pace that is comfortable to follow rather than assuming everyone needs exactly the same setting.

The same basic principle applies whether EMDR is therapist-guided or self-guided: the speed is part of how the bilateral stimulation is delivered, and it can be adjusted to fit the session rather than treated as a fixed target.

Conclusion

There is no single speed that bilateral stimulation must reach for EMDR to work.

The pace can vary according to the type of stimulation, the part of the EMDR process, and how the person responds. Faster eye movements are commonly associated with active reprocessing, while slower stimulation can also be used in other circumstances.

What matters is not achieving a particular numerical speed. The stimulation should be fast enough to hold your attention while remaining easy enough to follow as you stay engaged with the memory, thought, feeling, or sensation you are working on.

In EMDR—whether therapist-guided, online, or self-guided—bilateral stimulation speed is best understood as an adjustable part of the process rather than a fixed number everyone needs to match.