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Can you do EMDR on Yourself? Two Safe Self-Guided EMDR Techniques, by a Clinical Psychologist

Updated: 2 days ago

By Dr. Claire Plumbly, Clinical Psychologist, EMDR Consultant & Founder of Plum Psychology.


Two fingers are held in front of a woman's eye in a close up of her face
EMDR involves bilateral stimulation - stimulation of the left & right hemispheres of the brain


There are some EMDR techniques you can safely try yourself at home. These are techniques that EMDR therapists use to prepare a client for trauma-processing, which can give a 'taster' of what bilateral stimulation feels like (the left and right activation of the brain which EMDR is well-known for). However, attempting to do EMDR techniques for processing trauma on your own is not advised.


I am an EMDR Consultant and in this guide I break down what is safe to do on your own and how to get started, but I also explain where to draw the line.


What Is EMDR Therapy?


Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapeutic technique that has gained significant popularity in recent years for its effectiveness in treating trauma and various psychological conditions. It is included in the NICE guidelines (the evidence-based recommendations that guide NHS treatments) as an effective option for PTSD and can be used in many other anxiety difficulties too. This therapy involves stimulating the left and right side of the brain in quick succession through eye movements, tapping or auditory beeps through a headset (bilateral stimulation).


Before we dive into the question of whether we can do EMDR in a self-guided way, it's helpful to understand how this therapy works.


EMDR is a structured eight-phased therapy designed to reduce the emotional impact of traumatic events. All eight-phases are guided by the therapist, and they broadly fall under three categories:


1) Preparing for trauma processing (assessing the problem and doing EMDR techniques to stabilise and regulate strong emotional responses),

2) Trauma-processing (identifying the target trauma memory to work on and updating how this stored in your nervous system - this can be intense, especially without the support of a therapist alongside you)

3) Preparing for any future-feared events and considering how the learnings from the other phases of therapy can be applied to your every-day life.


Therapy progresses through those three areas so that you can develop skills for coping with strong emotions BEFORE going into the trauma-wounds. This enables you to feel safe and improves the chances that the trauma-processing phase will lead to adaptive feelings. These preparation skills include slow bilateral stimulation paired with positive visualisations, which strengthens your connection to positive emotions like feeling soothed, cared-for or confident.


Then, during the trauma-processing phase, faster bilateral stimulation is used. This is believed to facilitate the brain's capacity to process and integrate traumatic memories so they are less emotionally charged, as happens naturally during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep.


EMDR therapy doesn’t change the fact that traumatic events happened, but it does change how they are stored in the brain and body. After successful EMDR these traumatic events should feel more manageable and that you are no longer being held back by these excessive emotional reactions or repetitive behaviour patterns.


The final phase of EMDR therapy may include extra EMDR techniques (again with fast bilateral stimulation) to rehearse the new learnings, or imagine overcoming events that still trigger your fear-response that you are due to face.


The Role of a Trained Therapist in EMDR Therapy


One of the fundamental aspects of EMDR therapy is the presence of a trained therapist who guides the process. This therapist provides essential support, maintains a safe environment, helps clients navigate the emotional challenges that may arise during the sessions and ultimately helps the client to make sense of the adaptive material arising. A trained EMDR therapist can also adapt the therapy to suit the individual's specific needs, may draw on other therapy models at certain points where this would be beneficial, plus ensures that the process is conducted safely and effectively.


Self-Guided EMDR: What Is Safe To Try Yourself?

This is where the answer becomes more nuanced.


While processing traumatic memories on your own using EMDR is not advised, there are EMDR-based techniques that are safe to use in a self-guided way from the first and third parts of therapy outlined above.


These techniques introduce the experience of bilateral stimulation in a controlled, non-overwhelming way. Used appropriately, they can be helpful as standalone techniques for supporting you to find calm, and to help you overcome a block.


1. EMDR-Based Calming & Stabilisation Techniques

In the early phases of EMDR, therapists use slow, gentle bilateral stimulation paired with calming imagery. These techniques are intended to:

  • Reduce anxiety and physiological arousal

  • Increase a sense of safety and stability

  • Help you feel more connected to calming resources that are already within you


Clients are often encouraged to practice these skills between sessions, and many people use them as part of their everyday coping toolkit. When slow bilateral stimulation is used in this way - without bringing up traumatic memories - this technique is generally safe and supportive.


How to do this:

This involves self-tapping using the butterfly hug - crossing your arms over your chest so your finger tips are touching your collar bone then slowly tapping your hands left then right - all whilst focusing on a soothing image.

I do not believe it is possible to learn this technique effectively from reading an article. However, there is an option to follow a video where I guide you through this (and two other techniques) at the end of this article.

2. EMDR Techniques for Future Feared Events


There is also an EMDR approach designed to help the brain prepare differently for a future feared event, called the Flash Technique. This approach allows people to reduce emotional distress linked to anticipated situations. such as:

  • A presentation

  • A medical procedure

  • A difficult conversation

  • A task you’ve been avoiding or procrastinating on

Importantly, the Flash Technique works without going into traumatic material and can be delivered as a standalone intervention.

For many people, this makes the future event:

  • Less emotionally intense

  • Easier to tolerate

  • Less anxiety provoking


When taught properly and used for future-focused anxiety or avoidance, this type of technique can be a helpful, low-risk way to reduce emotional blocks.


As before, the summary section at the bottom of this article gives details for a Step-by-Step DIY EMDR video on how to do this technique.


Self-Guided EMDR: What Is NOT Safe To Try?


For those who have seen the videos of people in EMDR moving their eyes back and forth or tapping it might look like a simple technique and one you can try on your own to avoid having to talk to a therapist about the traumatic event. However, there are three main reasons why I advise against trying to do the EMDR trauma processing phase of therapy by yourself:


1. Coping with your Reactions:


EMDR can bring up intense emotions, vivid memories, and strong bodily sensations. For some people it can also lead to dissociation, which is when we feel less connected to the present-moment. A trained therapist assesses for these issues and adapts the pace of therapy accordingly. They also need to be present to help you understand and manage these responses effectively and in a way that is healing. It might seem odd to think that these are signs of healing but often this is the body releasing implicit memories and part of the process of making them into digestible explicit memories.


2. Lack of Expertise:


EMDR therapists undergo extensive training and education to ensure they can provide the necessary support and adapt the therapy to each client's unique needs. They have their core-professional training in mental health before going on to learn EMDR as an extra therapeutic method. Attempting self-guided EMDR without this expertise will not yield the desired therapeutic results.


3. Risk of Re-Traumatisation:


Trauma survivors are at risk of re-traumatisation when revisiting traumatic memories when done in a way that is unsupported. A trained therapist will know when your nervous system is ready to tolerate revisiting the ‘trauma-site’ and will have prepared you for this to avoid this from occurring in the first place (through teaching grounding and soothing skills) but will also know how to manage any unexpected responses like this.


As an experienced trauma-therapist, I believe that the trauma-processing phase always needs to be with the guidance of a trained therapist who can provide crucial support and ensure safety throughout the process. Self-guided trauma-processing is possible in theory, but it comes with significant limitations and potential risks. If you have a negative experience it might put you off ever trying EMDR with a trained professional which would be a real shame as there is a strong evidence-base for this method of therapy and I find it works very well for many people in my own practice.


How to Get Started With SAFE DIY EMDR Techniques


If you’re curious about EMDR techniques but want to stay firmly on the safe side of self-guided work, you may find the pre-recorded workshop below helpful.

Recorded live two years ago my EMDR for Procrastination Workshop guides you step-by-step through:

  • EMDR-based calming and stabilisation techniques

  • Gentle bilateral stimulation you can follow along with

  • The Flash Forward EMDR technique to help reduce avoidance and “stuckness” around a task or project.


The workshop is therapist-led by the author of this blog, Dr Claire Plumbly, an experienced EMDR Consultant. It is structured, and deliberately avoids trauma processing, including how to know if this inadvertently starts to happen, and how to ground yourself and pause if it does. This makes it suitable for people who want:

  • A safe introduction to EMDR techniques

  • Tools to calm their nervous system

  • Support with avoidance or procrastination around a current issue


You’re invited to bring a real-life task you’ve been putting off and work with it during the session.


Summary


There are two EMDR tools that you can try safely at home in a self-guided way. These fall under the stabilisation and future-preparation phase of EMDR treatment. I do not recommend trying to do EMDR for trauma-processing by yourself.


However, even the safer tools can be tricky to master and, for some people, can lead to unexpected reactions. For this reason a therapist-led, step-by-step introduction is a solid option as a next step for you.


There are three EMDR-techniques in this workshop EMDR for Procrastination, led by an EMDR therapist which you can follow along to. It's also on special offer over January 2026 so you can currently buy it for half price (£20 instead of the usual £40).


If you are interested in full EMDR therapy check out our own experienced team of EMDR therapists here at Plum Psychology.


You might also like to learn about EMDR intensives: a condensed form of EMDR therapy that can be carried out over a week or weekend. This is a good way of speeding up recovery time, this is a specialist service that we offer at our Plum Psychology practice. Take a look at our EMDR intensive packages for anxiety, complex trauma and PTSD here.


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