MECHANISMS OF ACTION
At it’s heart, EMDR is a neurological therapy: the eye movements drive an active neurological response. Here are some papers that explore this issue.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20008198.2019.1568132
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0106350
The Working Memory mechanism of action has received strong support. During an EMDR session the client brings to mind the memory of a traumatic event, a negative or limiting belief, and their emotional and bodily response. They then focus on eye movements. This taxes Working Memory, resulting in a memory that is less vivid and less emotionally charged. Recently it has been shown that a higher taxation load results in poor processing effects. You can find out more by Googling “Speed matters EMDR”. A good summary of the topic can be found here.
Try this: Google “Tetris PTSD”. Tetris is a computer game that taxes working memory. It has also been shown to be effective in reducing the vividness and emotionality of trauma memories. So if Shapiro had her serendipitous discovery whilst playing computer games, imagine what the therapy might have been called.
