Using EMDR to Become Unstuck: How EMDR Therapy Helps Heal Anxiety, Trauma & Emotional Blocks
by Ho Shee Wai
Director / Registered Psychologist
Using EMDR to Become Unstuck: How EMDR Therapy Helps Heal Anxiety, Trauma & Emotional Blocks
Feeling emotionally stuck, overwhelmed, or trapped in patterns you can’t seem to break? EMDR therapy helps the brain and body resolve unresolved experiences at their root — often when other therapies haven’t brought lasting change. Learn how EMDR can unlock emotional healing and help you move forward with Psychologist Ho Shee Wai
Many people arrive in therapy feeling stuck — emotionally, physically, or in patterns that no longer make sense to them. They may have insight into their difficulties, have tried multiple approaches, and yet still feel trapped by anxiety, grief, self-criticism, or unexplained bodily tension. What they often don’t realise is that these “stuck” experiences are not signs of failure or weakness, but signals that the nervous system is holding unresolved material that has not yet been fully processed.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) offers a powerful way to help the brain and body complete this unfinished processing. Originally developed by Francine Shapiro for trauma treatment, EMDR has since become one of the most effective therapeutic approaches for helping people move beyond emotional blocks, distressing beliefs, and long-standing life issues — even when other therapies have not brought lasting change.
This article explores how EMDR works, why people become emotionally stuck, and how EMDR can support healing across a wide range of difficulties, from grief and anxiety to body image struggles and chronic stress.
1. Why do People Feel “Stuck” in Life?
Type of Stuckness
There are different ways people can become stuck in their life:
Emotional stuckness:
Where we are repeating patterns of behaviours, having persistent anxiety, orexperiencing unresolved grief.
Cognitive stuckness:
Where we are constrained by our negative or limiting beliefs, engage in self-criticism, or developing an outlook of hopelessness.
Somatic stuckness:
Where we are experiencing chronic tension or having unexplained physical symptoms of discomfort.
Why insight alone often isn’t enough
While some of us have inkling of why we are stuck, often time these insights are not sufficient to get us “unstuck”. Just because I know that my problem of self confidence came from the incident of my teacher criticizing me in front of the class when I was 10, I am no further in moving pass it.
2. The Nervous System & Unprocessed Experiences
How the brain stores overwhelming or distressing experiences
Research increasingly shows that traumatic experiences create what psychologists call "implicit memory"—unconscious recollections that influence our behavior without our awareness. This is stored in our brain (especially the amygdala) but also in our body.
The role of memory, emotion, and the body
When a distressing or overwhelming experience occurs, the brain does not store it like an ordinary memory. Instead, the experience may remain “unprocessed,” held in the nervous system as a tightly linked network of memory, emotion, and bodily sensation. Later, when something in the present resembles the original experience, the nervous system can react as if the past is happening again, even when the current situation does not warrant such a strong response. This is why people may feel emotionally flooded, anxious, or physically tense without fully understanding why. The body often carries this unresolved history through chronic tension, heightened stress responses, or unexplained physical symptoms. Healing therefore requires more than insight alone; it involves helping the brain and body complete the unfinished processing of these stored experiences so they can finally be experienced as belonging to the past rather than intruding into the present.
Why unprocessed material keeps resurfacing in daily life
Unprocessed material continues to resurface in daily life because the brain is biologically driven to resolve what remains unfinished. When an experience is not fully processed at the time it occurs, the nervous system stores it in a heightened, active state rather than as a settled memory. The brain then repeatedly brings aspects of that experience back into awareness — through emotions, thoughts, body sensations, dreams, or relationship patterns — in an unconscious attempt to complete the processing and restore balance. What often feels like “overreacting,” being stuck in the same emotional loop, or repeatedly encountering similar struggles is not a personal failing, but the nervous system’s persistent effort to heal. Until the underlying memory network is integrated, the system continues to signal, searching for resolution through everyday life.
3. What Is EMDR and How Does It Work?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based psychotherapy approach developed by psychologist Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s. While originally designed to treat trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), EMDR is now widely used to address a broad range of emotional and psychological difficulties, including anxiety, grief, phobias, relationship issues, and negative self-beliefs.
At the core of EMDR is the use of bilateral stimulation—most commonly guided eye movements, but also alternating sounds or tactile sensations. This stimulation activates the brain’s natural information-processing system, allowing distressing memories and emotional experiences that have become “stuck” to be reprocessed and integrated. During EMDR sessions, clients briefly focus on aspects of a troubling memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation, which helps the brain reorganise how the memory is stored.
Unlike traditional talk therapy or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), EMDR does not rely on detailed verbal analysis, reframing, or behavioural practice. Instead, it works directly with the brain’s neurological processing of memory and emotion. This is why many clients experience significant relief even when they have already gained insight through other counselling approaches.
By helping the brain complete its unfinished emotional processing, EMDR allows distressing experiences to shift from being felt as present and overwhelming to being remembered as part of the past—reducing emotional intensity, physical symptoms, and negative beliefs in the present.
4. Real-Life Examples of Becoming Unstuck
Jane* is struggling with Anticipatory Grief with her mother’s terminal cancer. After undergoing EMDR treatment, she was able to identify and resolve her conflicting feelings with the potential loss of her mother and the history of her mother being abusive to her.
John* is experiencing physical symptoms that seemed to be stress related. Through his EMDR sessions, he was able to link his body tension to an assault trauma incident in the past and receive relief from that.
Janice* has issues with eating and her body image. She was able to uncover her food and body related issues’ underlying root cause to her interaction with her grandmother via EMDR.
Jack* has always been anxious as far as he can remember. He had tried CBT and other therapeutic approaches but none work until he started with EMDR.
*Not their real names.
5. Issues EMDR Can Help With:
Some of the issues EMDR can resolved:
Anxiety, panic, phobias
Grief and complicated loss
Low self-esteem and negative self-beliefs
Chronic stress and psychosomatic symptoms
Performance blocks and life transitions
6. Why EMDR Often Works When Other Therapies Don’t
EMDR works at both emotional and neurological levels. It accesses memories and beliefs that traditional counselling or talk therapy can’t reach. It integrates the mind and body healing. Many clients notice it’s a faster processing as it works on the subconscious level.
If you feel stuck in patterns of anxiety, grief, stress, or emotional overwhelm, EMDR therapy may help you move forward in ways that other approaches have not. At The Counselling Place, our trained EMDR therapists provide a safe, compassionate space to support your healing and growth. You are welcome to book a session today and take the first step toward lasting change.