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Latest news
Tuesday 31 March 2026
When the past won't stay in the past: How EMDR helps teenagers heal
Adolescence is already one of the most turbulent periods of anyone's life. Add trauma to the mix, and a young person can find themselves trapped in a cycle of fear, avoidance and overwhelming emotion, one that no amount of 'just talking about it' seems to shift.
If that sounds familiar, whether you're a parent watching your teenager struggle or a young person who has felt stuck for longer than you can remember, this article is for you.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) therapy offers something different. It works at a neurological level, helping your brain finally process painful experiences so life can start to feel more manageable again.
What kinds of experiences can affect a teenager's mental health?
When people think about trauma in young people, they often picture dramatic, single events, a serious accident, a sudden bereavement or a violent incident. These are real and devastating and EMDR has a strong track record with exactly these situations.
But many teenagers are carrying something less visible, a wound that has built up slowly over time. Repeated difficult experiences during childhood and adolescence, such as emotional neglect, household instability or growing up around addiction or mental illness, can leave a young person with deeply held beliefs about themselves and the world.
Beliefs like: I'm not safe. I'm not good enough. I can't trust anyone.
Bullying is another common source of this kind of lasting harm. Whether it's a single severe incident or a slow, relentless drip of humiliation and exclusion, bullying can leave significant marks on a teenager's confidence, sense of safety and ability to connect with others.
These are the kinds of experiences EMDR is designed to help with.
What is EMDR and how does it work?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing which sounds more complicated than it is.
The idea behind it is straightforward. When something overwhelming happens to us, the brain sometimes can't process it properly at the time. The memory gets 'stuck' and every time something triggers a reminder of it, the distress comes flooding back as if it's happening all over again.
EMDR uses a technique called bilateral stimulation, usually guided eye movements, gentle tapping or auditory tones to help the brain complete the processing it couldn't do before. You don't need to talk through everything in detail. Instead, you access the memory in a carefully contained way, while the bilateral stimulation helps move things through.
Most clients describe a gradual shift like the memory losing its charge. It's still there, but it no longer runs the show.
EMDR is not a new or experimental approach. It is recognised by the World Health Organisation, NHS England and NICE guidelines as an evidence based treatment for trauma.
Why EMDR works so well with young people
Many teenagers struggle with traditional talking therapies, not because they don't want to feel better, but because words alone often can't reach the depth of what they're carrying.
EMDR doesn't require a young person to fully explain or articulate their experience. It works with the body and the nervous system, which is particularly valuable when trauma happened early, before language fully developed or when feelings are simply too big to put into words.
With the right adaptations like age appropriate language, careful preparation and a warm therapeutic relationship, EMDR can be genuinely transformative for teenagers who have felt stuck for a long time.
EMDR can help teenagers with:
• Anxiety, panic attacks and persistent worry.
• The lasting effects of bullying.
• Childhood trauma and difficult family experiences.
• Traumatic bereavement or loss.
• Low self-worth and negative beliefs about themselves.
• Social anxiety and fear of judgement.
• Distressing memories that keep resurfacing.
A specialist service that's harder to find than you might think
It's worth knowing that relatively few therapists hold specialist training in EMDR for children and young people. EMDR is increasingly well known in adult mental health but therapists who are both fully trained in EMDR and experienced in working with teenagers remain genuinely rare.
I am one of them. My practice is based on the south side of Glasgow and I offer both in-person and online EMDR sessions for teenagers and young people. I also work with the adults and parents around them, because healing rarely happens in isolation.
If you are a parent concerned about your teenager, or a young person who has been carrying something heavy for a long time, please know that you don't need to have all the answers before reaching out. You just need to be curious about whether this kind of support might help.
Thinking about EMDR for a teenager in your life?
The bravest and most important step is often the simplest one — just making contact to ask if this might help.
I offer an initial conversation to explore what you're looking for and whether we might be a good fit. There's no commitment required, just a warm, confidential space to talk things through. I'm happy to hear from parents, carers, teenagers themselves, or professionals looking to refer.
Saturday 7 December 2024
EMDR- for Traumatic Bereavement
Bereavement at any time of year is hard but Christmas can be particularly so especially if loved ones supported a chronic long term illness or a death that was less than calm and easy.
The image left in someone’s memory; the noises in ICU or an accident can prevent the normal grieving process from taking it natural course. This is due to these memories being stuck in a loop, like a needle being stuck on an old vinyl LP, constantly replaying images or noises in the wrong part of the brain. Trauma prevents normal event processing where, in our sleep, the brain sorts out where to store these memories so that in the natural course of time, memories become less intrusive and debilitating.
Traumatic memories often produce nightmares, interrupting sleep and frightening the individual. Disturbed sleep then creates an additional chronic exhaustion, time off work or irritability.
EMDR can reduce the trauma intensity by helping the brain push the memory into the correct part of the brain for storage. This then turns down the trauma intensity until it becomes what a normal sad bereavement would feel like and allow the grieving process to take place.
EMDR therapists can be found across the UK and can work face-to-face or online.
I can be contacted at
patricia.lyon@btinternet.com
Or text 07732324387
Justin Havers has created a standalone programme for individuals to work through at
stopnightmares.org
EMDR is suitable for most traumatic memories of any event.
- Are these feelings persistent, meaning that they never seem to go away and don’t change much from day to day, even when there isn’t any particular reason for feeling that way?
- Do they interfere with your life, leaving you unable to enjoy things you normally like doing? In severe cases, depression can make normal everyday tasks like getting dressed or doing the shopping feel impossible?
If you notice that you have been experiencing some of these symptoms for over two weeks, that they are persistent and are interfering your work, study or home life, and you do not have any identifiable reason for feeling this way it is a good idea to seek an assessment. This can be done by going to your GP. If he also advises to seek counselling then he may refer you to their local service or you can choose to come directly (self-funded) to me by calling the main website phone number 07732324387.