Can EMDR Work Online? What I’ve Found
When I first started offering EMDR online, I wasn’t sure how well it would work.
EMDR relies on bilateral stimulation — the left-right rhythm that helps the brain process stuck experiences. In person, I have a few ways to do that, and some of them are hard to replicate over video. So I approached online EMDR with real questions, not certainty.
Here’s what I’ve found: it works better than I expected. Not for everyone, and not in every situation — but for a lot of people, online EMDR is a good option.
A few things are worth considering
You need the right setup. Online EMDR doesn’t work well on a phone — the screen is too small to follow visual movement, and it’s hard to stay settled peering at something that little. A laptop or larger screen makes a real difference. Earbuds help too, so the bilateral sounds come through clearly.
Some in-person tools don’t translate. In my office, some people do best with tactile bilateral stimulation — small handheld buzzers that pulse gently left and right. I like working with those, and they can’t be replicated online. So we work with what does translate to video — visual movement or sound — and find what suits you.
None of this is a dealbreaker for most people. But it’s worth knowing going in, and it’s part of what we’d sort out in a first conversation.
What surprised me
What I didn’t expect was how well the core of the work carries over.
The heart of EMDR isn’t really the specific form of the bilateral stimulation. It’s the relationship, the pacing, and the careful attention to what’s happening in your body and nervous system as we go. All of that translates to online work. We can still go slowly, still track what’s happening together, still adjust the pace moment to moment. That’s the part that matters most, and it holds up over video.
The upsides I didn’t fully appreciate
There’s something I only really understood once I’d done this work online: being in your own space can be an advantage, not just a compromise.
EMDR can stir things up. In person, that sometimes means finishing a session and then getting in a car and driving home while you’re still a bit activated. Online, when we’re done, you’re already home. You can close the laptop and stay in your own space, with your own things around you, and let yourself settle. For some people that makes the work feel safer and easier to come down from.
It also opens the door for people who can’t easily get to in-person sessions — because of where they live, their schedule, their line of work, or the simple fact that leaving the house to do hard emotional work is a lot to ask of some weeks.
So, does it work?
Yes — more than I would have guessed before I tried it. With the right setup and for the right situation, online EMDR can do real, lasting work.
It isn’t the right fit for everyone or every circumstance, and that’s completely okay. Whether it’s a good fit for you is the kind of thing we can figure out together in a short conversation before you commit to anything.
Online EMDR is available across British Columbia.
