Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), is a psychotherapy approach designed to treat symptoms of trauma and post-traumatic stress.
In the 1980’s, American psychologist Francine Shapiro made the chance discovery that certain types of repetitive eye movement reduced the emotional impact of strong memories. She went on to develop EMDR therapy. It incorporates guided eye-movement exercises as a means of processing the memories to reduce their impact and allow the person to address them and move on.