What is EMDR, and How Can It Help Sex Addiction?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) sounds a little bit futuristic and strange, maybe like something you’d see in a Matrix movie. Once you read the description of the therapy, you may be even more convinced that it’s from a sci-fi film.

So, what is EMDR, and how can it help sex addiction? 

EMDR is an approach to therapy that mental health professionals use to help people recover from various trauma-induced mental health concerns. Since trauma is frequently the root cause of sex addiction, experts often use EMDR to treat it.

What is EMDR?

Emotional trauma is your body and mind’s response to extremely stressful things that have happened to you. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a type of fast-acting therapy that helps relieve the distress associated with traumatic memories. These experiences stick in your brain, causing you challenges in functioning in your daily life. EMDR uses eye movements, hand tapping, or repetitive sounds to help you recall traumatic memories, process them, and think of them in a new way.

The EMDR protocol consists of eight phases, each with its own specific goals and techniques. 

The 8 EMDR phases are:

• Phase 1: History and Treatment Planning. A therapist reviews your history and decides where you are in treatment. The therapist will also talk with you about any traumatic events you may have experienced and help you identify potential traumatic memories to treat specifically.
• Phase 2: Preparation. Your therapist works with you to discuss healthy coping mechanisms for the emotional or psychological issues you experience. 
• Phase 3: Assessment. Your therapist identifies specific memories and physical sensations associated with those memories to target in treatment.
• Phases 4-7: Treatment. You attend sessions where your therapist asks you to focus on a negative thought, memory, or image. At the same time, you’ll do specific eye movements. After moving your eyes, your therapist will ask you to let your mind go blank. They’ll then ask you to notice any thoughts that may come up after that. Your therapist may ask you to refocus on a specific memory, or you may move on to another. Over time, the distress and negative emotions you feel regarding specific memories or thoughts should fade.
• Phase 8: Evaluation. Your therapist will ask you to evaluate your progress. Then, they will help you identify other targets to process using EMDR.

In action, the EMDR protocols may look a little strange to an outsider. Your therapist may move their fingers around in front of your eyes. They also may use a series of tapping motions or musical tones to help during an EMDR session.

While they’re moving their fingers, they ask you to recount memories and describe your bodily and emotional sensations. Gradually, your therapist will guide you toward more pleasant thoughts and memories. You’ll notice that negative experiences won’t feel as harmful or distressing. By working through your traumatic memories, they lose their power and become less triggering. 

EMDR therapy focuses on the past, present, and future to ensure unity in your healing. Essentially, it allows you to rewrite learned behaviors and emotional triggers. You create helpful patterns and skills for the future. 

History of EMDR

Dr. Francine Shapiro, an American psychologist and educator, created Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. 

In 1987, as she went for a walk through the park, she found that moving her eyes from side to side seemed to decrease negative emotions she associated with traumatic memories. After this experience, she began to study this process and develop EMDR as a practice.

Shapiro found that others had similar responses to eye movements. She also added other components to this therapy and created a standard procedure for EMDR. In 1989, scholars published studies on the effects of EMDR on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

While EMDR is still relatively young, mental health professionals recognize it as an effective way to treat trauma.

Exploring Sex Addiction

Sex addiction is an uncontrollable, compulsive need to focus on sexual activities that cause distress to your life. It causes strain on daily activities, health, relationships, jobs, or other regular aspects of life.

Trauma is often the root cause of sex addiction. When you experience a traumatic event, your body enters fight-or-flight mode. Your emotional processing shuts down. And your brain redirects your energy toward releasing adrenaline, so you can escape danger. Trauma gets you stuck in this mode. 

To return to your normal functioning, you need to exit fight-or-flight mode. To do this, you need dopamine, the natural “feel-good” chemical in the brain. You can get a little of it from a hug or a lot of it from sexual pleasure.

People with sex addiction learn to relax their fight-or-flight reaction through sexual pleasure. As you repeat these habits in stressful times, they become learned behavior. This behavior means that anything that triggers a stress response also activates sexual desire. 

Signs of sex addiction include:

• A compulsive need for sex
• Obsessive thoughts about sex that interfere with daily life
• Avoiding activities that don’t include sex, such as family or business gatherings
• Failure to keep promises about changing sexual behaviors
• Repeated failed attempts to stop compulsive sexual behaviors
• Low self-esteem
• Defensiveness about sexual behaviors
• Engaging in risky sexual behaviors that have serious consequences
• Experiencing the loss of a job or relationship as a result of sexual behaviors
• Feeling shame or guilt after sexual activities 

The Role of EMDR in Treating Sex Addiction

EMDR is effective in treating all types of mental health concerns where trauma is a factor, including sex addiction. EMDR can help you develop healthier coping mechanisms and break free from destructive behaviors by addressing the underlying trauma and triggers that contribute to sex addiction. 

EMDR helps you target the negative emotions and beliefs associated with the traumatic experience and reprocess them. Once you cope with the trauma and understand how it resulted in addiction, you can learn healthier ways to deal with any negative emotions that arise.

By addressing underlying trauma, EMDR promotes lasting recovery. You’ll have the tools you need to understand how trauma impacts you and to know how to respond when challenges present themselves.

Integrating EMDR with Other Therapies

At Begin Again Institute, we use multiple therapies to treat sex addiction, depending on your unique situation and needs. 

Other therapeutic approaches may include:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. CBT involves adjusting thoughts, emotions, and actions to identify and manage triggers for sexual behavior. This evidence-based approach teaches mood management, coping skills, and how to eliminate false beliefs and insecurities.
• Group Therapy. This therapy fosters community and support among people with the same concerns, which is essential for recovery. 
• Trauma-Informed Therapy. Personalized one-on-one sessions focus on the individual’s specific challenges and histories, including addressing any underlying trauma that may be fueling the addiction.
• Mindfulness Therapy. Mindfulness teaches techniques to stay grounded in the current moment, reducing stress and anxiety caused by dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. This approach enhances emotional regulation and fosters a deeper sense of calm and focus.

When combined with other forms of therapy, such as those listed above, EMDR can provide a comprehensive, holistic approach to treating sex addiction. 

Sex Addiction Treatment at Begin Again Institute

At Begin Again Institute, we understand that healing the root cause of sex addiction is necessary for recovery. Healing is the only way to stop destructive behaviors for good. Instead of treating the symptoms of sex addiction, we help you identify and treat the root cause then learn to stop the actions that are harming you.

Counselors at Begin Again Institute will treat you with empathy and address your needs individually. You’ll have many sex addiction treatment options available to you at BAI. 

We offer a 14-Day Men’s Intensive program to help jumpstart your recovery from intimacy disorders, including sex and pornography addiction. If you want faith-based treatment, you can get it through our Boulder Recovery 14-Day Men’s Christian Intensive. 

Regardless of which program you choose, you’ll understand your therapeutic options and work with a trained mental health professional to create a treatment plan that’s right for you.

If you’re ready to heal, contact us today.