The eye movements or other bilateral stimulation used in EMDR therapy are believed to facilitate communication between the brain's two hemispheres, which may help process traumatic memories more effectively. It was explained to me as calming down the part of your conscious brain that looks for stressors (amygdala and prefrontal cortex) and keeping it distracted enough to deal with things you may actively suppress.

Francine Shapiro founded Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. She discovered it in 1987 while taking a walk in the park. At the time, Shapiro was experiencing personal distress. She noticed that her eye movements seemed to reduce the intensity of her negative emotions. Intrigued, she began experimenting with eye movements while recalling traumatic memories, and she found that the eye movements appeared to facilitate the processing of the memories.

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