Explainer | EMDR therapy helped Miley Cyrus and Prince Harry, but how does bilateral stimulation work?

Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy helps the brain process negative thoughts and memories to reduce their impact

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Pop star Miley Cyrus has sung the praises of EMDR, saying it helped her overcome crippling stage fright and panic attacks that started after the pandemic. Photo: Instagram/mileycyrus

Published: 4:15pm, 15 Nov 2025

A therapy to address trauma using guided eye movements has been endorsed by celebrities such as Prince Harry, Miley Cyrus and Sandra Bullock.

Yet when my daughter Hattie told me her therapist had suggested EMDR – eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing – as part of a plan to manage the intrusive thoughts that frequently accompany her sometimes disabling obsessive-compulsive disorder, I was sceptical.

How on Earth, I questioned, could “eye desensitisation” get rid of distressing thoughts that had apparently resisted CBT – cognitive behaviour therapy – and medication?

EMDR’s history

EMDR therapy was developed by Dr Francine Shapiro, an American psychologist and educator, almost 40 years ago.

The discovery in 1987 was accidental. Walking in a park one day, she noticed that moving her eyes from side to side seemed to reduce the distress associated with upsetting memories.

Princess Diana with Prince Harry. Harry has said EMDR helped him deal with the trauma of his mother’s death. Photo: Instagram/oprahdaily

She hypothesised that eye movements had a desensitising effect on negative emotions and began testing this on other people. She subsequently developed the method known as EMDR today.

How bilateral stimulation helps

While revisiting a negative memory, the patient’s eyes track the therapist’s moving finger or a light from side to side, which creates bilateral stimulation.

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