Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR for short, is kind of like a special game that helps people who have had bad or scary things happen to them feel better.

When you play this game, you start by talking about the scary or bad thing that happened to you. Then, you focus on something, like a light or a moving toy, and move your eyes back and forth while you think about the scary thing.

As you do this, you might start feeling less scared and upset because your brain is kind of reprocessing the scary memory in a different way.

It's kind of like when you get a little scared watching a scary movie, but then you remind yourself that it's just a movie and not real.

EMDR helps people to feel less scared or upset about things that have happened in real life, so they can move on and feel better.