Why Does EMDR Work? A Dive into Network Neuroscience and the Brain’s Healing Potential

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has transformed trauma therapy, but an age-old question lingers: How does it actually work?

For decades, the EMDR community has debated this question. Early theories focused on specific brain structures—the hippocampus for memory, the amygdala for fear, the prefrontal cortex for executive control. This modular perspective helped us make sense of a complex process. But neuroscience has evolved, and so has our understanding.

In Episode 2 of Notice That: An EMDR Podcast, Bridger Falkenstien and Jen Savage explore a paradigm shift—from modular to network neuroscience—and how this broader lens reshapes the way we think about trauma, healing, and EMDR.

From Modules to Networks: A Shift in Understanding the Brain

Traditionally, neuroscience taught us that individual brain regions had specific jobs. The amygdala processes fear. The hippocampus handles memory. The prefrontal cortex regulates impulses.

This modular view isn’t wrong—it’s just incomplete.

In reality, the brain functions as a dynamic, interconnected system of networks. Modern neuroscience shows us that even when one area specializes in a task, it does so within a web of relationships. Trauma doesn’t just impact a single region; it disrupts the collaboration between networks.

This is where network neuroscience comes in. Instead of asking which part of the brain?, we ask:

Which networks are interacting?
How are they integrating—or failing to integrate—under stress?
How does EMDR facilitate re-integration?

Meet the Big Three: Core Brain Networks in Trauma and Healing

Research in network neuroscience highlights three large-scale networks that play a crucial role in both trauma and recovery:

1. Salience Network (SN)

Function: Detects and filters what’s important—internal sensations, external stimuli, emotional cues—and decides what deserves attention.
Trauma Impact: Becomes hypervigilant or shut down, tagging even neutral cues as threats.
In EMDR: Helps shift between the past (default mode) and present (executive control).

2. Default Mode Network (DMN)

Function: Self-reflection, autobiographical memory, mentalizing (“Who am I? What happened to me?”).
Trauma Impact: Loops in shame, rumination, and “frozen” identity narratives.
In EMDR: Holds the story of the traumatic experience and the meanings made from it.

3. Central Executive Network (CEN)

Function: Working memory, decision-making, regulating attention.
Trauma Impact: Goes offline in overwhelm, leaving clients unable to think clearly or plan.
In EMDR: Critical for top-down regulation of subcortical processes.

These networks don’t operate in isolation—they’re in constant conversation. Trauma disrupts that conversation, leading to disintegration. Healing requires restoring their collaborative flow.

How EMDR Works in the Brain: Beyond the Protocol

During EMDR, when a traumatic memory is activated (Phase 3) and bilateral stimulation (BLS) is applied, something remarkable happens:

The SN flags the traumatic memory as salient—“Pay attention. This matters.”
The DMN pulls up self-referential meaning—“This means I’m unsafe/useless/etc.”
The CEN is invited back online through dual attention tasks, helping the client hold both the memory and the present moment in awareness.

This isn’t just a mechanical process. It’s a forced redistribution of cognitive resources that breaks the brain out of its trauma-locked loop.

As Bridger explains:

“It’s like unpacking an avalanche—slowly taking out the debris so the mountain can reorganize.”

The goal isn’t just to desensitize distress. It’s to help the networks regain their natural flow—so that the body and mind no longer behave as if the trauma is still happening.

The Role of Working Memory Theory

Working Memory Theory suggests that when we overload the brain’s working memory—by recalling the traumatic memory while engaging in a second task like BLS—the vividness and emotional charge of the memory fade.

This theory helps explain why EMDR works, but it’s not the whole story.

Strength: Shows how “dual attention” can disrupt trauma loops.
Limitation: Doesn’t account for why some clients feel worse after sessions or why deeper transformation requires relational safety.

This is why Beyond Healing integrates working memory theory within a larger, network-based, relational perspective.

Why Therapists Should Care About Neuroscience

Some may wonder: Why bother with all this neuroscience? Isn’t it enough to follow the EMDR protocol?

Here’s why it matters:

✅ Understanding networks builds confidence in the method.

✅ It empowers therapists to adjust their interventions with intention.

✅ It helps clinicians see why attunement and resourcing aren’t optional—they’re essential to reintegration.

As Savage reflects in the episode:

“This shifts us from memorizing a protocol to creatively, relationally helping clients heal.”

Key Takeaways for Clinicians

EMDR works by regulating relationships between the SN, DMN, and CEN.
BLS is more than eye movements—it’s a physiological regulator.
Attunement and relational safety are as critical as technical precision.
Neuroscience doesn’t limit creativity—it expands it.

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