How EMDR Works: Research on the Neuroscience of EMDR

In this interview, Marco discusses how he was invited to do a study on EMDR, to understand the neurological mechanisms behind the processing of the trauma. He discussed his career being a MD and a neuroscientist interested in memory. He discussed using EEG to measure what was happening in the brain during bilateral stimulation during EMDR. He explained that they were able to determine that the delta waves that were being evoked during EMDR were similar to the delta waves exhibited during sleep, and he discussed how sleep is so significantly connected to processing of memory. He discussed the processes of trauma and the mechanisms of action for EMDR. Marco Pagani, MD is a nephrologist trained in internal medicine from Jackson Memorial Hospital and attended medical school at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He has been working in neuroimaging since 1990 and has over 30 years of experiences. He works for the Italian Research Council called Sayonara. His interests are primarily in the neurobiology aspects of EMDR and in neurodegenerative disorders. He has treated Chronic Renal Disease, Nephrotic Syndrome, and Acute Renal Failure during his time as a Doctor of Internal Medicine. He has many publications regarding EMDR including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Slow Wave Sleep: A Putative Mechanism of Action and Neurobiological Correlates of EMDR Monitoring – An EEG Study.