Can EMDR change your DNA?

A new award-winning study just gave us scientific proof of something many trauma therapists have long suspected: EMDR therapy can change your body at the cellular level.

The study looked at people with treatment-resistant depression - the kind that doesn't shift with medication or standard therapy. These people also had histories of early life stress (neglect, abuse, or other childhood trauma). Researchers treated with them either EMDR or trauma-focused CBT. Both helped, but EMDR stood out - not just in symptom relief, but in what it did to their DNA.

Specifically, EMDR was linked to changes in DNA methylation (a process that influences how your genes are expressed), particularly in genes involved in inflammation and immune response. These systems are often overactive in people with childhood trauma histories - and can keep the body stuck in survival mode long after the danger is gone.

So what does this mean? It means that we now can use these wonderful bottom-up therapies - such as EMDR - that can help your whole body heal from trauma. Your biology can shift. Your cells can heal. You can experience lasting changes not just in your emotional states, but in your physical health.

While this study focused on depression, it opens the door for future research into PTSD and complex trauma too, as well as any other mental health challenges that originate from adverse life experiences and early life stress. Obviously it's still early days, but I am confident that we will see similar results for those conditions as well. For now, it offers something rare and beautiful: hard evidence that deep healing is possible - even for those who’ve felt stuck for years.
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If you're curious about EMDR, or if you've been carrying old wounds in a body that just won't settle - maybe now's the time to move foward.
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Reference: Carvalho Silva, R. et al. (2024). Epigenetic changes in treatment-resistant depression after trauma-focused psychotherapy. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2024.2314913