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What Is EMDR Therapy and Does It Help With Tinnitus?


Close up of woman's eye; EMDR Therapy for Tinnitus concept

EMDR is short for "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing" and is said to help people come to terms with traumatic experiences.

That may be true.

Miley Cyrus is one celebrity who vouches for the eye movement therapy. After a year of treatment to reduce physical sensations associated with painful memories, she calls it helpful.

But does it help with tinnitus?

According to the EMDR International Association, "it is not uncommon for people who experience tinnitus to also experience PTSD symptoms." Additionally, "tinnitus is associated with higher rates of anxiety, depression, substance misuse, and sleep disturbance," explains EMDR therapist Leslie Pertz. "I have seen many people reduce the distress of tinnitus...and for some, they no longer even pay attention to tinnitus."

The team at The Trauma Practice in the UK says "EMDR is a viable form of treatment for tinnitus because parallels have been drawn between individuals with chronic tinnitus, individuals with chronic pain and traumatic personal experiences which can influence the maintenance of chronic tinnitus."

If you're still not clear on the link between tinnitus and PTSD, Glenn Schweitzer, author of "Rewiring Tinnitus" and "Mind over Meniere’s," wrote a great blog post called "Tinnitus, Powerlessness, and PTSD: Framing Tinnitus as an Acute Stress Disorder" that brings in all together.

But what exactly does EMDR therapy involve? Short answer: eye movements. 

Here's a Forbes Health explanation:

During an EMDR session, your eyes will remain open and your therapist will ask you to follow their fingers with your eyes (or will use another form of bilateral simulation such as tappers) while also recalling a traumatic event. Your therapist will hold space for you to process the experience and allow your brain to make the connections it needs to in order to more adaptively store the experience. They will also guide you to switch to more empowering thoughts and resources. The goal of using this technique is to transform the effect of the disabling event or trauma, calming the nervous system, turning off the fight or flight response and allowing you to heal.

There's a very small study (with 35 people) published in 2018 in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology. It's "the first study to suggest that EMDR is effective in reducing tinnitus distress," write the authors. They find that "randomized controlled trials are warranted."

Again, EMDR isn't usually untaken to reduce the sounds of tinnitus. Rather, it helps with trauma that the unrelenting noise can cause and helps alleviate symptoms of anxiety and stress caused by the tinnitus itself, notes psychotherapist and EMDR therapist Matthew Alderton. 

However, some therapists say EMDR might actually treat the tinnitus symptom itself. Piera Briganti, a licensed clinical psychologist and EMDR psychotherapist says "EMDR is an effective therapy for medically unexplained symptoms such as chronic pain and phantom pain by targeting the disfunctionally stored 'pain memories.'"

"Since tinnitus may be considered as a form of 'phantom' auditory sensation, and the fact that previous research has shown overlapping brain networks between tinnitus and phantom pain, the use of bilateral stimulation to treat tinnitus represents an innovative method that is showing promising results."


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