Can EMDR Help If Trauma Has Suddenly Come Back?

By Dr Comfort Shields, Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Psychodynamic Psychotherapist in Harley Street, London

“Trauma is not simply an event that happened sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain and body.”

— Bessel van der Kolk

When the Past Suddenly Feels Present Again

One of the most unsettling things about trauma is that it does not always arrive when expected.

Sometimes a person has lived for years, even decades, believing they have “moved on”. They may have built a life, a career, a family, a sense of competence. They may be the person everyone relies on. They may be highly intelligent, articulate, capable, even outwardly successful. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, something begins to return.

It may come back as intrusive memories. Or nightmares. Or a sudden aversion to intimacy. Or panic in situations that were previously manageable. It may appear as irritability, emotional numbness, dissociation, bodily tension, insomnia, shame, despair, or a strange sense of being much younger than one’s actual age.

Some people do not experience clear memories at all. Instead, the body begins to speak in symptoms: the chest tightens, the stomach turns, the skin feels alert, the nervous system becomes watchful. The person may say, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Nothing has happened. I should be fine.”

But trauma often returns not because something has gone wrong in the person, but because something in the present has touched something unresolved in the past.

Why Trauma Can Come Back Years Later

Trauma is not stored like an ordinary memory. Ordinary memories tend to sit within a narrative: we can place them in time, describe them, understand that they happened then and are not happening now. Traumatic memories, by contrast, may remain fragmented. They can be held in images, sensations, smells, bodily reactions, emotional states, and sudden shifts in self-experience.

This is why a person can know, intellectually, that the danger is over while their body reacts as though it is not.

A current event may act as a trigger. This does not always mean something dramatic. It might be a relationship ending, becoming a parent, approaching the age one’s parent was at the time of the trauma, a bereavement, a medical procedure, a court process, a sexual encounter, a workplace conflict, an anniversary, or even a period of relative safety. Sometimes trauma returns when life becomes quieter, because the psyche finally has enough space to bring forward what had been pushed away.

In my clinical work, I often see trauma return at moments of transition. A client may come because a breakup has left them feeling abandoned in a way that seems disproportionate to the current relationship. Another may begin to have nightmares after a child reaches the age they were when something frightening happened. Someone else may feel strangely frozen after a seemingly minor workplace humiliation, because the emotional atmosphere resembles an earlier situation of powerlessness.

These reactions can feel confusing and humiliating. Many people judge themselves harshly for having them. They say, “Why now?” or “Why am I still affected by this?” But the more compassionate question is often: what part of me is still living in that time?

Signs That Trauma May Have Been Reactivated

Trauma returning does not always look like a dramatic flashback. Sometimes it is quieter, more subtle, and more easily mistaken for anxiety, depression, relationship difficulty, or burnout.

You may notice:

• intrusive memories, images, or sensations
• nightmares or disturbed sleep
• feeling suddenly unsafe, exposed, or emotionally young
• panic, dread, or bodily alarm that feels disproportionate to the present situation
• avoidance of people, places, conversations, intimacy, or reminders
• emotional numbness or a sense of disconnection from yourself
• difficulty concentrating or functioning as usual
• shame, self-blame, or a harsh internal voice
• feeling trapped in relationship patterns that resemble the past
• dissociation, spacing out, or feeling unreal

Some people become frightened that they are “going backwards”. But often, these symptoms are not a regression. They are an indication that something that was never fully processed is asking, sometimes rather urgently, for attention.

How EMDR Can Help

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It is a trauma therapy that helps the brain and body process distressing memories that have remained emotionally stuck.

In EMDR, the client is not simply asked to talk about what happened. Talking can be useful, but trauma is not always held in language. Sometimes the most painful material exists beneath words: in the body, in implicit memory, in the nervous system, in images, sensations, and emotional reflexes.

EMDR uses bilateral stimulation, often through eye movements, tapping, or auditory tones, while the client brings attention to aspects of the traumatic memory or present trigger. This process appears to help the mind reprocess the memory so that it becomes less vivid, less bodily immediate, and less emotionally overwhelming.

The aim is not to erase the past. The aim is for the past to become past.

After successful EMDR processing, many clients describe the memory as feeling more distant. They may still know what happened, and they may still feel sadness or anger about it, but the memory no longer hijacks the present in the same way. It becomes part of the person’s life story rather than a living emergency inside the nervous system.

EMDR Works with the Past, Present, and Future

One of the reasons I value EMDR is that it can work across three timeframes.

First, EMDR can help process past experiences: the original traumatic events, relational injuries, humiliations, losses, assaults, childhood experiences, frightening medical events, or moments of helplessness.

Second, EMDR can help with present triggers. A client may no longer be in the original situation, but something in their current life may activate the old wound. EMDR can help identify what the present situation is touching and reduce the emotional charge around it.

Third, EMDR can help with the future. This is sometimes called future template work. It involves helping the client imagine and prepare for situations that currently feel frightening or impossible: speaking up, attending court, returning to work, dating again, setting a boundary, tolerating closeness, or moving through a difficult anniversary.

This matters because trauma does not only disturb memory. It can disturb anticipation. It can make the future feel dangerous before it has even arrived.

Why Trauma Therapy Should Not Be Rushed

Although EMDR can be powerful, it should not be approached carelessly. Trauma work needs pacing. This is especially true when there has been complex trauma, childhood abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, dissociation, repeated relational trauma, or prolonged exposure to frightening or shaming environments.

Some people imagine that EMDR means immediately “going into” the worst memory. That is not how careful trauma therapy should work.

A responsible EMDR process begins with assessment, preparation, stabilisation, and an understanding of the person’s current life, support system, symptoms, dissociation, emotional regulation, and capacity to remain within a workable window of tolerance. For some clients, trauma processing can begin relatively quickly. For others, the first stage of the work may involve building enough safety, grounding, and internal steadiness before deeper processing is appropriate.

This is not avoidance. It is respect for the nervous system.

In trauma therapy, speed is not always the same as progress. Sometimes the most clinically sophisticated work is knowing when to proceed, when to pause, and when to help the person feel more securely anchored before touching the most painful material.

EMDR and Depth Psychotherapy

My approach to EMDR is not purely technical. I integrate EMDR with psychodynamic and humanistic psychotherapy, because trauma is rarely only about what happened. It is also about what the experience came to mean.

A traumatic experience can alter a person’s sense of self. It may create beliefs such as:

• “I am not safe.”
• “I am powerless.”
• “It was my fault.”
• “I cannot trust myself.”
• “Other people will hurt me.”
• “I am too much.”
• “I should have stopped it.”

These beliefs are not merely thoughts to be corrected. They are often emotional conclusions formed in moments of fear, helplessness, humiliation, abandonment, or betrayal. They may have become part of the person’s identity, relationships, choices, and expectations of the world.

This is why EMDR can be especially meaningful when held within a deeper therapeutic relationship. The work is not simply to reduce symptoms, though that matters enormously. It is also to help the person recover a fuller sense of themselves: their dignity, their agency, their capacity to feel, choose, speak, remember, and live in the present.

Can a Block of EMDR Help?

For some clients, a focused block of EMDR sessions can be a helpful way to begin trauma work. It creates structure, continuity, and momentum. Rather than coming for one session and then having long gaps, a block allows us to assess carefully, prepare properly, identify targets, and begin processing where clinically appropriate.

A block may be particularly useful if there is a specific trauma, a recent reactivation, a court or compensation process, a relational trauma, or a cluster of memories that feel emotionally linked.

However, it is important to be honest: complex trauma may require longer-term work. Six sessions can be a serious beginning, but it may not be enough to resolve years of trauma, dissociation, attachment injury, or repeated abuse. What it can do is provide a clinically thoughtful entry point into the work.

Some clients use a block of EMDR to begin processing. Others use it to understand whether EMDR is the right modality for them. Others combine EMDR with ongoing psychotherapy, particularly when the trauma is woven into long-standing patterns of selfhood, relationships, shame, or emotional survival.

When EMDR May Need Extra Care

EMDR can be very helpful, but it is not suitable for every person at every moment. Extra care may be needed if you are experiencing significant dissociation, self-harm urges, active substance misuse, severe instability, unsafe living circumstances, ongoing abuse, psychosis, mania, or very limited support.

This does not necessarily mean EMDR is impossible. It means the work needs to be carefully assessed and paced. Sometimes the first task is not trauma processing itself, but strengthening safety, stabilisation, grounding, emotional regulation, and support.

Good trauma therapy should never force the psyche open. It should help create the conditions in which painful material can be approached without overwhelming the person.

Why “It Happened a Long Time Ago” Does Not Mean It No Longer Matters

Many people dismiss their own trauma because it happened years ago. They tell themselves they should be over it. They compare themselves unfavourably to others. They minimise what happened. They become impatient with their own symptoms.

But time alone does not process trauma.

Some experiences remain alive because they were never met with enough safety, protection, understanding, or language. They may have been endured in silence. They may have been denied by others. They may have been normalised within a family, relationship, school, institution, workplace, or culture. They may have been survived by becoming numb, compliant, hyper-independent, pleasing, clever, invisible, charming, successful, or very, very busy.

Then one day, the old strategy stops working.

This can feel frightening, but it can also be the beginning of a different kind of healing. Not the glossy kind. Not the kind that fits neatly into inspirational slogans. The real kind: slower, braver, more honest. The kind in which the person begins to feel that they do not have to keep organising their life around something that is no longer happening.

Beginning EMDR Therapy in Harley Street or Online

I offer EMDR therapy in London and online for trauma, PTSD, C-PTSD, childhood trauma, sexual abuse, relational trauma, grief-related trauma, and distressing memories that continue to affect a person’s present life.

Some clients begin with a 90-minute consultation. Others choose to book a focused block of EMDR sessions, particularly when they want continuity and a clear starting structure.

Where appropriate, EMDR can also be integrated with longer-term psychodynamic and humanistic psychotherapy. This can be especially helpful when trauma has affected not only symptoms, but identity, relationships, trust, shame, sexuality, self-expression, or the capacity to feel at home in one’s own life.

If trauma has suddenly come back, it does not mean you are broken. It may mean that something in you is ready to be heard in a different way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can trauma come back years later?

Yes. Trauma can be reactivated years later, particularly during periods of stress, loss, intimacy, parenthood, illness, anniversaries, legal processes, or major life transitions. Sometimes trauma returns when a person is finally safe enough to begin feeling what had previously been kept away.

Does EMDR make you relive the trauma?

EMDR should not involve being flooded or forced to relive trauma in an uncontrolled way. In carefully conducted EMDR, the therapist helps the client remain anchored in the present while processing distressing material at a manageable pace.

How many EMDR sessions will I need?

This depends on the nature of the trauma, current symptoms, dissociation, stability, and whether the trauma was a single event or part of a longer pattern. Some focused difficulties may respond within a shorter block of work. Complex trauma usually requires a longer and more carefully paced treatment.

Can EMDR help with childhood trauma?

EMDR can be helpful for childhood trauma, but childhood trauma often requires particular care because it may affect attachment, identity, shame, trust, emotional regulation, and relationships. EMDR may need to be integrated with longer-term psychotherapy.

Is online EMDR possible?

Yes, online EMDR can be possible for some clients, provided that it is clinically appropriate, the client has a private and safe space, and there is careful preparation. Suitability should be assessed individually.

What if I am not sure whether I have PTSD or C-PTSD?

You do not need to diagnose yourself before seeking help. A careful initial consultation or trauma assessment can help clarify whether your symptoms are consistent with PTSD, C-PTSD, trauma-related distress, dissociation, anxiety, depression, grief, or another difficulty.

Dr Comfort Shields is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and psychodynamic psychotherapist based in the Harley Street Medical District, London. She offers EMDR therapy, trauma-focused psychotherapy, psychological assessments, and specialist reports for trauma, PTSD, C-PTSD, AFCS, and CICA.