For the purposes of EMDR, there is a very simple definition of trauma. When you bring up a given memory, does it cause disturbance in your body right now? If it does, that event counts as a trauma.

Technically, trauma is a physical injury or, in psychology, a very distressing experience. We speak of “big-T Traumas” and “little-t traumas.” Big-T Traumas usually include catastrophic events that might occur in combat, serious car accidents, natural disasters, rape and other violent crimes, including violence in the home. Little-t traumas could be any experience that was very upsetting to you, such as being laughed at or humiliated, failing at an important moment, being ignored by someone significant right when you needed them. The loss of a loved one could be anywhere on this spectrum of trauma, depending on how painful the experience was for you. Of course, there are many other examples.

Another distinction we make is between single-event trauma and complex trauma. In a single-event trauma, the event was unique and powerful. We may or may not remember it clearly but we know that something important happened at a particular time and place. Complex trauma often involves patterns of distressing events that happened multiple times or over a long period of time, in which each individual instance contributes to an accumulation of painful feelings and symptoms. Another common type of complex trauma happens when multiple traumatic patterns occur on top of one another and become intertwined in our experience.

EMDR has been found to be effective for both single-event and complex trauma, and can be used when we have specific detailed memories of the traumatic events and even when we do not. It is enough for you to have a strong sense that something happened that is linked to a disturbing feeling in your body. We can work with that.