When people think of addiction treatment, they often imagine detox, therapy sessions, and learning new coping skills. While these are essential elements, many clients arrive at treatment with a deeper question: Why did I turn to substances in the first place?
For many, the answer lies in unprocessed trauma. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has emerged as a powerful and evidence-based tool to help address that trauma—and in doing so, dramatically support long-term recovery.
At Sana at Stowe, a luxury, trauma-informed residential treatment center nestled in the scenic mountains of Stowe, Vermont, EMDR therapy for addiction plays a central role in helping individuals break the cycle of trauma and substance use. Let’s explore how this modality works, why it’s so effective, and how EMDR integrates with evidence based treatment, holistic treatment and compassionate approach to healing.
What Is EMDR Therapy for Addiction?
EMDR therapy for addiction is a structured psychotherapy that helps individuals process and resolve traumatic memories that contribute to substance use disorders. Developed by Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s, EMDR is best known for treating PTSD, but its application in addiction recovery is increasingly recognized and backed by research.
Substance use is often a maladaptive coping strategy—an attempt to self-soothe or numb distressing thoughts and feelings. Whether the trauma stems from childhood abuse, military combat, medical emergencies, or relationship trauma, it can leave an emotional imprint that becomes overwhelming. EMDR helps reduce the emotional charge of these memories and allows the brain to reprocess them safely and productively.
How EMDR Works in Addiction Recovery
During EMDR addiction treatment, a client is guided by a trained therapist to recall distressing experiences while engaging in bilateral stimulation (usually eye movements, tapping, or auditory tones). This process facilitates the brain’s natural healing mechanisms, similar to what occurs during REM sleep.
Clients are not re-traumatized. Instead, they are supported in confronting painful memories at a manageable pace. The emotional intensity connected to these memories is softened, and clients often report a shift in how they perceive the trauma—and themselves.
The benefits of EMDR therapy for addiction include:
- Reduced cravings and relapse triggers
- Less emotional reactivity to trauma memories
- Increased self-worth and agency
- Improved emotional regulation
- Healing from shame, guilt, and unresolved grief
At Sana at Stowe, EMDR is woven into our trauma- informed care model, ensuring every client receives support from clinicians trained to handle sensitive material with expertise and compassion.
Understanding the Link: Trauma and Addiction
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), individuals with a history of trauma are significantly more likely to develop substance use disorders. Trauma alters the nervous system, making it harder to regulate emotions, trust others, or feel safe in one’s own body. In response, people may turn to alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines, or stimulants to escape or “numb out.”
That’s why trauma therapy addiction recovery is not optional—it’s foundational. Without addressing the emotional wounds beneath the addiction, relapse is more likely.
EMDR for substance abuse gives clients the tools to confront that emotional pain directly and transform their relationship to it.
EMDR in Dual Diagnosis Treatment: What Comes First?
One of the most important questions in addiction recovery is, “What’s the primary diagnosis—mental health or addiction?”
At Sana at Stowe, we see both. Some clients use substances to cope with undiagnosed depression, anxiety, or PTSD. Others develop mental health symptoms as a result of long-term substance use. Dual diagnosis care acknowledges the bidirectional relationship between trauma and addiction and treats both concurrently.
EMDR addiction treatment plays a pivotal role in this integrated model, allowing trauma to be addressed alongside evidence-based therapies like:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Motivational Interviewing
- Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)
- Depression and addiction treatment
What to Expect During EMDR Sessions
At Sana, clients are thoroughly assessed for trauma history, current mental health status, and readiness for trauma processing. EMDR therapy is introduced only when a client is emotionally and physically stabilized—often following medically supervised heroin detox or initial residential treatment phases.
Each EMDR session follows a structured eight-phase protocol, including:
- History and treatment planning
- Preparation and establishing safety
- Assessment of target memories
- Desensitization (processing through bilateral stimulation)
- Installation of positive beliefs
- Body scan for somatic distress
- Closure and grounding
- Re-evaluation and continuation
Because EMDR can bring up deep emotions, our supportive, holistic residential treatment center ensures clients have access to wraparound care—including therapy, peer support, yoga, acupuncture, and nature-based wellness & holistic rehab.
Integrating EMDR with Holistic Healing
Holistic recovery from addictions means treating the mind, body, and spirit—not just the symptoms of use. At Sana at Stowe, EMDR is one pillar of a comprehensive care plan that may also include:
- Nutrition support for body repair
- Mindfulness and meditation to anchor emotional regulation
- Yoga and somatic therapy to process trauma held in the body
- Equine therapy for relational healing and trust building
- Creative arts therapy to express the unspeakable
- Sleep support, essential for mood, cognition, and relapse prevention
We believe that trauma-informed care must feel safe, sacred, and client-centered. From our private suites to our serene natural setting just outside the Burlington, Vermont airport, every aspect of Sana is designed to foster comfort and dignity.
Trauma, Attachment, and Coping Skills
Many clients enter treatment with attachment disorder in adults, often stemming from inconsistent caregivers or abandonment in childhood. These attachment wounds can fuel addiction patterns through a fear of intimacy, avoidance of vulnerability, or chronic self-sabotage.
EMDR therapy for addiction addresses not only overt trauma, but also these relational wounds. Clients learn to reframe their stories, develop coping skills for childhood trauma, and re-establish secure internal and external bonds.
For example, someone in benzodiazepine addiction treatment may realize that panic attacks stem from early relational trauma. By resolving these root issues through EMDR, the urge to medicate anxiety begins to fade.
Real Healing in a Real Place
Luxury treatment isn’t about spa days—it’s about peace, privacy, and world-class care.
At Sana at Stowe, clients are surrounded by the changing seasons of New England, whether walking wooded trails in fall or gazing out snow-covered windows in winter. This picturesque, clean, seasonal charm enhances the therapeutic process, allowing space for reflection and integration.
We are proud to be an in-network provider with several major insurance plans and offer medically-supervised heroin detox, residential treatment, and long-term trauma recovery options.
Taking the First Step Toward Trauma Healing
If you or someone you love is struggling with substance use and unresolved trauma, know this: Healing is possible. You are not broken—you are carrying pain that deserves to be witnessed and processed.
EMDR therapy for addiction offers that opportunity. At Sana at Stowe, we walk with you through every phase of the journey, providing residential treatment, evidence-based support, and a deeply compassionate environment. Call us today at (802) 532-5277.
