Does EMDR Get Rid Of Panic and Anxiety Attacks?

If you’ve ever had your heart race, your chest tighten, your thoughts spiral, or your body suddenly feel like it’s in danger, even when your logical mind is saying, “I’m okay”, you know how disruptive panic and anxiety attacks can be. They don’t just scare you in the moment. They can shrink your world afterward. People can start avoiding places, conversations, sensations, even emotions, because they don’t want to risk “setting it off.”

So…does EMDR Get Rid Of Panic and Anxiety Attacks?

The annoying answer people hate hearing is sometimes, yes, sometimes no, and sometimes it helps a lot but doesn’t erase them entirely. EMDR can change the way your nervous system responds to triggers, reduce the intensity and frequency of attacks, and help you feel more steady in your body. But the outcome depends on a few key factors, including what’s driving the attacks in the first place and how your system has learned to protect you.

What’s The Difference Between Panic Attacks and Anxiety Attacks?

People use these terms interchangeably, but they’re not quite the same experience.

A panic attack is typically sudden and intense. It can feel like a wave that hits out of nowhere, often peaking quickly. Many people describe it as a full-body alarm:

• Racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness
• Chest tightness or nausea
• Shaking, sweating, tingling, feeling unreal or detached
• A sense of impending doom (“Something terrible is happening”)
• Fear of dying, fainting, losing control, or “going crazy”

Even when nothing dangerous is happening externally, your body reacts as if danger is imminent. It’s your fight/flight/freeze system going to maximum volume.

“Anxiety attack” isn’t always used as a formal clinical term, but it’s very real as a lived experience. Generally, anxiety attacks tend to build more gradually and are often connected to ongoing stress, worry, or anticipation. They can include physical symptoms too, but the emotional tone is often:

• Persistent dread, worry, or rumination
• Feeling overwhelmed, restless, keyed up
• Muscle tension, stomach discomfort, sleep disruption
• Difficulty concentrating
• A sense of “I can’t handle this” rather than “I’m about to die”

If panic feels like a flash flood, anxiety can feel like the weather system that’s been hanging over you for days. Both can be exhausting. Both deserve support.

How Does EMDR Help?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is best known for helping people heal from trauma. But here’s the important thing: panic and anxiety attacks are often tied to unprocessed experiences, chronic stress patterns, and nervous-system learning. EMDR works with the brain and body’s ability to process what got stuck, so the present stops feeling like the past.

In EMDR, you’re working with the way memories, emotions, beliefs, and body sensations are stored. Panic and anxiety attacks often involve:

• A body memory (“This feeling means danger”)
• A meaning (“I’m not safe,” “I’m trapped,” “I can’t handle this”)
• A trigger loop (internal sensations or external situations that set it off)

EMDR helps your brain reprocess what’s stuck so those triggers lose their charge. Over time, your body can learn: “This is uncomfortable, but it’s not dangerous.” And that shift is huge. Because when your body stops treating the sensation like a threat, the spiral doesn’t have the same fuel.

When The Success Rate Is High That EMDR Can Get Rid Of Panic and Anxiety Attacks Completely

In some cases, EMDR can reduce attacks to the point where they stop happening altogether. This is more likely when:

1)  There’s a clear origin point (or a few)
For example, panic started after a frightening medical event, a car accident, a sudden loss, a scary breakup, or a period of intense instability. Even if you wouldn’t label it “trauma,” your nervous system might have.

2)  Your triggers are specific and trackableMaybe it’s driving, being in a grocery store, going to sleep, certain bodily sensations (like a racing heart), or conflict with a partner. EMDR can target the memories and meanings linked to those triggers.

3)  The attacks are maintained by fear of fear
Some people aren’t only afraid of the trigger, they’re afraid of the sensations of panic itself. EMDR can help your body reinterpret those sensations so they stop reading as danger.

In these situations, EMDR doesn’t just teach you how to cope. It can actually reduce the nervous system’s need to set off alarms.

When EMDR Helps, But Doesn’t Fully Eliminate Attacks

Other times, EMDR significantly improves life with fewer attacks, less intensity, quicker recovery but doesn’t erase them completely. This can happen when:

1) Your anxiety is fueled by current, ongoing stress
If your nervous system is dealing with chronic overwhelm, such as work pressure, caregiving, financial strain, a high-conflict relationship, then attacks may still happen because your body is responding to real present-day load. EMDR can still help you respond differently, but it can’t remove the reality of what’s happening around you.

2) There are layered experiences, not one “big event”
Developmental trauma, childhood emotional neglect, long-term invalidation, bullying, or unpredictable caregiving can create a nervous system that’s hypervigilant by default. EMDR can be extremely helpful here, but it may take more time and often works best as part of a broader plan (nervous system regulation, boundaries, relational support, etc.).

3) There are biological contributors
Panic and anxiety can be intensified by things like sleep deprivation, caffeine sensitivity, thyroid issues, hormone shifts, blood sugar instability, medication changes, and more. EMDR can lower the baseline alarm response, but if the body is still being pushed into activation physiologically, you may still get symptoms occasionally.

The goal in these cases is often: more safety, more choice, and less fear of the sensations, even if the occasional wave still shows up.

Healing Isn’t Something You Pass Or Fail

People sometimes come into therapy thinking, “If EMDR works, I’ll never have panic or anxiety attacks again.” But the real win is often deeper than that.

EMDR may help you:

• Have fewer attacks
• Shorten the length of attacks
• Reduce intensity from a 10/10 to a 3/10
• Stop avoiding your life
• Feel more confident in your ability to ride the wave
• Experience your body as less scary and more trustworthy

And yes, sometimes it truly does mean the attacks stop completely. But even when they don’t, it can still make a huge difference in life.

If you’re living with panic or anxiety attacks, it doesn’t mean something is wrong with you, it means your system has learned to stay on high alert. Your nervous system is trying to protect you, even if it’s sounding the alarm more easily than it needs to right now. EMDR can help your brain and body update those old danger signals, especially when the attacks are tied to unprocessed experiences or fear patterns that got reinforced over time.

Whether your goal is “never again” or “not like this anymore,” you deserve support that treats your symptoms as meaningful, not shameful, and helps you feel at home in your body again (or maybe for the first time). If this blog resonated with you and you want help reducing your panic or anxiety attacks, please schedule a phone consult to see if we are a good fit.