Treating Chronic Pain with EMDR
Those with chronic pain know how debilitating and uprooting it can be, each and every day. Millions of people around the world, struggling with this condition, try desperately to get relief through medications, procedures, or constant distractions, but are often unable to achieve the relief they need. Their persistent pain often means lost days at work, sleepless nights, emotional exhaustion, limited mobility, and the agony of futility that they will never find an adequate solution. Over time, the stress of chronic pain can lead to anxiety, depression, and social isolation, creating a vicious cycle that often does not respond to conventional medical approaches (or the doctors are puzzled and can't find the source of the problem, telling you it must be "in your head" 😠).
EMDR - Not Just for Trauma
Most people recognize EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) as a powerful trauma therapy, effectively used for treating PTSD and classic manifestations of traumatic stress. But emerging research and clinical applications show that EMDR can also help with a plethora of other conditions, including chronic pain!
Obviously, no psychotherapy can take the pain away from a true, organic, medical issue, such as a broken bone or a deep cut in your skin. Pain is adaptive and necessary to our survival (think, when you injure yourself, you experience pain, which then causes you to take it easy and be gentle with the wound, and thus allowing it to heal). But the truth is that a person's emotional distress surrounding the original medical incident or about their pain overall can get locked in the nervous system, often exacerbating their pain and suffering. And a person's relationship to their pain has a huge impact on their subjective experience. So, for example, a person who accepts their pain can reduce their suffering, which then can actually lead to decreased pain!
EMDR engages the brain’s natural information processing systems, allowing these experiences to be deeply processed, offering another pathway to consider for the treatment of their pain. Under the EMDR framework, many ongoing difficulties (including a person's chronic pain) stem from maladaptively stored, insufficiently processed experiences in the brain and nervous system. When an event isn’t fully processed and integrated, it can remain “stuck” in a person's memory networks and continue to influence how the brain interprets sensory input and bodily states. From this perspective, chronic pain may be maintained by signals from damaged tissues but also by a nervous system that is overactive. By reprocessing these memories and emotional associations, EMDR can potentially lessen the experience of pain.
What the Research Says About EMDR and Pain
A growing number of peer-reviewed research studies have demonstrated the efficacy of EMDR for pain. These are just a few we are highlighting in this blog:
A 2025 systematic review of nine studies, including seven randomized controlled trials, found that EMDR was associated with significant improvements in pain symptoms as well as reductions in psychological distress, anxiety, and depression related to pain. Effect sizes varied from large to moderate across studies.
A recent 2025 review explored how EMDR may help people with pain, especially those with past traumatic experiences, by not only reducing psychological stress (which contributes to "the chronification of pain") but also by modulating neural networks and working memory processes tied to both emotional distress and pain perception.
In this study by Mark Grant, one of the leading pioneers of the treatment of pain with EMDR in Australia, demonstrated the effectiveness of his pain protocol on substantially decreasing pain levels in all clients, increasing their ability to manage their pain, and decreasing negative affect (emotion).
This 2016 literature review searched seven databases for research on EMDR and chronic pain and found that most studies reported improvements in pain and other psychological indexes.
A noteworthy study on phantom limb pain, a form of persistent pain experienced after amputation, reported that EMDR resulted in significant decreases or elimination of phantom pain in the five patients they treated. The treatment also reduced depression and post-traumatic symptoms, and led some patients to significantly decrease or stop pain-related medications at long-term follow-up. This suggests that sensory memories of pain may be “reprocessed” in a way that lessens ongoing pain experience.
Mark Grant's Pain Protocol
Mark Grant is an Australian psychologist who has been paving the way forward regarding adapting EMDR protocols specifically for chronic pain and medically unexplained symptoms. His work emphasizes that pain-related nervous system patterns (including fear of pain, avoidance due to anticipatory discomfort, and sensory memories) can be systematically reprocessed with EMDR.
Clinicians at our practice are trained in these pain-focused EMDR protocols influenced by Dr. Grant’s methods, and we apply them within our clients' comprehensive treatment plans. This allows us to address both the emotional memories and the bodily experiences that often contribute to pain.
Start Working With an EMDR Therapist in Palm Beach County, FL
Obviously, EMDR is not a universal cure. It definitely does not replace medical evaluation or physical therapies when those are necessary. But it does offer a powerful complementary pathway, especially when medical professionals can't find the source of the problem using conventional diagnostic techniques. With EMDR, many clients report meaningful reductions in pain intensity, improved emotional regulation, better sleep, and greater ability to engage with life more fully.
If you are ready to start your therapy journey with Mangrove Therapy Group, please follow these simple steps:
- Contact Mangrove Therapy Group
- Meet with a skilled therapist
- Start finding lasting relief!
Other Services Offered with Mangrove Therapy Group
EMDR therapy is just one piece of the healing puzzle, and our therapists are trained to support you through so much more. Our team also offers care for:
- Addiction counseling, trauma therapy, PTSD, and Complex PTSD
- Substance use and process addictions
- Eating disorders and body image concerns
- Grief, loss, anxiety, depression, and self-esteem challenges
- Anger, shame, and emotional dysregulation
- “Failure to Launch” issues and life transitions
- CBT and DBT-based support
We can help you build a life where your nervous system doesn’t have to brace for impact—and where love starts to feel like a soft place to land. You can learn more from our blog or FAQs page.