What theoretical basis for EMDR's effectiveness involves the idea that bilateral stimulation helps the brain to process and integrate traumatic memories that were previously maladaptively stored?

The theoretical basis for EMDR's effectiveness that involves bilateral stimulation helping the brain process and integrate traumatic memories is the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. This model posits that mental health symptoms, particularly those related to trauma, arise from distressing experiences that have not been fully processed and integrated into the brain's existing adaptive memory networks. When a traumatic event occurs, the brain's natural information processing system can become overwhelmed or blocked, leading to the memory being “maladaptively stored.” This means the memory remains in an isolated, fra....