TL;DR: You do not need to see clear pictures in your mind to do EMDR. Some people experience memories visually, while others primarily notice thoughts, emotions, body sensations, sounds, words, or simply a sense of what happened.
If visualization is difficult, EMDR resources can also be made more concrete. You might use an actual image, drawing, collage, object, color, or another external representation rather than relying entirely on mental imagery.
The goal is not to visualize “correctly.” It is to find ways of accessing the memories, experiences, and resources that work with how you process information.
One of the questions I get asked about EMDR is some version of: “What if I can’t visualize?”
Sometimes someone knows they are not a very visual person. Sometimes they can picture certain things but cannot create the detailed images they think EMDR is going to require. And sometimes they have heard an EMDR exercise described and immediately thought, Well, my brain does not do that. The good news is that you do not need to have a vivid mental picture or see a movie playing in your head to do EMDR.
EMDR does include imagery, and during the assessment phase you may be asked what image or part of a memory represents the most disturbing part of an experience. But an image is only one part of what we are paying attention to. EMDR also works with thoughts, beliefs, emotions, body sensations, and other sensory experiences. And in actual therapy, that “image” may be much less important than people expect.
Do You Have to Visualize During EMDR?
When I ask about an image connected to a disturbing memory, I am not testing your ability to create a clear picture in your mind. Some people immediately see a specific moment. Someone else might get a vague flash or only part of an image. Another person may not really see anything but knows exactly which part of the experience feels most disturbing.
Often, once we start talking about the disturbing part of a memory, the image itself is not that big of an issue. The person knows what happened. They know which moment or aspect of the experience we are talking about. They may notice an emotion, a belief about themselves, a sensation in their body, or another piece of the experience even if there is not a clear visual image attached to it.
We do not need to spend therapy trying to force your brain to manufacture a picture simply because someone asked, “What image represents the worst part?”
What If I Know the Memory but I Can’t See It?
Knowing and seeing are not the same thing. You can know what your childhood home looked like without producing a photograph of it in your mind. You can remember an argument without visually replaying the room. You can know exactly which moment of an experience was painful without seeing the expression on someone’s face.
Memories can include visual information, but they can also involve sounds, thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, smells, movement, or simply a sense of what happened.
EMDR’s assessment process looks at multiple parts of the target experience, including the disturbing material, the negative belief connected with it, emotions, and where distress is experienced in the body. The visual component is not the entirety of the memory. So if I ask what you notice and your answer is essentially, “I don’t see it, but I know what it is,” that is information we can work with.
What About Aphantasia and EMDR?
Some people experience very little or no voluntary visual imagery, commonly referred to as aphantasia. Visual imagery actually exists on a spectrum. Some people create incredibly vivid internal images, some experience very little imagery, and plenty of people fall somewhere in between.
Having difficulty visualizing does not automatically mean you have aphantasia. You might also visualize some things but not others, have images that are vague or fleeting, or simply process information in ways that are less visually oriented. If you do have aphantasia, the goal of EMDR is not to teach you how to visualize. Instead, we can pay attention to the ways you already experience and access information.
EMDR Is More Than Visual Imagery
One of the reasons I think this question matters is that people sometimes assume there is a correct way they are supposed to experience EMDR. There really is not.
You might notice words or thoughts. You might notice emotion. You might become aware of pressure in your chest, tension in your shoulders, heaviness in your stomach, or an impulse to move. You might remember something someone said. You might notice a sound connected with the memory. You might suddenly make a connection you had never made before.
And yes, you might see images. Different people process information differently, and even the same person may experience different memories differently. One memory might be incredibly visual while another is primarily physical or emotional.
Rather than trying to make your experience fit what you think EMDR is supposed to look like, I am much more interested in what your brain and body are actually giving us to work with.
What About Calm/Safe State and Other EMDR Resources?
Visualization questions can sometimes become more noticeable during EMDR preparation because many common resourcing exercises are described using imagery.
A Calm/Safe State, for example, may involve imagining somewhere associated with calm, safety, comfort, or another supportive experience. But the important part is the state, not your ability to produce a detailed imaginary place. A place may help someone access that state. Someone else might connect with a memory, person, animal, color, sensation, movement, sound, or something completely different. And sometimes it helps to make a resource more concrete.
Instead of asking you to create everything internally, we might use an actual photograph or another image that represents the resource. Some bilateral stimulation tools allow an image to be displayed while you use the tool. You might draw what the resource represents, create a collage, use colors or words, or find another tangible way to represent something that is difficult to generate internally.
For some people, having something they can actually see, touch, create, or interact with is much more accessible than being repeatedly asked to picture something that their brain simply does not picture. The point is not to become better at visualization. It is to find a way of accessing and strengthening the resource that works for you.
EMDR Can Be Adapted to How You Process Information
This is really the larger point. EMDR has a structured eight-phase model, but structured does not have to mean rigid. The structure gives us a framework for treatment while still allowing us to pay attention to the person sitting in the room. If you do not visualize easily, we can work with that.
If you think in words, that matters. If you notice your body before you notice an emotion, that matters. If concrete objects or external images are easier for you than internally generated imagery, that matters too.
This is also one of the reasons I think flexibility is particularly important when working with neurodivergent clients. We do not need to assume that everyone processes information, notices internal experiences, responds to sensory input, or accesses memories in exactly the same way.
Sometimes adapting EMDR is not about creating an entirely different therapy. It is simply about stopping long enough to ask:
How does this person's brain actually work, and how can we work with that instead of against it?
References & Further Reading
EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). EMDR International Association Definition of EMDR. EMDRIA describes Phase 3 assessment as identifying an image or other sensory experience that represents the target experience.
EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). Experiencing EMDR Therapy and Language of EMDR. These resources describe EMDR’s eight-phase model, including assessment of images, beliefs, emotions, and body sensations.
Zeman, A., et al. Research on aphantasia and individual differences in visual imagery. Aphantasia describes absent or markedly reduced voluntary visual imagery, while imagery ability varies considerably across individuals.
