What the science says

The starting point

Honest about what is and isn't there

There are big claims made about IEMT, and I have no wish to add to them. Research into the method is still in its early stages. At the same time, there is now something measurable — and that is exactly why this page exists: so you can see what is there, without me hanging superlatives around it.

The short version: there is now, for the first time, independent, peer-reviewed research comparing IEMT with a well-known, thoroughly researched method — EMDR. The result is promising. And at the same time, it is a first, small-scale study — not conclusive proof. Both things are true, and I think it is important to say both.

‘No miracle-cure promise — but a serious first signal that it does what practice has long suggested.’

The study

Maastricht University, 2026

In 2026, Maastricht University published the first peer-reviewed research to compare IEMT directly with EMDR. A group of participants received three different conditions in random order: a session with IEMT, a session with EMDR, and a control condition in which they simply sat still. Importantly: they did not know which method they were receiving — researchers call this blinded, and it makes the comparison more valid.

What was measured was how strongly the emotional charge of a self-chosen unpleasant memory changed, on a scale from mild to intense. That measurement was repeated one week later, to see whether any effect was retained.

The findings

In numbers, plainly stated

The key results — factually, without embellishment:

Comparable effect. Both IEMT and EMDR reduced emotional charge significantly more than the control condition. Between themselves they did not differ statistically — no winner on the primary measure.

Effect retained after one week. The effect was still present one week later. It was not simply a momentary shift during the session itself.

60.6% chose IEMT. When participants — still blinded — were asked which experience they had found most comfortable, a majority chose the IEMT condition. The two most commonly cited reasons: you don’t need to share the content of the memory, and there were fewer physical after-effects such as headaches or tired eyes.

Those last two reasons are not minor details. For many people who have been carrying a theme for a long time, they are precisely the thresholds that kept them from addressing it sooner: no desire to explain it yet again, and the wish to be able to simply carry on afterwards.

The nuance

What this research does not say

Just as important as what the research found is what it does not say — and the researchers are clear about this themselves.

The study was small and non-clinical: participants came from the general population, no trauma or PTSD diagnoses were treated. Each session also lasted only twenty minutes — shorter than a real course, so neither method’s full work could take place. And there was no component specifically attributing the effect to the eye movements themselves.

In other words: this is a first exploration, not proof. It does not demonstrate that IEMT works for serious or clinical complaints, and it does not rank methods against each other. The researchers themselves recommend follow-up research, including brain imaging to better understand what is happening beneath the surface.

For clinical or acute complaints, IEMT is not a replacement for treatment — see what IEMT is not for where the boundary lies and when a different path is appropriate.

Why I share it

Not marketing — information

I include this research on my site not as a sales argument but because it is relevant information if you are considering working with me. For the first time, something measurable is visible that was previously only described in practice: that an eye-movement approach can have an effect, even without the need to share the content.

That last point — no requirement to talk — is for some of the people who come to me precisely the reason they are here and not with a talk therapist. It helps to be able to say now that this preference is not merely personal, but was also visible in a controlled setting.

Those who want the detail — the numbers, the design, the limitations, plus a link to the original article — will find a thorough discussion in the blog what is IEMT and when does it work?. And the difference between the two methods is explained clearly on IEMT and EMDR.