Most people associate EMDR with trauma and PTSD.

If you’ve been practicing EMDR for a while, you may have noticed not all clients fit traditional trauma profiles, but EMDR can still help them with their treatment goals..

But here’s what many don’t realize:

Some powerful EMDR work can happen with clients who aren't "traumatized" in the traditional sense.

I'm talking about high-performers like:

• Athletes who can't break through to the next level
• Executives who freeze during presentations
• First responders experiencing burnout
• Musicians who experience performance anxiety
• Entrepreneurs who sabotage their own success

These clients don't often think they need “trauma therapy”. They need performance optimization.

And EMDR might be the most effective tool for breaking through mental barriers that traditional performance coaching can't touch.

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The Hidden Barriers to Peak Performance

Here’s the thing:

When high-performers get stuck, it's rarely about skill, talent, or effort.

More often, the roadblocks are mental and emotional — blocks that prevent people from accessing their full potential when they most need it.

Consider these scenarios I’ve seen in my practice:

• The athlete who trains relentlessly but chokes during competition. Physically, they're capable of winning (but mentally, something holds them back).
• The executive who's brilliant in small meetings but becomes anxious and inarticulate when presenting to the board. They know their material, but pressure hijacks their performance.
• The musician who plays beautifully in practice but makes mistakes during performances. Their technical ability is solid, but anxiety gets in the way.
• The entrepreneur who has great ideas but consistently undermines their work. Despite their capabilities, patterns of self-sabotage keep showing up.

Traditional performance coaching might focus on mindset, visualization, and confidence-building. These tools can help, but they often miss the deeper, subconscious roots of performance problems.

That's why EMDR is uniquely powerful.

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How EMDR Removes Performance Blocks

Performance blocks are usually rooted in specific life experiences (i.e. memories or neural networks):

Moments where the person learned to doubt themselves, fear failure, or associate high-stakes situations with danger.

Maybe it was…

• A coach who yelled at them for making a mistake
• A presentation that went terribly wrong early in their career
• A parent who constantly criticized their efforts
• A moment of public embarrassment that triggered lasting anxiety

These moments get encoded in the nervous system and resurface under pressure.

That’s why the person’s body responds to performance situations like they’re actual threats (even if their mind knows they’re safe).

EMDR helps resolve these root experiences.

Rather than just managing symptoms, we help the brain process the original memory that created the block.

Here's what this looks like in practice (this should look familiar to trained EMDR providers):

Targeting origin memories: We identify the earliest or most powerful experiences linked to performance issues (like a childhood sports failure or a humiliating work moment).

Processing emotional charge: Bilateral stimulation helps the nervous system release the emotional intensity around these events. The memory stays, but its power to trigger a maladaptive response fades.

Installing performance-enhancing beliefs: Once the negative charge is processed, we install new, supportive beliefs like “I perform well under pressure” or “I trust my instincts.”

Future templating: We use EMDR to rehearse upcoming high-pressure moments while the nervous system is calm, building new neural pathways for confidence and ease.

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Real-World Results

I've seen EMDR performance enhancement work create remarkable changes:

Athletes who've struggled with competition anxiety start performing at their training level during actual events. The gap between practice performance and game performance disappears.

Business professionals who experience presentation anxiety begin to actually enjoy speaking opportunities. Instead of dreading high-stakes meetings, they look forward to the challenge.

Creative professionals who've been blocked by perfectionism or fear of criticism start creating and sharing their work more freely.

Entrepreneurs who've been stuck in self-sabotage patterns begin to fully embrace their success and take the risks necessary for growth.

EMDR doesn't just help them manage their anxiety better. By processing the underlying memories that created these blocks, they're also able to nearly (or completely) remove the blocks preventing them from accessing their natural abilities under pressure.

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Why This Approach Works (When Others Don't)

Here’s the difference between traditional performance coaching and EMDR:

Traditional performance coaching often tries to build confidence or manage anxiety from the top down using strategies like…

• Positive self-talk and affirmations
• Visualization exercises and mental rehearsal
• Breathing techniques and relaxation methods
• Exposure therapy to gradually build tolerance

These strategies aim to manage anxiety and build confidence. But the problem is that they often don’t go deep enough.

On the other hand, EMDR works from the bottom up.

Instead of trying to override unconscious responses, we address the memories and neural patterns that create performance blocks in the first place.

Remember, when someone has learned to associate high-stakes situations with danger, no amount of positive thinking will fully override that association. That’s why the nervous system needs to be convinced at a deeper level that performance situations are safe.

EMDR provides that deeper level of change.

By processing the memories that created the performance blocks, we remove the source of the problem rather than just managing its symptoms.

​​EMDR helps the body and brain relearn that these situations are safe.

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The Performance Enhancement Protocol

The EMDR performance enhancement process typically follows these steps:

1. Assessment: Clarify the client’s performance goals and identify specific blocks.
2. Resource building: Strengthen internal resilience and build emotional safety before diving into difficult material.
3. Target identification and processing: Address the root memories that created fear, doubt, or avoidance.
4. Belief installation: Replace limiting beliefs with performance-enhancing ones.
5. Future templating: Rehearse peak performance moments using bilateral stimulation to reinforce success.

Not only do clients start to feel better…

But they also become better about showing up under pressure (and even thriving in it).

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Who Benefits from Performance Enhancement EMDR

This approach works particularly well with:

• Athletes at any level who experience performance anxiety or mental blocks
• First responders and special operators becoming negatively affected by high allostatic load
• Business professionals who struggle with presentation anxiety or imposter syndrome
• Creative professionals blocked by perfectionism or fear of criticism
• Students who experience test anxiety despite knowing the material
• Entrepreneurs who sabotage their own success or fear taking necessary risks
• Anyone whose performance doesn't match their actual abilities due to mental/emotional blocks

The key indicator is the gap between someone's capabilities and their actual performance under pressure.

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Expanding Your EMDR Practice

For EMDR therapists, performance enhancement represents a significant opportunity to expand your practice beyond traditional trauma clients.

Many high-performers don't see themselves as needing "therapy," but they're very interested in removing blocks to their success.

This population tends to be highly motivated and engaged in the process, goal-oriented and focused on measurable outcomes, willing to invest in their performance improvement, and likely to refer others in similar situations.

Performance enhancement EMDR also offers the satisfaction of helping people reach their full potential rather than just returning to baseline functioning.

Are you working with clients who have performance blocks?

What applications of EMDR beyond traditional trauma treatment have you found most effective?

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Until next week,

Chris

P.S. If you're interested in learning more about performance enhancement applications of EMDR, there are specialized training programs available through advanced practitioners like Dr. Sara Gilman. Helicon aims to bring training opportunities like this to members in the future, so be sure to sign up to stay informed of future opportunities. This emerging field offers exciting opportunities to help high-achievers break through the mental barriers limiting their success.