Within the depth-psychology corpus, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) occupies a contested but increasingly central position in the clinical treatment of trauma. Francine Shapiro, the method’s originator, provides the foundational theoretical architecture: a shift from simple behavioral desensitization toward an adaptive information-processing model in which bilaterally stimulated eye movements are held to unlock dysfunctionally stored memory networks, enabling their transmutation into adaptive, integrated form. Shapiro’s own corpus traces the method’s evolution from a single-component technique (EMD) to a complex eight-phase protocol supported by randomized controlled trials across civilian, combat, and child populations. Bessel van der Kolk, writing from a somatic-neurobiological perspective, regards EMDR as significant precisely because it achieves trauma resolution without verbal narrative, independent of therapeutic alliance—loosening associative networks in ways that permit new contextual integration. The principal theoretical tension concerns mechanism: Shapiro insists on the distinctive role of bilateral eye movements within an information-processing paradigm, while critical voices in the literature, noted by Lanius, argue that dismantling studies render the eye-movement component superfluous and reattribute efficacy to simple memory exposure. Clinically, the corpus attends to contraindications—particularly the risks of premature deployment with dissociative disorders—and to training ethics, with EMDRIA certification standards extensively documented. The method’s humanitarian reach, spanning disaster zones and conflict regions, further marks its significance in the broader trauma-healing literature.