When someone goes through a traumatic event, one of the hardest parts of recovery can be the idea of telling the story over and over again. Many people don’t want to relive the details. They don’t want to explain what happened. They just want one thing: to stop feeling the way they feel.
This is where therapies like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Brainspotting come in. Unlike traditional talk therapy, these approaches don’t require you to put your pain into words. Instead, they use the brain’s natural healing processes to release the emotional charge connected to trauma—without you having to retell your story.
Why Talking Isn’t Always the Answer
Traditional therapy often relies on verbal processing. For many, this can feel exhausting, retraumatizing, or even impossible. Trauma memories don’t live in the logical, verbal parts of the brain; they are stored in the body and the nervous system. That’s why people often say things like, “I don’t have words for what happened”—because the trauma is held in sensations, images, or feelings, not sentences.
EMDR and Brainspotting bypass the need to explain. They go straight to where trauma is stuck in the body and brain.
How EMDR Works
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation—eye movements, sounds, or taps that alternate from left to right—to help the brain reprocess traumatic memories. You focus briefly on the troubling memory, image, or body sensation, and the bilateral stimulation allows the nervous system to unlock it.
The key is this: you don’t have to talk through every detail. The therapist guides the process, but you stay in control. Over time, the painful memory loses its “charge,” and you can think about it without the same distress.
How Brainspotting Works
Brainspotting is based on the idea that where you look affects how you feel. A therapist helps you find a “brainspot”—a position of the eyes that connects to an unprocessed trauma in the brain. Holding your gaze there while staying present with body sensations allows the trauma to surface and release, often more quickly than traditional methods.
Like EMDR, Brainspotting doesn’t require you to explain what happened. The process is guided by your body and nervous system, not by verbal storytelling.
Why These Therapies Are So Attractive
For individuals who say:
- “I don’t want to talk about it.”
- “I just want the feelings to go away.”
- “I don’t even have words for what happened.”
EMDR and Brainspotting offer a way forward. These therapies allow healing to happen without retraumatizing conversations. You can work with your therapist in silence, focusing on the body and brain’s natural ability to process trauma.
The Bottom Line
Healing from trauma doesn’t always mean talking it through. For many people, that’s the last thing they want to do. EMDR and Brainspotting provide safe, effective, and deeply powerful alternatives. They allow individuals to move beyond trauma, not by reliving it—but by gently reprocessing it at the level where it’s stored.
If you’ve been avoiding therapy because you don’t want to “tell the story,” know this: you don’t have to.
You Are Not Alone
If you need support, there is help and you are not alone. If you are Deaf, a parent of a Deaf child, a Coda, or a parent of a Coda, we can help you. At The Space Between, we also provide consultation to your current provider to empower you to take charge of your mental health and wellbeing.
Our providers are well-versed and have lived experience to support your journey.
Learn more at space-between.online
the Coda Counselor 
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