His eyes did what his nights no longer could

The impact lasted only two seconds. A crossroads, a bonnet looming out of nowhere, the noise. Thomas walked away with bruises. But three months later, the scene was still replaying every night, always at the same point, always with the same jolt awake at 3 a.m. His doctor had ruled out any physical injury. The film, though, kept on rolling.

After a violent event, the brain is normally supposed to archive it: turning the raw experience into a memory that is dated, filed, finished. Much of this sorting happens during sleep, particularly in the phases when the eyes dart rapidly beneath the eyelids. When the shock is too intense, the sorting fails. The event stays in active memory, unfiled, and the brain plays it on a loop, night and day, hoping to finally digest it.

Eye movement therapy, made famous by EMDR and developed into several approaches, builds on this natural mechanism. In a session, while you recall the event within a safe setting, the practitioner guides your eyes through precise sequences. This stimulation appears to reopen the sorting window: the memory gets refiled, its emotional charge subsides. The event finally becomes what it should have been all along: the past. Dalila Benfriha is certified in eye movement therapy by Dr Danie Beaulieu's IMPACT Academy, a tool she weaves into her brief therapy sessions, after the intake interview.

One important point: this is not about plunging back into the horror. The work is done gently, without reliving the event head-on, and only when there is no contraindication. Many people feel relief from the very first session, and the process keeps working naturally over the following month: nights often mend in stages, one less awakening, then two, then whole nights through. This approach aims at wellbeing and does not replace medical care if your condition requires it.

If the images come back at night, don't lie there fighting in the dark. Sit up, switch on a soft light, and breathe with a longer exhale: 4 seconds in, 6 to 8 seconds out. You are signalling to your body that the scene is not happening again. It won't file the memory away, but it calms the alarm while you wait for the real sorting. And write down what you notice: those details will be precious during the intake interview.

A recent or long-ago shock that still steals your nights is something that can be worked on. Find out how a session unfolds on the brief therapy page.

Keywords: eye movement therapy, EMDR, sleeping after a shock, trauma and sleep, recurring nightmares, brief therapy for trauma, post-traumatic stress