EMDR FlowOnline bilateral stimulation for EMDR
When EMDR moves online, one element travels badly: bilateral stimulation. In the room you lead it with your hand, a light bar or tappers, adjusting by the second. Over the internet you need a tool to carry that — and the options are not equal. This guide compares the modalities and the common approaches, so you can pick one that keeps the set where it belongs: under your control.
The three modalities online
Visual
A stimulus crossing the screen left to right. Works well when the client can give the screen their full field of view, but competes for space with the video call and is sensitive to lag if it isn't rendered on the client's own device.
Auditory
Alternating tones in headphones — often the most reliable modality at a distance, especially with eyes closed. It sidesteps screen real estate entirely and tends to feel steady even on a modest connection.
Tactile
Alternating vibration with the phone held in the hands, one side then the other. It recreates the felt sense of tappers surprisingly well, and many clients find it the most grounding of the three.
The point isn't to crown one winner — it's that different clients respond to different channels, and being able to switch modality mid-session without breaking rhythm is a clinical advantage, not a nice-to-have.
The common approaches, compared
- Client self-tapping. Zero tech, but you lose the reins: pace, sets and pauses drift to the client, and you're guessing at the tempo instead of setting it.
- A bouncing-ball video. Fixed speed, no pauses on cue, no adjustment for what's surfacing. It runs on its own clock, not the client's process.
- A shared metronome app the client drives. Better, but every "pause it and set it to 0.8" pulls you both out of the work.
- A therapist-controlled tool. The controls sit on your screen; changes reach the client's device instantly. Speed, set length, pauses and modality stay clinical decisions made in real time — the closest thing to the room.
What to look for in a tool
- Real-time therapist control of speed, sets, pauses and modality.
- All three modalities, switchable mid-session.
- Trivial pairing (a code or link) and imperceptible latency.
- Privacy by design: no clinical content or client accounts flowing through the stimulation channel — the video call carries the session, the tool carries only the stimulation.
EMDR Flow: all three modalities, controlled from your screen
Visual, auditory and tactile bilateral stimulation, switchable mid-session — speed, sets and pauses in your hands in real time, on the client's own device to avoid lag. Your client joins with a code; nothing clinical passes through our servers.
Try EMDR Flow→ Remote EMDR: making online sessions work · EMDR telehealth