EMDR Therapy for Test Anxiety

What Is EMDR?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has been extensively researched and has been proven effective for the treatment of trauma and disturbing life events.

The fear of failure associated with thoughts of not passing a high-stakes exam is indeed disturbing and can feel debilitating. And for some, having taken a high-stakes exam and not passing can be a traumatic experience. Oftentimes, having experienced a poor test performance in the past increases stress and anxiety about repeating the poor performance. This is especially true when it involves a high-stakes exam.

EMDR can reduce anxiety and accelerate life changes that traditional talk therapy can take years to accomplish.

What Is Test Anxiety?

Test anxiety is a type of performance anxiety, because there is an immense amount of pressure to do well in a specific situation. It can affect anyone at any time–elementary school students, middle school students, high school students, college students, graduate students, PhD students, people in specific careers requiring licensure or certification, and employees who have to take tests for career advancement. 

People can experience test anxiety and academic related stress for a number of reasons. For example, one may fear failure and the uncertainty of the future if they do poorly on a high stakes examination. The stress and worry become a breeding ground for procrastination. Procrastination can make one feel overwhelmed and shut down that one finds themselves cramming for a high stakes exam at the last minute.

A common statement that I most often hear from people is:

” I get so nervous about not passing my exam and I get so overwhelmed that I find it hard to study”. 

A little nervousness before a test is normal. But with test anxiety, overwhelming feelings of worry and self-doubt can interfere with test-taking performance and make one feel immobilized and miserable.

All of this stress and anxiety can ignite your body’s “fight or flight” response. When this happens, your body releases adrenaline, and the energy used to make good decisions gets diverted into being hyper-vigilant and on high alert. For others, the stress and anxiety can ignite the body’s “freeze” response.  Regardless of what your response to stress is, your brain is automatically thwarted in survival mode and preparing for the worst. You can’t concentrate on taking your test and it becomes all too difficult to imagine yourself doing well. The “thinking and feeling” part of your brain goes off line and you’re in survival mode. It feels all too difficult to focus and concentrate on comprehending the test questions and answering them. And this is exacerbated when we think and feel that we’re getting test answers wrong.