EMDR for performance or test anxiety

If you find yourself dreading exams, presentations, or any situation where you’re being evaluated, you’re not alone. Performance anxiety can make even the most prepared person feel like they’re about to fall apart. EMDR offers a gentle, effective way to help you approach these moments with greater calm and confidence.

EMDR works by helping you reprocess the memories and beliefs that have taught your mind to associate evaluation with danger or humiliation. We’ll work together on the emotional residue left behind by past experiences, perhaps times when you felt you’ve failed, received harsh criticism, or were under intense pressure to perform. Once these memories lose their emotional charge, your body no longer reacts as though every exam or presentation is a threat to your wellbeing. The aim isn’t to eliminate nerves entirely, a bit of adrenaline can actually be helpful and natural, but rather to restore a sense of calm focus when you’re under stress.

We’ll begin by gently identifying your most difficult performance related memories and the beliefs about yourself that grew from them. These might be thoughts like “I’m going to fail” or “I’ll embarrass myself”, during the processing of the past memories, your nervous system can revisit them safely, without being overwhelmed; as the emotional intensity fades you begin to separate what’s happening now from what happened then, therefore current tests or performances can be experienced with greater clarity and a sense of control, rather than through the lens of old distress.

We’ll then work on strengthening more adaptive beliefs that support your focus and resilience. These might include thoughts like “I can prepare and stay steady” or “I can recover if something goes wrong.” What makes EMDR different from simply repeating positive affirmations is that we anchor these new beliefs in your real experiences of competence and capability, which makes them feel authentic and true, rather than forced or hollow.

Some of our sessions will also focus on the future, applying these new beliefs about yourself and your capability, becoming anchored in your strengths and qualities, creating new neural pathways in the brain responding with calm and confidence and your body recognising situations as manageable rather than threatening, which reduces those physical spikes of panic that can be so overwhelming.

Through this work, EMDR breaks that exhausting loop where high expectations, self-criticism, and fear of failure all feed into each other. Many people find they have steadier focus, bounce back more quickly after mistakes, and experience a quieter, kinder inner voice before and during stressful evaluations.

Key Points:

• EMDR gently targets memories of failure, pressure, or embarrassment that fuel your anxiety
• It reprocesses those experiences so they no longer trigger panic responses
• Bilateral stimulation calms your nervous system whilst you recall difficult moments
• Harsh self-beliefs are replaced with grounded, realistic ones that support you
• The therapy helps you separate current stress from old emotional wounds
• Visualising future scenarios builds a genuine sense of safety and preparedness
• Anxiety responses become less automatic and more manageable over time
• Confidence grows from your real experiences and strengths, not artificial affirmations
• You gain improved focus and fewer self-sabotaging thoughts
• Long-term benefits include feeling calmer and more capable when performing under pressure

You deserve to show up fully to the opportunities in your life without being held back by anxiety. This work can help you step into those moments with greater ease and trust in yourself.