About Integral Eye Movement Technique
What is IEMT?
IEMT is a structured therapeutic technique that combines guided eye movements with carefully sequenced questions and close attention to changes in emotion, imagery, body sensation and self-experience.
Integral Eye Movement Technique was developed by Andrew T. Austin from observations made during eye-movement-based change work. The model focuses on how particular emotional responses and ways of experiencing the self may become learned, repeated and maintained.
The roots of this model could be traced to Steve Andreas and Connirae Andreas's eye-movement integration therapy and Francine Shapiro's eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, and was also influenced by David Grove's ideas about exploring identity through the use of pronouns. The model was developed by therapist Andrew T. Austin, in the United Kingdom.
This development followed observations of a number of neurological phenomena that occur during therapeutic eye movements, specifically at the moment that problematic imagery changed its emotional coding.
This led to the development of a set of applications of these phenomena that enabled Integral Eye Movement Technique to be applied to neurological imprints, specifically imprints of emotion and some imprints of identity.
The current name is Integral Eye Movement Technique. Older courses, publications and webpages may use the former name, Integral Eye Movement Therapy. The technique remains a therapeutic practice; the name change clarifies that IEMT is a technique used within the wider category of therapy and change work.
The two core areas of IEMT
IEMT distinguishes between learned emotional responses and learned patterns of identity. They often interact, but they are not treated as the same problem.
Emotional imprinting
How did I learn to feel this way?
An emotional imprint is the model’s term for a learned emotional and bodily response that becomes linked to a memory, cue or situation. IEMT tracks how that response changes while the client attends to the experience and follows guided eye movements.
Identity imprinting
How did I learn to be this way?
Identity imprinting refers to persistent ways of organising self-experience, for example the shift from “I feel anxious” to “I am an anxious person”. IEMT uses distinct language, attention and eye-movement patterns when working with these identity statements.
What happens in an IEMT session?
A practitioner uses observation, questions and structured eye-movement patterns to track changes in the client’s internal experience. The exact sequence depends on the person, the presenting issue, consent, suitability and the practitioner’s scope of competence.
1. Identify
Select a target
The client and practitioner identify a specific emotional response, memory representation, recurring pattern or identity statement.
2. Track
Follow change
Guided eye movements are used while changes in imagery, feeling, body response, language and orientation are observed.
3. Review
Check the result
The client’s response is reassessed. Further work, a different approach or referral may be appropriate if the target has not changed sufficiently.
Eye movements in IEMT are not “eye accessing cues”
IEMT does not use eye direction to decide whether someone is lying or to classify them as a “visual”, “auditory” or “kinaesthetic” person. Those familiar claims are not the basis of the technique. In IEMT, the practitioner deliberately guides eye movements as part of a structured therapeutic process.
What IEMT is, and what it is not
IEMT is
- A structured technique for trained practitioners.
- A model for working with emotional and identity imprints.
- Potentially useful as one component of wider therapeutic practice.
- An evolving approach that should be used within competence and scope.
IEMT is not
- A diagnostic system or medical treatment.
- A lie-detection method or a test of personality type.
- The same protocol as EMDR, despite both using eye movements.
- A guaranteed cure, a replacement for emergency care or suitable for every person.
Evidence and responsible claims
IEMT has a growing body of practitioner reports, case studies and early research, but its evidence base is still developing. It should not be presented as having the same volume of independent evidence as established first-line psychological therapies. The Association supports careful documentation, adverse-event reporting and further independent research.
Read the research overview | View IEMT case studies | Research participation
Continue your IEMT journey
How IEMT is structured
See the emotional, identity, advanced and trainer elements of the model.
IEMT and EMDR
Understand the shared use of eye movements and the important differences in training and protocol.
Standards and scope
Review the professional expectations that apply to Association members.
Will IEMT stop my negative thinking and my fear of life and the future and how much does it cost please
We can offer no guarantees, but many people report that 1-3 sessions of IEMT can be quite transformative. In terms of pricing, practitioners are free to set their own charges, the typical range seems to be £40-£140 per session.
Does IEMT work with someone who has had a brain injury?
Hello, Would IEMT work with a phobia of driving? I have tried counselling, hypnotherapy, just doing it.
But something is still blocking me and I don’t know what it is.
thanks for info.