What Is IEMT?
Integral Eye Movement Therapy (IEMT) is a change work model that uses guided eye movements to help clients resolve negative emotional states and identity-level issues. Unlike traditional talk therapy, IEMT focuses on the neurological encoding of emotions and beliefs, offering rapid and lasting shifts in how people experience themselves and their past.
At its core, IEMT asks two transformative questions:
- How did this person learn to feel this way about this thing?
- How did this person learn to be this way?
By exploring these questions through structured eye movement protocols, IEMT helps clients access and recalibrate the emotional and identity imprints that shape their current reality.
How Does IEMT Help?
IEMT is particularly effective for:
- Reducing the intensity of negative emotional states (e.g., anxiety, guilt, shame, anger)
- Resolving trauma without requiring detailed verbal disclosure
- Addressing identity-level issues such as low self-worth, imposter syndrome, or chronic victimhood
- Breaking patterns of chronicity that keep clients stuck in repetitive emotional loops
Unlike EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which primarily targets trauma, IEMT is designed to work with a broader range of emotional and identity issues. It’s not a therapy in the traditional sense, but a change work model that complements coaching, counseling, and psychotherapy.
The Origins of IEMT
IEMT was developed in the UK by Andrew T. Austin, a former neurology nurse turned therapist and trainer. Drawing from his clinical experience and studies in NLP, EMDR, and Clean Language, Austin synthesized IEMT in the early 2000s as a practical, results-driven model for emotional change.
Its roots trace back to:
- Eye Movement Integration Therapy by Steve and Connirae Andreas
- EMDR by Francine Shapiro
- Clean Language and Metaphors of Movement by David Grove
Austin’s innovation was to focus not just on trauma, but on the emotional and identity imprints that form through repeated life experiences — and to use eye movements as a tool for accessing and updating these imprints.
Emotional Imprints
An Emotional Imprint is a learned emotional response to a specific experience. For example, if someone was repeatedly criticized as a child, they may develop an imprint of shame or anxiety that gets triggered in adult situations — even when the context is different.
IEMT helps clients:
- Identify the kinaesthetic response (how the emotion feels in the body)
- Recall the triggering event or pattern
- Use eye movements to disrupt and reprocess the emotional encoding
This process doesn’t require the client to relive trauma or provide detailed narratives. Instead, it works neurologically, allowing the brain to update how it stores and responds to emotional memories.
Identity Imprints
Identity Imprints refer to the unconscious beliefs and self-concepts formed through life experiences. These imprints shape how a person sees themselves — often in limiting or distorted ways.
Examples include:
- “I’m not good enough.”
- “I’m always the outsider.”
- “I’m the one who gets hurt.”
IEMT explores how these identity statements were learned and encoded. Through specific protocols, clients can shift from rigid identity positions to more flexible, empowered self-concepts. This is especially useful in coaching, leadership development, and trauma recovery.
Patterns of Chronicity
One of IEMT’s most powerful contributions is its framework for understanding Patterns of Chronicity — the repetitive emotional and behavioral loops that keep people stuck.
Austin identified five core patterns:
- Being at Effect – Feeling powerless or victimized
- Other People Are the Problem – Externalizing blame
- Overwhelm – Feeling emotionally flooded and unable to act
- No Sense of Time – Difficulty distinguishing past from present
- Unrealistic Expectations of Change – Hoping for change without action
These patterns often prevent therapeutic progress. IEMT helps clients recognize and interrupt these loops, creating space for real transformation.
Who Is Partha Roy in Relation to IEMT?
I am is a certified IEMT Trainer based in Kolkata, India, and a leading figure in bringing IEMT to South Asia. With a background in NLP, Gestalt therapy, and Mental Space Psychology, I integrates IEMT into my work with coaches, therapists, educators, and adolescents.
I am
- NLP Master Trainer
- Integral Eye Movement Trainer
- An Ambassador for the Society of Mental Space Psychology
- A Trainer of Social Panorama and Metaphors of Movement
- A Specialist in trauma, emotional intelligence, and experiential learning
