Today: Designing a Trauma-Informed EMDR Therapy App

Carnegie Mellon University
Master's Thesis

2024-2025

Overview

Designing a trauma-informed EMDR therapy maintenance app

A year-long CMU Master's thesis exploring how EMDR therapy, a clinically proven treatment for PTSD and trauma, could be translated into a safe, ethical digital maintenance experience for individuals who have already completed therapy with a clinician.

Role

Interaction Designer & Researcher

Focus

Trauma-informed digital therapy

Duration

1 year

Outcome

Mobile prototype + five trauma-informed design principles

Developed in collaboration with a professor of psychiatry, two EMDR therapists, and an EMDR practitioner to ensure the work remained clinically grounded throughout.

Open case study

The Problem

Most people who complete EMDR therapy leave with newly developed skills for managing trauma but nowhere to practice them. Relapse is common. As one clinician put it during my research: "You can treat anyone, and they can improve for a short period of time. Relapse is where everything falls apart."

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Existing digital EMDR tools don't solve this. A review of available apps revealed a consistent pattern: tools focused almost entirely on delivering the bilateral stimulation exercise while skipping the preparation, assessment, and closure phases that make therapy safe and effective. None were designed with trauma-informed principles. Most lacked basic data privacy disclosures.
The gap wasn't just a product gap. It was an ethical one.

A Pivotal Scope Decision

My initial direction was to design a self-guided EMDR tool for people new to therapy. But the deeper I went into the research, the more that direction felt irresponsible.

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Expert interviews with EMDR therapists and practitioners made the risks clear. Without a prior therapeutic relationship, users could enter emotional states they weren't equipped to manage. Without a trained clinician present, there was no safety net.

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This led to a decision that changed everything: rather than designing an entry point into EMDR, I would design a maintenance tool, specifically for individuals who had already completed therapy and wanted to sustain their progress independently.

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That constraint wasn't a limitation. It was what made the design honest.

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Research & Design Principles

How do you build trust with someone in a vulnerable state? How do you create structure without pressure? How do you make progress visible without making failure feel shameful?

These questions shaped five trauma-informed design principles developed through clinical expert interviews, a visit to Dr. Siegle's PRINCE Lab at UPitt, and iterative prototype testing.

  1. Empathy — foster emotional connection through gentle, non-intimidating UI
  2. Trust — build credibility through transparency and privacy-first defaults
  3. Consistency — structured but flexible guidance that doesn't overwhelm
  4. Empowerment — honor autonomy through non-intrusive, user-driven interactions
  5. Self-awareness — make progress visible without applying pressure

Each principle was evaluated through a Figma prototype usability study, with participants rating the app against all five on a Likert scale. Average ratings ranged from 3.75 to 4.75 out of 5, affirming that the design successfully translated clinical principles into a digital experience.

Final Design

1. Onboarding

Clients enter with gentle, non-intimidating UI that explains the app's intention, how EMDR works scientifically, and who it's designed for. Data privacy is opt-in by default and no personal information required to use the app. [Empathy, Trust, Empowerment]

Onboarding flow that addresses the the user's basic curiosity of the app's credibility.

2. Check-In Routine

Every session begins with three reflective prompts. Users can skip at any time. A loader creates a moment of pause before getting started. [Trust, Consistency]

A calm check-in ritual asking users to look inward.

3. EMDR Session — Desensitization & Reprocessing

Users identify a target memory, negative belief, and work through both bilateral stimulation phases at their own pace. Customizable sound types, speeds, and a preview enhance the experience. For users who struggle to generate a positive belief, the app can expand their perspective by offering tailored options based on their input. [Consistency, Empowerment, Self-awareness]

Desensitization flow

Reprocessing flow

4. Progress Tracking & Scheduling

Users track distress scores and validity of cognition over time, watching positive beliefs outweigh negative thoughts across sessions. The system recommends starting with one session per week, reducing frequency as progress improves. [Empowerment, Self-awareness]

Data visualization for tracking progress

Watch my final presentation video below.

The final app prototype includes:

Onboarding -> Check In -> EMDR Session -> Progress Tracking, each tied back to which principles they embody.

Skip to 5:47 to view full click through prototype walk through

Swift Animation

Designing motion interactions that support emotional safety

My background in animation shaped every motion decision in this project. Transitions weren't decorative, they were therapeutic. Every animation was evaluated against the same principles as the UI: does this feel gentle? Does it reduce cognitive stress or add to it?

The loading screen uses layered SwiftUI wave animations to create a calming entry point. The breathing timer uses an After Effects-inspired expanding shape to guide users through closure at the end of each session.

Reflection

Designing for trauma taught me that safety isn’t just a feature, rather, it’s a design system. Every interaction, transition, and piece of copy had to be evaluated not just for usability, but for emotional impact.
The biggest pivot in this project was narrowing the scope from a self-guided EMDR tool to a maintenance app for people already in therapy. That decision, pushed by clinician feedback, made the design more honest and more useful. It's the kind of constraint that initially feels limiting but ultimately produces better work.
This project also changed how I think about design ethics. When your users are in a vulnerable state, the consequences of a bad interaction aren't just friction — they’re harm. That responsibility never left me throughout the process.