What we claim, and what we don't.
TheraJoy generates a rhythmic left-right stimulus — visual, haptic, or audio — at a frequency the user controls. That's it. We make no claim that this process treats trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, or any other condition.
Clinicians using EMDR and related trauma-focused approaches have, for three decades, integrated bilateral stimulation into structured protocols. Those protocols do not reduce to the stimulus itself, and our app is not a substitute for any of them.
The bilateral-stimulation literature.
Bilateral alternating stimulation (BLS) is the rhythmic left-right cue central to EMDR's "dual-attention" phase. Its active mechanism is disputed: proposed explanations include working-memory taxation (the "taxation" hypothesis), orienting response activation, and parasympathetic entrainment. The literature does not converge on one.
What the literature does agree on: BLS is safe, well-tolerated in clinical settings, and — as one component of a therapist-led protocol — associated with measurable benefit in studies of trauma-focused care.
We read the following as our ground floor:
Why haptic, not visual.
We default to haptic stimulation (vibration in alternating hands) for three practical reasons:
- Eyes-closed self-use. The most common way someone reaches for TheraJoy on their own is with eyes shut. A visual orb works for modes like Ambient, but haptic is the baseline that still functions in the bath, on a plane, or before sleep.
- Less visually stimulating. Many people report light sensitivity around anxious or dysregulated states. A small, private vibration asks less.
- Clinically consistent with "tappers." Handheld tactile devices ("tappers") have been a standard part of EMDR practice since the late 1990s. A pair of Joy-Cons is a surprisingly good implementation of that hardware idea.
Whichever mode you run, the device drives at the same underlying frequency — so a preset built on Orb feels identical on Horizon and on AirPods haptics.
Speed, dose, timing.
We expose three parameters: speed (0.3 – 1.5 Hz), intensity (1–10), and dose (time or pass count). The defaults are conservative.
Speed
Published EMDR protocols commonly describe "one to one-and-a-half cycles per second" for reprocessing sets. For resourcing and self-regulation, slower is often reported as calmer. We default to 0.9 Hz, which tends to feel like "a little slower than a walking pace."
Dose
Between-session self-use in published protocols ranges from 30-second "container" passes to 3-minute calm-place installations. TheraJoy defaults to 24 passes (≈ 27 seconds at 0.9 Hz) per set — short enough to be repeatable, long enough to settle.
What we explicitly don't do
- We do not let clients run sustained stimulation during trauma recall on their own. Our longest single-block preset is 3 minutes.
- We don't "push" intensity over time. The app never increases stimulation on its own.
- We don't quantify "progress." No streaks, no charts, no score.
Self-use versus clinical use.
For an individual using TheraJoy on their own, we recommend it for resourcing and grounding — that is, strengthening felt-sense access to calm or safety. Think: closing your eyes, recalling a grounded memory, and letting a slow haptic rhythm move underneath that memory. Many users report that becomes easier to reach with practice.
We do not recommend solo reprocessing of traumatic material. Reprocessing is the work done with a trained clinician, with a full protocol and a container. No app can replace that, and we have built this one specifically to not try.
"The machine is never the therapy. The machine is just a metronome — the therapist is the musician."
— paraphrased from an early EMDR training tape, 1994
Glossary.
One more time, clearly.
TheraJoy is a consumer wellness tool. The content of this page is a summary of published research made available for transparency. It is not medical, clinical, or therapeutic advice. If you are experiencing significant distress, please contact a licensed clinician or your local emergency line.
If you're a clinician and you spot something here that needs correcting or nuancing, please email us. We'd like to be corrected.