# Shark Attack Survivor Credits EMDR Therapy for PTSD Recovery Leah Stewart shares how eye movement therapy helped process her traumatic shark attack experience. - **Source:** [Science & tech Articles | Mail Online](https://www.dailymail.com?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490) - **Published:** 2026-11-05 - **Topic:** [health](https://brifing.si/c/health) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/87fb20ef-1f6b-4341-b200-07c2ec7a85ec ## Survivor Shares Recovery Journey Leah Stewart, a 35-year-old mother, recently detailed her recovery from a severe shark attack at Sydney's Coogee Beach. Following the June 13 incident, which resulted in the amputation of her arm and multiple surgeries, Stewart suffered from persistent, vivid nightmares. She now credits a specific psychological therapy for her significant mental progress. ## Understanding the EMDR Mechanism Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, or EMDR, utilizes bilateral stimulation to help patients process trauma. By tracking a therapist's hand movements while recalling distressing events, the brain re-categorizes the memory. This process shifts the experience from an immediate, life-threatening sensation to a distant, manageable memory, effectively reducing the intensity of fear responses. ## Clinical Effectiveness and Recognition EMDR is widely recognized as a first-choice treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder globally. In Australia, the practice gained significant momentum after being officially added to Medicare's list of approved Focused Psychological Strategies in May 2020. The EMDR Association of Australia noted that the therapy has spread across the country at record speeds. ## Public Awareness and Advocacy While effective, the therapy remained relatively obscure until Prince Harry demonstrated the technique on camera during his docuseries, The Me You Can't See. Other high-profile figures, including Miley Cyrus and Sandra Bullock, have also publicly discussed using EMDR to manage personal trauma, further increasing public interest in this specific psychological treatment method. ## Personal Impact on Stewart Before starting the therapy, Stewart reported an eight-out-of-ten fear response whenever she recalled the attack. She described the trauma as a loop playing in her head twenty-four hours a day, preventing sleep. Now, she can recall the event without her body physically reacting as if she were still in the water. ## Overcoming Physical and Mental Trauma Stewart spent two weeks in a coma following the attack, which involved a suspected great white shark. Her physical recovery included complex surgeries and a failed skin graft on her leg. Despite these severe physical challenges, she emphasizes that the mental healing provided by EMDR was essential for her to regain daily stability. ## Encouraging Others to Seek Help Following her positive experience, Stewart is actively encouraging other Australians suffering from PTSD to consider EMDR as a viable treatment option. She expressed disbelief at her own progress, noting that she would not have expected to be mentally handling the situation so well by November, just months after the horrific shark encounter. ## Broader Implications for Trauma Care The case of Leah Stewart highlights the growing importance of accessible, evidence-based psychological interventions for trauma survivors. As EMDR becomes more integrated into standard care, its role in treating severe incidents like shark attacks demonstrates the potential for specialized therapies to improve long-term outcomes for those dealing with profound, life-altering physical and emotional injuries. ## Sources covering this story - https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/article-16267607/shark-attack-Sydney-Leah-Stewart-EMDR.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._