Can Therapy Change Your DNA? New Research Suggests It Might
We often think of therapy as something that helps us feel better — calmer, clearer, more resilient. But what if it also helps us heal on a biological level?
A new study suggests that trauma-focused therapy might actually change the way our DNA is expressed, especially for people living with treatment-resistant depression.
Trauma, DNA, and Healing
Our DNA is like the blueprint for our bodies, but it’s not fixed in stone. Experiences — especially trauma — can leave chemical “marks” on our DNA through a process called DNA methylation. Think of it like sticky notes that turn certain genes on or off.
Past studies show that childhood trauma can affect these marks, especially in genes related to stress and inflammation. The exciting part? Psychotherapy itself may help rewrite some of those marks.
What the Study Found
Researchers followed a small group of people with long-standing depression that hadn’t improved with typical treatment. Everyone had a history of early life stress.
They received trauma-focused psychotherapy — either CBT or EMDR — while scientists tracked their DNA before, during, and after therapy.
Here’s the exciting part:
After therapy, participants showed real biological changes in the way their genes were “switched on or off.”
The biggest shifts happened in genes linked to inflammation and immune function — two systems we know are tied to both stress and mood.
EMDR, in particular, showed the strongest impact on these DNA changes.
Why it Matters
This study is still small, but it gives us a glimpse of something powerful:
Therapy isn’t “just in your head.” It may ripple all the way down to your cells.
Healing work — especially trauma-focused approaches like EMDR — could help reset not only the mind, but also the body’s stress response.
For those who’ve felt stuck with depression that won’t budge, this opens the door to new hope.
A Whole-Body View of Healing
We’ve always known that trauma lives in the body. Now science is catching up to show that therapy can live there too — gently rewriting the way our biology holds on to the past.
Healing is never one-dimensional. It happens in our minds, our relationships, our choices — and yes, even in our DNA.
This research is early, but it’s hopeful: trauma-focused therapies like EMDR may do more than help us cope. They might actually help our bodies “re-tune” the way trauma shows up in our biology.
It’s one more piece of evidence that healing isn’t just in your head — it’s in your whole system.
Reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38362742/