Coogee shark attack victim Leah Stewart reveals she used a revolutionary eye movement therapy championed by Prince Harry to conquer her PTSD

Shark attack survivor Leah Stewart shared details about the unusual treatment she’s found effective for tackling post-traumatic stress.

Ms Stewart, 35, shared an emotional video on Thursday detailing her experience with eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR).

The mother was swimming between the flags at Sydney‘s Coogee Beach on June 13 when she was mauled by a suspected great white shark. 

She spent two weeks in a coma and underwent multiple surgeries, including the amputation of one arm below the elbow and a failed skin graft on her leg.

Ms Stewart struggled with vivid nightmares following the horrific attack but shared how EMDR has helped her overcome the worst of her trauma.

‘If you had told me that by November I would be handling it mentally, I would not have believed you,’ Ms Stewart said. 

‘Now, I can think back on it and it just feels like something that’s happened. I can recall it but my body doesn’t feel it like I felt when I was in the water.’

EMDR is a first-choice treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and has helped millions of patients around the globe.

Ms Stewart (pictured with the lifeguards that helped rescue her) has undergone EMDR to process the traumatic event

EMDR was first pioneered in America in 1987. 

It uses bilateral stimulation to help the brain re-categorise traumatic incidents from being immediately dangerous to long-term memory.

Patients are required to recall the traumatic memory while performing different movements with their eyes. 

For example, many patients will track the therapist’s hand as it moves across their field of vision.

While EMDR has been found to be extremely effective, it was widely unknown until Prince Harry demonstrated the therapy on camera in the docuseries The Me You Can’t See.

The EMDR Association of Australia found ‘EMDR spread through Australia faster than anywhere else in the world’.

The practice was officially added to Medicare’s list of approved Focused Psychological Strategies on in May 2020. 

Ms Stewart was glad to share EMDR has worked for her and urged other Aussies with PTSD to consider it as a treatment option.

Ms Stewart (above) said she no longer has vivid nightmares of the attack, which she attributes to EMDR

‘When I used to recall the event, I used to have an eight-out-of-ten fear response,’ Ms Stewart said.

‘I would feel like I was back in the water. Constantly, the shark attack was replaying in my head on a loop, 24 hours a day, for months on end.

‘I couldn’t sleep at night. I was having nightmares and I was waking up in sweats every single day.’

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