What Actually Happens in EMDR Therapy?

You may have heard of EMDR therapy but wonder about it. EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy. It is becoming more widely used as a therapeutic intervention for an array of mental health issues, originating with PTSD, but now expanding outward.

The goal is to reduce the level of disturbance while targeting past experiences or memories that are still causing trouble today. The whole process is comprised of eight total steps. Here’s what happens with this type of therapy.

Phase One: History Taking

You will start by going through your full history: medical, physical, and mental, starting with childhood up to the present. For the process to be effective and worthwhile, you must explore everything; family upbringing, life events, and any trauma. Your therapist will then identify a target area for treatment. This could be a past memory, something currently triggering you, and even goals for the future.

Phase Two: Client Preparation

You will be prepared for the why and the how. Your therapist will provide you with an explanation of the intervention and a run-down of the procedure. They will ensure you have the appropriate resources and feel safe and comfortable. It is a safe space. In order for the treatment to work, you need to be comfortable with the possibility of being uncomfortable. You’re confronting a traumatic time/memory, but you need to be able to be open and present throughout the process.

Phase Three: Assessment

The target memory becomes activated in this step through image, cognition, affect, and bodily sensation components. Through the Subjective Units of Disturbance scale and the Validity of Cognition scale, your therapist will be able to measure changes. The Subjective Units of Disturbance scale asks you to rate how disturbing an emotion or feeling is on a scale of 1-10. The Validity of Cognition scale asks how true specific, positive words are on a scale of 1-10.

Phase Four: Desensitization

While focusing on your target memory, your therapist will incorporate bilateral stimulation. They will have you follow a target with your eyes, back and forth across your field of vision. This generally includes eye movements but can also mean tactile cueing as well. Whatever new thoughts emerge will likely be used in the next set of bilateral stimulation. The sets continue until your reported intensity reduces. This process causes dual attention, focusing on the internal trauma memory and the external experience simultaneously.

Phase Five: Installation

Positive cognitive thoughts are further instilled in this step of the process. Those thoughts begin to replace the previously held negative ones. By lessening the intensity the memory or experience carries, you can begin to experience a sense of calm or peace with the target.

Phase Six: A Body Scan

By this point in the process, you will likely have felt some sort of physiological response. Your therapist will ask you to do a self-check and report what you have felt while thinking of the negative memory and the positive cognition. If any area of distress still exists, continued bilateral stimulation will guide you in processing it.

Phase Seven: Closure

The hope is that your target memory is resolved by the time you finish your session. Some memories live a little deeper, though, and may require further sessions to process. If you have residual effects, you will be given instructions to follow to maintain a level of containment and safety until your next session.

Phase Eight: Re-evaluation

For subsequent sessions, they will start with re-evaluating your current state. Have you maintained the effects of your previous treatment? Has anything new occurred since the previous session?

If you are interested in exploring EMDR Therapy for your needs, contact us today for more information.

• EMDR