What is EMDR? What is EMDR good for?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) focuses on your present concerns. However, rather than just talking about them, EMDR uses eye movements and other forms of stimulation to activate the brain’s ability to resolve these concerns. As a result, we feel better, not just think we are better!
EMDR’s focus is on your brain’s ability to constantly learn, modify, and adapt. Adaptive learning is constantly updating memory network systems, keeping what is important from past experiences and letting go of no longer necessary information.
Traumatic, distressful, and disturbing events are often emotionally charged in a way that prevents adaptive learning. These past emotionally charged events become isolated from more positive, adaptive experiences. When activated in the present, these negatively charged feelings and emotions distort our current perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. For example, if someone criticizes you, while you may know that you are worthwhile, these negative emotions and sensations cause you to feel worthless.
EMDR treatment identifies these negative and positive networks and then uses bilateral stimulation (e.g., eye movements, alternative tapping, and other bilateral movements) to activate your adaptive learning system. The result is a consolidated memory network that keeps what is healthy and lets go of past and no longer useful emotions, sensations, and beliefs. As a result, you not only know you are worthwhile, you feel it, too! EMDR has been successfully used to reduce/eliminate symptoms of trauma, PTSD, Eating disorder, OCD, Personality Disorder, Anxiety, Depression and other emotional conditions.
EMDR therapy is a structured, eight-phase approach used to help your brain reprocess traumatic memories and reduce their emotional charge. I follow the protocol and its phases during EMDR therapy. When needed I integrate aspects of IFS and Somatic Experiencing to meet the specific needs of a person. As a certified IFS-informed EMDR therapist, I’m trained to combine the structured trauma process of EMDR with the parts-based psychology of Internal Family Systems (IFS). I’m also trained in Somatic EMDR where I learned to merge traditional 8-phase EMDR memory reprocessing with body-centered somatic psychology, polyvagal theory, and nervous system regulation to integrate the modalities for more effective and lasting results. Sometimes clients drop off therapy during the desensitization phase because they start feeling better. It is important to complete all phases of EMDR for lasting results.
Understanding ART
Phase 1: History taking and treatment planning. We discuss what brings you to therapy. We create a roadmap of a target event, past memories, present triggers, future scenarios and negative core beliefs.
Phase 2: Preparation: I explain the EMDR process and we set expectations. You learn internal coping and self-soothing techniques to use during session and in between sessions.
Phase 3: Assessment: We select a specific target memory. Identify a negative belief about the self (e.g., "I am not lovable") and a desired adaptive belief (e.g., “All humans are loveable including me”). You rate the emotional distress using the Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) scale (0 to 10) and the believability of the adaptive belief using the Validity of Cognition (VOC) scale (1 to 7).
Phase 4: Desensitization: You focus on the target memory while following bilateral stimulation (BLS)—such as side-to-side eye movements, auditory tones, or tactile taps. This dual-attention process continues until the emotional charge drops and the SUD score reaches 0 or 1.
Phase 5: Installation: I use bilateral stimulation to help strengthen and install the chosen adaptive belief. The goal is to raise the VOC score up to a 7, making the positive thought feel true.
Phase 6: Body Scan: You mentally scan your body from head to toe while holding the memory and positive belief in mind. Any remaining physical tension or somatic discomfort is processed with further bilateral stimulation until the body feels clear.
Phase 7: Closure: Every session ends with a return to grounded state. If a memory was not fully processed during the session, I use stabilization techniques to keep you safe until the next meeting.
Phase 8: Reevaluation: The next session starts with a review of progress where we check whether positive results have been maintained and determine the next target memory or issue to address.