Getting Ready for EMDR: What You Need to Know Before Your First Session

If your image of therapy is based mostly on pop culture or secondhand reports, you’re in for a surprise with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Yes, your sessions will involve you and a therapist talking in a private setting. However, unlike classic talk therapy, EMDR’s hallmark is the attainment of bilateral stimulation through unusual eye, finger, and hand movements.

To put this in simple language, your therapist will move their fingers and hands directly in front of your face. You will follow these movements using only your eyes. In the process, both sides of your brain are stimulated — setting the stage for the safe processing and resolution of trauma, self-sabotaging beliefs, and negative memories.

The 8 Phases of EMDR

Phase 1

Your first session is dedicated to compiling a complete medical history and gaining a better understanding of the issues that led you to try EMDR. In fact, a fair amount of time is spent on the road that led you to this session. At this point, the client and therapist will have an important conversation about choosing what memory, belief, or image will be the primary focus of your treatment.

Phase 2

Your therapist is more than aware that the EMDR approach always inspires questions. Phase 2 is where and when you get the answers you want, need, and deserve.

Phase 3

You have chosen your primary focus in Phase 1. Now, that focus must be fleshed out. With help from your therapist, you will identify what the belief means and what sensations it causes. The measurement of these sensations and reactions is how EMDR is measured. Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) and Validity of Cognition (VOC) are the scales used.

Phase 4

With three phases complete, it’s time to get to what’s called the desensitization phase. This is when the movements — fingers, hands, eyes, etc. — mentioned above begin to happen. For starters, you will be asked to aim your full mental focus on the target memory or thought. As you do that, the therapist begins the aforementioned hand and finger movements. (They will also sometimes use sounds.) As you attune your eye movements to the practitioner’s external movements, you must continue to focus on the predetermined focal point.

Phase 5

When in a comfortable state similar to REM sleep, you can process negative memories without being triggered. Your therapist will periodically measure your response using the SUD scale. Desensitization is reached when your SUD score is zero. Immediately, the focus shifts to guiding you to “replace” the original negative thought with a new, positive belief. This continues until you fully accept the new perspective.

Phase 6

Before wrapping up, you will be checked for any lingering distress. Until that is gone, the bilateral stimulation will continue.

Phase 7

Your first session ends when there is no sign of a negative sensation. Slowly but surely, the therapist will guide you to a point at which the SUD scale is at 0 and the VOC is at 7.

Phase 8

You probably already perceive EMDR as being full of surprises. Well, here’s another one. Phase 8 commences at the start of your next session. The therapist uses the same scale to measure your state of being, and things move forward from there. You may return to working on the same focus as the last time or, if possible, you can move forward to tackle a new focus.

I Bet You Have Plenty of Questions!

Obviously, EMDR therapy is unique. Therefore, it makes sense that you may have more than a few questions. With this in mind, let’s connect for a free and confidential consultation during which I can clarify details and soothe your concerns.