EMDR Therapy and the Flash Technique

You know you need trauma-informed therapy, but you’ve been avoiding it for so long. You’ve heard great things about EMDR treatment—and you’ve also heard it can feel intense. You might wonder:

• What if I start crying and can’t stop?

• What if the memories overwhelm me?

• What if I’m not ready to face it all at once?

These are common fears when considering trauma therapy. The good news? EMDR has flexible tools to help. One of the most promising is the Flash Technique.

What Is the Flash Technique in EMDR?

The Flash Technique is a newer EMDR-related protocol designed to reduce distress around difficult memories with minimal discomfort. While the standard EMDR protocol remains the gold standard with the strongest research base, early studies and clinical experience suggest the Flash Technique can help clients:

• Ease into trauma treatment without overwhelm

• Lower distress before formal EMDR reprocessing

• Feel more confident about beginning therapy

It’s not a replacement for EMDR, but it can be a valuable preparation tool.

Any experienced EMDR therapist will remind you: we cannot predict exactly how your system will respond to EMDR treatment. That’s why preparation is so important.

The Flash Technique is one option in that preparation phase. Clients often describe it as a way to “soften the edges” of a difficult memory. It helps reduce the initial intensity so when we approach that memory with standard EMDR later, it feels more manageable.

How We Might Use Flash Together

• Step 1: Safety and pacing. We’ll talk through your concerns about starting trauma therapy and decide together what feels most supportive.

• Step 2: Flash Technique (optional). We can use Flash to decrease the “botheration” of a particular memory. This doesn’t erase it—it just helps you feel less activated before deeper EMDR work.

• Step 3: Standard EMDR. Once you feel steadier, we’ll use the standard EMDR protocol to fully reprocess the memory, with less fear of overwhelm.

Remember: we go at your pace. There is no rush to face trauma before you feel prepared.

If you’ve been putting off trauma therapy because you’re worried about crying too hard, being flooded with memories, or feeling out of control, the Flash Technique can help bridge that gap. It’s one way to start gently, while still working toward meaningful healing.