EMDR Phase 3 Assessment: How It Prepares You for Phase 4

You thought you had put the past trauma all behind you. Except something happened at work and nooooooow you can’t stop the memories from crowding into your awareness. You feel jumpy all of the time and you’ve even locked yourself into the bathroom so no one has to know what’s actually going on. But you know they do. You can’t hide it from yourself or anyone else. You need to finally take care of this.

If you’ve been researching EMDR, you might have also come across EMDR Phase 4: Desensitization and wondered how on earth you’re supposed to get from “panic in the bathroom” to actually processing a traumatic memory. The truth is, Phase 3 — Assessment — is the essential bridge that prepares you for Phase 4 and makes the entire reprocessing phase feel safer and more structured. It’s purpose is to efficiently activate the neural networks holding the traumatic memory in less than a minute (generally), and it doesn’t require you to go into detail about the incident. Once this neural network is activated, then you move to EMDR Phase 4 to begin reprocessing the memory. So let’s break down what happens next, and how the Assessment phase activates the memory in a structured, tolerable way.

EMDR DOES NOT REQUIRE YOU TO “RELIVE” THE TRAUMA MEMORY

To reiterate - in EMDR, you don’t have to describe “the incident” in detail.  So you won’t be describing what happened out loud.  But we do need to activate the memory so your brain can begin making adaptive connections.  Because every person stores memories differently (and each memory for each person might be stored differently), we access the memory by going through the assessment phase.

**Disclaimer - be careful here.  Have a grounding tool nearby in case you find yourself activated.**

This phase really only takes a minute or two, and it happens right before we begin actually reprocessing the memory (which is called Phase Four:  Desensitization).  Here’s how it goes:

Image:  “What image represents the worst part (of the memory)?”

Negative Cognition:  “As you think of this memory now, what negative belief about yourself comes up?” 

Positive Cognition:  “What would you RATHER believe about yourself?”

Validity of Cognition:  “When you bring up the memory we are working on and the words (here the words are whatever cognition you decided on, such as ‘I’m ok now,’ or ‘ I did the best I could’), how true to those words FEEL to you now?” (Here I remind people that there is a difference between what you logically know to be true and what feels true in your heart.  We’re getting after what feels true in your heart - we want your logic and your heart to match by the time we’re done!)

Emotion:  “When you bring up the memory and the negative belief, what emotions do you get right now?”

Subjective Unit(s) of Discomfort: “Out of ten, how intense does this memory feel right now?  Where zero is neutral (or a sense of acceptance) and ten is the most upset you could ever be?”

Physical Location:  “Where do you feel this in your body right now?”

That’s it!  After that, we begin the bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements) and you allow your mind to go wherever it needs to go.  Your only job is to let me know what you notice when I stop the bilateral stimulation.  You don’t need to describe anything in detail (unless you want to), but I really just need a couple words - like, “I’m sad,” or “I feel tightness in my throat.” 

If you’d like a clearer picture of what happens in the next part of EMDR, you can read my guide on EMDR Phase 4: What Happens in Desensitization, or explore the full EMDR Treatment Planning Hub to see how all eight phases fit together.

If you are ready to finally take care of the past, click here to book a free 15 minute video consultation for EMDR Therapy and PTSD treatment in California.