What To Expect In An EMDR Session
You thought you had put it all behind you. Usually, you don’t think about the trauma - but now it keeps coming up. You want to get help but it all seems a little scary (ok, it seems terrifying!). What is trauma therapy like? Do you have to talk about it all in detail? Does it really help?
One of the most common questions I get is about the actual process of EMDR. And it makes sense - if you are going to be working on sensitive stuff, you want to know what you’re getting yourself into! There ARE some trauma therapies that require you to talk about the trauma in detail. EMDR is NOT one of them! So you can put that fear to rest right away.
I’ve answered the most common questions I get in the video below. It’s long - so if you want to get to the meat of it, start at the ten minute mark. But if you are like most people who are calling me, you want to know everything you can before committing to trauma therapy!
Most people think of EMDR as the part where you are actually working on the traumatic memories - and that makes sense because that’s where most of the healing happens! But there are actually 8 full phases to the entire trauma treatment.
EMDR Therapy Occurs In Eight Phases
Before we begin addressing the trauma, we complete history taking, create a treatment plan and prepare you for the actual experience of EMDR reprocessing. At some point, we begin working on each memory. We activate the memory (assessment) and then the desensitization phase begins!
Processing A Trauma Memory
THIS phase is what most people want to know about when it comes to EMDR therapy.
Don’t do this on your own - this is just for you to understand the process
In a nutshell, you notice the memory that’s bothering you and your therapist utilizes bilateral stimulation at the same time (it can be eye movements, buzzers in your hands, auditory tones). You allow your mind to wander wherever it wants to go! That’s it!
At some point, your clinician will stop the bilateral stimulation and ask you what you are noticing “right now.” You don’t need to run through everything that happened up until that point - you just let them know what you notice that second. Only a sentence - you could feel an emotion or a physical sensation. You might be at a particular point in the memory. Your mind might have wandered to your plans that evening. Don’t make up what you think they want to hear, just give an honest answer as to what you are noticing in that moment.
Go With That
At that point, your EMDR therapist will make a decision as to what to do next. Most of the time, they’ll say “go with that,” (or some variation of that phrase) and you just let your mind keep wandering. If you’re stuck or feeling a little overwhelmed, they’ll likely use other techniques to move you along or help you feel more grounded.
EMDR Therapy Decreases Your Pain
The goal is for you to feel much less energy about the memory (or a sense of neutrality about it). Once the memory is no longer upsetting (or much much less upsetting), you move to two other phases (installation and body scan). These phases tend to enhance a sense of relief (specific blog posts for each of them are to come soon).
I hope this relieves some of your anxiety about EMDR therapy. Everyone’s experience with it is so different, which makes sense because we are all different! It’s important to find an EMDR therapist who will go at the pace that feels comfortable for you and answer your questions as you have them.
If you are ready to put it all behind you, click here to book a free 15 minute video consultation for online EMDR Therapy and PTSD treatment in California.
Online EMDR Therapy and Trauma Counseling in California and Carlsbad, CA.
