The 8 Phases of EMDR
I’ve been a practicing EMDR clinician for a while now, and what happens in the therapy room when we reprocess still sometimes surprises and baffles me. When a client is really ready to go on a journey of working through past experiences and memories, a memory can go from feeling overwhelming and distressing to fully neutral in a matter of minutes sometimes. I’m still in awe of the beautiful imagery and meaning making clients knit from the source of their pain. Being able to witness others’ journey in this way is truly such a gift.
So, what are the 8 phases and how does EMDR work really? EMDR begins where all therapy begins, with getting to know each client fully. Phase 1 is our History Taking phase, where we get curious together about what feels unresolved and difficult now. We start to explore how and why patterns started, patterns like people pleasing, shutting down, having to be the best, or ignoring pain. As we begin to understand the origin stories of these patterns, we start to explore together in Phase 2 Resourcing what might feel out of balance. Maybe we need to spend some time really connecting with body sensations or really practicing what it feels like to say no. Maybe we need to strengthen our internal sense of safety and nurturing or access our own inner wisdom.
And then we begin Phase 3, when the reprocessing magic begins! It starts with creating a road map together, and this part is so hard. In EMDR, we break past trauma and overwhelming experiences into smaller, manageable pieces we call targets. We have to create the road map of each target so we know where we’re going, and this part is painful and uncomfortable, as healing can be sometimes. Once we really map out that pain, we can begin our reprocessing, one target at a time. This is where we use our bilateral stimulation tool that makes EMDR unique.
Bilateral stimulation is very fast left to right movement, and this can be experienced in several different ways. At Aloft Healing Studios, we have headphones where you can hear sounds that move from left to right, touch sensors that buzz from left to right, and also help clients with self-tapping. When we start to use bilateral stimulation and pair that with our EMDR targets, we start to access where that memory is stored. I often refer to EMDR as a bottom-up approach to therapy, meaning that when we use bilateral stimulation, we begin to activate those back parts of our brain where trauma is stored, places like our amygdala and our limbic system. When we just talk about our trauma, we are only accessing that front part of our brain, our prefrontal cortex, so we’re not really getting access to the disturbance. There have been countless studies trying to fully understand the science of why bilateral stimulation works and the best we currently understand, it mimics our REM sleep cycle, and it also works to tax our working memories and get us out of our own way.
And so little by little, we start to shift and move trauma and overwhelm, working from our earliest memories and being with our child selves first. We also begin to give that child self some new information, new beliefs that can begin to feel true now. Maybe what once felt shameful and like it was your fault can begin to feel like you were just a kiddo doing your best. Maybe where you once felt alone or misunderstood, there can now be connection and love. And as those new beliefs about ourselves begin to feel true, we return to our present selves and the lives we wish to lead in the future. We savor and cherish those new beliefs and the new way of being in the world.
EMDR can feel intimidating sometimes, starting with the name itself! It can feel big and scary to consider intentionally sitting with our biggest wounds. And that leads me to the most important aspect of EMDR…we believe absolutely every human has the innate capacity to heal. Every human has a brain and body that knows exactly what to do, EMDR just helps create the conditions to help you remember what got lost along the way.
It is a privilege to grow Aloft Healing Studios into an accessible and safe home away from home to access EMDR care. I have the most brilliant and compassionate team of clinicians I know here to help guide you towards healing.
Peace to you wherever you find yourself on your journey,
Cassie