EMDR Procedure

What happens during EMDR therapy?

There are eight phases of EMDR treatment. These phases span several sessions, with occasionally multiple phases being used in one session. Phases 1 and 2 are often only included in the first few sessions, however phases 3 through 8 are included in many sessions thereafter.

It often takes three to six sessions to address a single upsetting event or memory. Eight to twelve sessions may be required for more complicated or long-lasting traumas (or sometimes more). The average session lasts an hour to 90 minutes. These are the eight phases:

1. Information gathering and patient history. Your healthcare professional will gather information about you and your past throughout this phase of the process. This aids them in determining whether EMDR will likely benefit you. Along with your goals for this therapy, it also involves asking about painful or disturbing memories and situations that you want your therapy to concentrate on.
2. Education and preparation. Your healthcare professional will discuss with you what will occur throughout EMDR sessions and what to anticipate during this period. Additionally, they will discuss with you what you should concentrate on to feel more secure and steady during sessions. They’ll give you resources to aid in controlling your emotions.
3. Assessment. Your healthcare professional will assist you in this stage of the procedure by pointing out themes and particular memories that you might wish to focus on during reprocessing. They will assist you in identifying both the negative ideas that the trauma has caused you to hold about yourself as well as the good beliefs that you would like to hold going ahead.
4. Reprocessing after desensitization. Your healthcare professional will assist you identify one or more particular unfavorable images, ideas, feelings, and bodily sensations in order to stimulate your memory during this stage. They will support you in becoming aware of your feelings as well as any fresh ideas or insights you have about what you are going through.
5. Installation. Your healthcare professional will ask you to concentrate on the encouraging thought you wish to implant in your mind as you process a memory during this phase. This empowering idea might have originated from what you stated in phase 3 or something you came up with in phase 4.
6. Body check. Your medical professional will ask you to pay close attention to any symptoms you encounter while you think about or are experiencing the unpleasant memory, in particular. This stage aids in tracking your overall EMDR therapy progress. Your symptoms should lessen throughout the sessions until they are gone (or as close to none as possible). Your reprocessing is finished once all of your symptoms have subsided.
7. Concluding and stabilizing. Between later sessions, this stage serves as a transition. Your healthcare professional will explain to you what to anticipate in between appointments throughout this phase. Additionally, they’ll discuss self-stabilization techniques with you, particularly if you experience unfavorable feelings or ideas in between sessions. They won’t call a session off until you’re more at ease and secure. In order for you to bring up any fresh ideas you have about the upsetting event(s) at your next session, they can also urge you to write them down.
8. Reassessment and ongoing care. In the final stage of EMDR therapy, your doctor will review your progress and current state of health. This can help you decide whether you need more treatment sessions or how to change your expectations and goals. They’ll also assist you in examining potential future situations and how, in light of what you now know about yourself and your prior trauma, you would prefer to respond to them.

Activation of senses in phase 4

During the early stages of EMDR, stimulating one sense on both sides of your body was typically vision-related. Healthcare professionals might extend two fingers and ask you to follow the tip of their finger with just your eyes as they move from side to side.

Your eyesight may be involved in more recent EMDR techniques, such as with specialized light gadgets. With them, you follow a moving light with your eyes rather than your healthcare provider’s hand.

Other gadgets might use sound, playing tones through speakers on either side of your body. In addition, medical professionals may tap on your hands, arms, or thighs to engage your sense of touch on both sides of your body, or hold a pulse-producing gadget in your hands, if you’re comfortable with this.

Suggestion for read: EMDR therapy

What EMDR benefits and drawbacks?

EMDR treatment has a number of benefits.

Benefits of EMDR. Numerous research have confirmed the efficacy of EMDR.

• Compared to other therapies, it often works more quickly. Compared to other types of therapy, people who receive EMDR often start seeing results considerably sooner.
• There is less homework. Other types of treatment frequently require you to complete journaling or other kinds of homework between sessions. Writing down any thoughts or ideas you want to discuss in your next session is typically all that is required for EMDR (if and when those thoughts happen).
• It typically involves less stress. The goal of EMDR is to process and overcome your trauma. Other techniques ask you to recall painful memories and even depict them.

Disadvantages

Compared to other therapeutic approaches, EMDR near me or online does have some disadvantages.

• It exclusively treats ailments brought on by traumatic events. EMDR is unlikely to be helpful if you have a mental health issue due of a genetic illness, an injury, or some physical impact on your brain.
• Theoretical explanations are still used. It was unintentional that EMDR was found. • It’s a new method, although experts are still unable to properly explain why it functions. While other forms of therapy have been in use for much longer, EMDR was only developed in 1989. Before doctors can determine whether EMDR is a long-term solution or whether patients eventually need additional therapy years or decades later, more research is required.

What are the possible side effects or hazards of this procedure?

Dangers of EMDR therapy – poses extremely little danger. Between sessions, negative thoughts or sentiments are the most typical side effects. Your healthcare practitioner can explain to you what to anticipate from these and how you should respond to them.

How long does EMDR healing take?

The majority of people use EMDR for a few weeks to months. The recovery period in between sessions is short, and your healthcare professional may assist you learn how to take care of yourself during that time.

Here are few certified therapists who you can get in touch and book a therapy session with:

Salvo la Rosa

Don French

Natasha Fletcher