8 Phases of EMDR

Peo­ple may rec­og­nize the name “EMDR,” how­ev­er, when it comes to treat­ment there are more steps than the pro­cess­ing. In fact, there are 8 steps, or 8 phas­es of EMDR. This includes the ini­tial meet­ing and under­stand­ing of the prob­lem, prepa­ra­tion for EMDR through skills assess­ment, assess­ment of the lev­el of dis­tress asso­ci­at­ed with the mem­o­ries, and then pro­cess­ing. Review the info­graph­ic below to see all 8 phas­es of EMDR. 

How Long Does EMDR Take to Work

This is a ques­tion that many peo­ple ask who are inter­est­ed in EMDR when start­ing ther­a­py. The answer is, “it depends.” Peo­ple can expe­ri­ence change with­in 15 min­utes of doing EMDR, while oth­er peo­ple take longer. This is based on a num­ber of fac­tors, such as 1) how long ago the incident(s) hap­pened; 2) explor­ing how the symp­toms affect the indi­vid­ual; 3) whether the incident(s) are con­nect­ed to anoth­er sit­u­a­tion, or is sin­gu­lar (i.e., car acci­dent vs years of sex­u­al abuse), oth­er men­tal health needs, 4) goals for ther­a­py, and 5) assess­ment. In sum, EMDR treat­ment can range any­where from a few ses­sions to many ses­sions and it is tai­lored to each per­son. 

When peo­ple first learn about EMDR, they com­mon­ly think of the eye movement/reprocessing/phase 4 of the mod­el. While it is great that peo­ple have some aware­ness of EMDR and are inter­est­ed, excit­ed, or eager to resolve their con­cerns, EMDR is a con­tin­u­um and there are steps both before and after the repro­cess­ing. Below is an info­graph­ic that sum­ma­rizes each of the 8 phas­es of EMDR. 

Please include attri­bu­tion to https://www.bridgehopefamilytherapy.com/ with this image and doc­u­ment.

8 Phas­es of EMDR

EMDR Therapy Utah County

Come work with me and let’s work to reprocess and resolve your trau­ma. Sched­ule a free 15-minute con­sul­ta­tion below. Dur­ing this con­ver­sa­tion, we will talk about your sit­u­a­tion, symp­toms, and goals for ther­a­py. 

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