What Are the 8 Phases of EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy follows a structured, eight-phase process designed to help individuals safely process and reduce distress related to traumatic memories, anxiety, or difficult life experiences.
During EMDR therapy, your therapist guides you through specific steps that allow the brain to reprocess disturbing memories while building healthier beliefs and emotional responses. Each phase has a unique purpose, helping ensure the process is safe, effective, and tailored to your needs.
The eight phases generally include:
- History and Treatment Planning – Your therapist learns about your background, concerns, and goals to identify the memories or issues that will be the focus of treatment.
- Preparation – You develop tools for emotional safety, such as imagining a calming “safe place” that can help regulate difficult feelings during therapy.
- Assessment – A specific memory or experience is selected as the focus. Negative beliefs connected to the memory and preferred positive beliefs are identified.
- Desensitization – Using guided eye movements or other bilateral stimulation, you process the memory while noticing thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations that arise.
- Installation – The therapist helps strengthen a new, positive belief related to the memory.
- Body Scan – You check your body for any lingering tension or distress connected to the memory.
- Closure – Each session ends with techniques to help you feel stable and grounded before leaving therapy.
- Re-evaluation – At the next session, your therapist reviews progress and determines what additional work may be needed.
Learn more about each step in detail: What is an EMDR Session Like?
Vancouver EMDR Therapy PLLC
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