EMDR: Symptoms and Phases

April 28th, 2010
By Sarah Jenkins, MC, LPC, EMDR Topic Expert Contributor

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They always say its weird. In fact, I expect it. Ten years into being trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing), I am still amazed by its ability to transform a life filled with trauma, anxiety, hypervigilance, and triggers, into a state of presence, mindfulness, and relief. But, it’s still a “weird looking therapy,” despite it being supported by research. And, clients and clinicians often find themselves confused about EMDR. This blog, and many in the future, will address the many aspects of EMDR. Today, we are going to address that what we mean by it being a “symptom based” and “eight phased” trauma treatment.

Symptom Based Protocol

EMDR is a treatment modality that is research driven and well known for its ability to reduce symptoms associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). With that in mind, your therapist may recommend it to you to address your symptoms associated with PTSD. In fact, the majority of our research about EMDR is on its ability to treat PTSD. Nevertheless, EMDR clinicians around the world are also finding, in clinical practice, that it is effective for addressing an even wider range symptoms, especially those rooted in the events from the past.

With this in mind, EMDR is what you could call a “symptom based protocol.” What this means is that we EMDR therapists focus on how whatever you are going through now is rooted in “old stuff,” even things that you think, logically that you are “over.” We look at how the symptoms you have in the present mimic or “cluster” around those events in that past.

As you have read in my previous blogs, trauma is tricky and can disguise itself as many things. So, an EMDR therapist will review your symptoms and review how your current thoughts, sensations, beliefs about yourself, physical sensations may be like things from the past, or what we often call disturbing life events and traumas. Depending on when your EMDR therapist was trained, he or she may have different ways of asking you to prioritize and list what events are still contributing to your symptoms.

Even though you may not believe that those things are really a “big deal,” those events are still locked in your nervous system in what we call a “state dependent form.” Even though they are in the past, they are not completely processed and healed. In future blogs, I will make sure to talk about our theories about how that process happens, but for now, its like its like a record “stuck” in a groove. As time progresses, the record turns; it still plays, but the disturbance repeats itself over an over again, until the scratch is healed.

An Eight Phased Treatment Model

Though, mistakenly often seen as an “intervention,” EMDR is an inclusive treatment modality, one that includes eight comprehensive treatment phases. Each phase is unique, and yet a necessary part of the approach. It is imperative that your EMDR therapist walks you through each of the eight phases. While they are circular, and you may go back and forth between them, each phase will help you as you complete the therapy. The phases are as follows: History Taking, Preparation, Assessment, Desensitization, Installation, Body Scan, Closure, and Reevaluation. Unfortunately, EMDR has become known, primarily, for its desensitization phase, which is what people often confuse as the sole part of the therapy.

With what you have learned in this post today, you can ask your EMDR therapist where you are in the process, what phase you are in, or find out how you will prioritize the events from the past to work on them. I often find that the more my clients know why they are in each phase, they feel safer and more part of the process. You can also find out what symptoms you are focusing on, and how the past relates to them.

I also want to let you know that as I write more about EMDR, I am really interested in your thoughts and questions about it. Keep in mind that I can’t speak about your clinical work or therapy, nor provide clinical advice. But if you have general questions about EMDR, post it. I will try to cover your questions about it, in these future blog posts.

 

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©Copyright 2010 by Sarah Jenkins, MC, LPC, therapist in Tempe, AZ. All Rights Reserved.

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