EMDR Therapy Tucson
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy Tucson
EMDR therapy is a highly effective and widely recognized model of psychotherapy that can help you process and resolve even the most traumatic experiences. This innovative therapeutic method utilizes the power of rapid eye movements (or other similar bilateral stimulation) to encourage emotional processing, promote healing, and offer a sense of renewed hope, inner strength and resilience. EMDR is a transformative process that blends cognitive and somatic approaches, offering you a pathway towards a brighter, more empowered future.
EMDR therapy began in the 1990s when Francine Shapiro developed the original method. She used rapid eye movements while clients focused on disturbing memories. Over time, clinicians expanded EMDR into a comprehensive therapy model. Today, therapists use it to resolve trauma, reduce distress, and restore functioning. EMDR is rooted in the Adaptive Information Processing model. Using this framework, therapists understand present distress and triggers as connected to past experiences.
EMDR is an evidence-based treatment for trauma and other disturbing experiences. Researchers have studied it extensively over the past several decades. Because of this research, major organizations recognize its effectiveness. The American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization, and the Department of Defense all cite EMDR as an effective treatment option (EMDR Institute, 2024). It has literally helped millions of people since it’s inception.
EMDR Can Help With:
- Childhood Trauma
- Recent Trauma
- PTSD
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Panic
- OCD
- Addiction
- Chronic Pain
- Nightmares
- Grief
- Self-loathing
- Medical trauma
- Freeze responses
- Anger/Rage
- …and more
How Does EMDR Work?
EMDR is an acronym for Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing which most people use to refer to the reprocessing of traumatic or disturbing memories or experiences. Resolving traumatic material is actually just one phase of EMDR as a complete psychotherapeutic model.
Phase 1 – History Taking. During this phase of EMDR therapy, your therapist will ask questions about you and your history. They will follow the three-pronged protocol. First, they will identify past events that shaped today’s concerns. Next, they will identify current triggers you experience. Finally, they will explore future needs and desired responses. Together, you will identify targets for EMDR. Targets are specific events you will work through in a structured way.
Phase 2 – Preparation. After phase one, therapists begin to prepare you in an individualized way that fosters stabilization and a sense of internal personal control. This phase may move quickly if you already have strong internal resources. It often progresses faster when you have secure attachment and solid support. However, it may move more slowly if your attachment foundation feels unstable. A complex trauma history can also extend this phase. The motto in EMDR is ‘go slow to go fast.’
Phase 3 – Assessment. This phase is about properly accessing the “target” memory you and your therapist previously identified as a root of current issues, symptoms, or dysfunction. Your therapist will lead you through a serious of questions that access the target in a specific way (image, negative belief, emotions, body sensation, and level of distress, along with the preferred positive belief and how much you believe it before reprocessing begins). The goal is to access the experience in as close to the same way as it was encoded.
Phase 4 – Desensitization. This is the phase that most people mean when they say “EMDR,” it is the reprocessing of a memory using some form of bilateral stimulation (rapid eye movements, tapping, tones, or alternating buzzers). When things go smoothly, the result – in a very short period of time – is the ability to desensitize the memory to the point you can bring the experience to mind and experience zero distress. Sometimes your therapist will need to intervene with bits of information or questions meant to fill in adaptive information you might have been missing when the original memory was encoded. However, for the most part your therapist will stay out of the way and allow your brain help you process the experience and integrate it into your long term memory so that it doesn’t continue to come up in the present and cause distress.
While most people commonly assume this phase is focused on traumatic memories, the three-pronged protocol utilized in phase one also identifies current triggers and desired future outcomes. Triggers and future templates are also addressed during phase four – sometimes before trauma memories, sometimes after. Whereas a target memory may be an experience of sexual abuse, a trigger may be your coworker who wears the same cologne as your abuser, and a future template might look like not going into a freeze state when you have a shift with that coworker.
Phase 5 – Installation. Once the level of distress as your bring the experience to mind in the present moment is zero, your therapist will ask you how much you believe the positive belief you initially stated you would prefer to believe when bringing the target to mind. For example, if the negative believe you had was, “It is my fault,” the positive belief you may prefer to believe might be, “I was only a child and couldn’t have protected myself.” If the positive thought/belief isn’t all the way true, yet (which is common) your therapist will continue bilateral stimulation until it feels true, helping to clear out anything still in the way and creating new, more adaptive memory associations. This phase links the desensitized target with a new positive thought/belief.
Phase 6 – Body Scan. Once distress drops to zero, your therapist strengthens the positive belief. The belief should feel true and steady. Next, you will scan your body slowly. You will notice any remaining tension or distress. If you find any distress, tell your therapist. Even a small amount matters. Then your therapist will continue bilateral stimulation. You will focus on the distress as it shifts. You will continue until it clears fully.
Phase 7 – Closure. To close a session, your therapist may lead your through a stabilization or relaxation technique. Not all targets can be processed in one session and your therapist may need to bring phase four or five to a close before the target is complete (resolved). Closure techniques can help you gain mastery over the containment of the material you were processing until your next session. Of course, it is also possible to resolve one or more targets in a single session. In this case, closure may look like debriefing the experience or deepening your new state of peace and calm.
Phase 8 – Reassessment. To ensure long term therapeutic effects, your therapist will reassess completed targets in following sessions, making any modifications to the overall treatment plan that may be needed or desired.
"Changing the memories that form the way we see ourselves also changes the way we view others. Therefore, our relationships, job performance, what we are willing to do or are able to resist, all move in a positive direction."
What to Expect at Joshua Tree
At Joshua Tree, we believe that EMDR is a powerful approach to healing trauma but that all good treatment models work best when done in the context of a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship. EMDR is not a miracle cure and shouldn’t be viewed as something done to you but rather a collaborative approach to psychotherapy like any other model. Our therapists do not provide adjunct EMDR because we value the power of healing that occurs in the context of an attachment-based therapeutic relationship which takes time to establish.
Benefits & Risks
EMDR has both benefits and risks. It can help heal trauma, alleviate distress, build resilience, and improve your outlook on life. It can also increase fatigue, bring up old memories, change/increase nightmares, and increase your overall distress in the initial states of reprocessing. At Joshua Tree, your therapist will always screen for dissociation prior to beginning phase three and four.
Dissociation
Dissociation is a natural response to trauma. However, heavy dissociation can complicate EMDR for you and your therapist. If your therapist notices dissociation, they will adjust the process. They will move more slowly and work with extra care. When clinicians miss dissociation, clients can feel flooded and overwhelmed. As a result, EMDR may feel negative or unsafe. In most cases, the issue is not EMDR itself. Instead, the problem comes from how a therapist uses the tool.
If you have an active addiction, dissociative disorder, or complex trauma history, it is crucial that your therapist have specialized training in how to use EMDR effectively. At Joshua Tree, therapists have the necessary training, supervision, and consultation to treat even the most complex cases with EMDR. Your therapist at Joshua Tree is also trained in other therapist modalities they may suggest in preparation for EMDR, or in place of EMDR.
If you are ready to take the next step and contact a therapist trained in EMDR, we encourage you to read more about: