EMDR Therapy in Scottsdale, AZ

Understanding how EMDR therapy works is essential for anyone who may be considering experiencing it for themselves. The EMDR International Association explains what you should expect if you were to attend EMDR therapy.

EMDR works on the memory itself rather than on your account of it. Using bilateral stimulation, usually guided eye movements, it helps the brain reprocess a memory that got stored without being properly filed, so it stops carrying the same emotional charge. The work runs through eight defined phases, set out below.

Phase 1: History and treatment planning. The first phase is often a few sessions, and it requires an overview of your personal history, as well as a treatment plan that would suit your needs.

Phase 2: Preparation. The second phase is when you will begin to build a trusting relationship with your therapist, which is essential for moving forward in therapy. As you disclose traumas and memories from your past, your therapist will prepare you to handle future PTSD symptoms by teaching you appropriate skills for coping.

Phase 3: Assessment. The third phase is known as assessment. At this stage, you will be prompted to address specific aspects of the trauma or traumas you have experienced. This could be done through exposure to images or memories of a past event. When you are minimally exposed to the traumatic events over time, it allows you to reprocess the way you think, feel, and observe the trauma you experienced in the past.

Phase 4: Desensitization. The fourth phase is desensitization. This phase focuses on how you respond to the memory of a specific trauma, and what you associate with your traumatic experience. It allows the therapist to identify what your current triggers are in relation to the trauma, and how you respond physically to the memory or discussion of the trauma (shaking, sweating, fidgeting, etc.). In order to desensitize you, the therapist will find ways to redirect your eye movements during these periods of distress, which helps you and your therapist to find a resolution to coping with your traumatic experiences.

Phase 5: Installation. Phase five is known as installation. This is the point in treatment where you can differentiate between your past and your future. It allows you to reprocess the trauma, and eliminate negative beliefs you currently experience as a result of a past traumatic event. For example, if you were in a car accident as a result of the driver being intoxicated, you will learn that in future driving situations, you can be in control and avoid being driven by a driver under the influence.

Phase 6: Body scan. The sixth phase is a body scan. The therapist will revisit your main source of trauma with you and analyze your physical response to the exposure. The therapist will try to identify if you show signs of body tension, trembling, discomfort, and several other reactions. If so, you and your therapist will go through the assessment phase (phase three) again in order to further allow you to reprocess the trauma.

Phase 7: Closure. The seventh phase is closure. This is where you and your therapist will establish what you can expect after therapy. You will review coping skills, progress, and goals with one another, as well as utilize the techniques you learned to help you through everyday life.

Phase 8: Reevaluation. The eighth phase is the reevaluation stage. At this point, you will meet with your therapist at a future time to discuss how you’ve integrated skills from treatment into your daily life. The therapist will revisit and reassess your ability to manage trauma-related stress and ensure that you are maintaining a healthy lifestyle psychologically.

Although EMDR can take a lot of work, the progress that you can make over time, and the goals you achieve can give you a sense of accomplishment, confidence, and quality of life.

If you have been struggling with PTSD symptoms for a while, you may be thinking that a treatment that can help you achieve a sense of comfort and stability is too good to be true. Luckily, it’s been shown to help many individuals to overcome past traumas.

EMDR was developed for post-traumatic stress and its use has expanded well beyond that. It is now used for childhood trauma, sexual abuse, grief and complicated bereavement, anxiety disorders, phobias, panic, depression that follows a traumatic event, and relationship trauma including betrayal.

The common thread is a memory or set of experiences that has not been fully processed and continues to generate a present-day response out of proportion to present-day circumstances. If that describes what you are dealing with, EMDR is worth asking about even if nothing you went through fits the word trauma as you understand it.

In traditional therapy you discuss an experience, and understanding it differently is the mechanism of change. EMDR works on the memory itself, which is why the sessions look different from what most people expect therapy to look like.

The practical difference most people care about is that EMDR requires far less talking. You do not have to construct a detailed narrative of the worst thing that ever happened to you. For many people that is what makes trauma treatment possible at all.

EMDR is designed to avoid re-traumatization and the pacing is under your control. Before any processing begins, you spend time with your therapist building coping resources, so you have somewhere stable to return to. That is phase two above, and it is not skipped.

Processing is done in short, contained sets with regular check-ins, and you can stop at any point. You remain aware and present throughout. You are not put under, and nothing is done to you without your agreement.

It is normal to feel tired after a session. It is not normal to feel steadily worse, and if that happens the pacing changes.

It depends on what is being processed. Single-incident trauma often responds within a relatively small number of processing sessions, and the research above reports meaningful change for some people within three. Complex or long-standing trauma takes considerably longer, because the preparation phase is longer and processing is done in stages.

Sessions are also not all processing sessions: the first several are history-taking and resourcing. In a free consultation we can give you a realistic range for your situation rather than a number that sounds appealing.

Our office is in Phoenix at 6245 N 24th Parkway, near 24th Street and Camelback beside Biltmore Fashion Park, about 20 minutes from Old Town Scottsdale on Camelback Road. We have served the Scottsdale area since 2012, and we also offer online EMDR to any Arizona resident.

EMDR is delivered online routinely, using the same eight-phase protocol with bilateral stimulation adapted for video. We offer online EMDR to any Arizona resident, including throughout the Scottsdale area, and in-person sessions at our Phoenix office.

Which suits you is worth discussing in a consultation, because it depends more on where you feel able to be regulated than on anything technical. Call (480) 999-7070 to arrange it.

Biltmore Psychology & Counseling is an out-of-network provider and does not bill insurance directly. If your plan includes out-of-network mental health benefits, we provide a receipt you can submit to your insurer for reimbursement, and many clients are reimbursed for a portion of each session.

Fees vary by clinician and by the type of session, so call (480) 999-7070 and we will give you the current rate before you book anything.