What is EMDR (eye movement and desensitization reprocessing) therapy used to treat? The answer used to be straight forward, it was developed to treat PTSD in veterans. However, after it proved to be very beneficial, professionals began to apply it to many other types of problems- recent event traumas like car accidents, assaults, surgeries, deaths, and then to other issues like memories of sexual or physical abuse, alcoholism and addiction, phobias, anxiety, relational trauma or bereavement. Our field continues to expand these applications. Children seem to understand this modality easily and they often process material very fast.

EMDR is a combination of other modalities that you are probably already familiar with- visualizations, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectic therapy, and IFS therapy (internal family systems). It involves remembering old memories in pictorial form to better access the full memory stored in your brain and body.

What do I ask when looking for a EMDR therapist?

Here are some sample questions:

• What is EMDR and how does it work? Any therapist who uses EMDR will be able to explain this. Most people think of the moving lights or tappers, but that’s a small part of the modality.

• Do you believe that it will work with my issues? Not all therapists work with all issues, so having one that is comfortable using EMDR for your issue is important.

• What is your level of experience with EMDR? And are you an EMDR Certified therapist (with EMDRIA)? Many excellent therapists don’t have this advanced certification, and do EMDR quite well, but if they have this certification you will know they’ve dedicated time and money to advance their knowledge of and be supervised in this modality. To acquire this certification it takes anywhere from 1-2 years in addition to the initial 6 months training that we all do to use EMDR.

• How much will sessions cost? How many sessions do the therapist anticipate you will need? While one cannot fully predict how sessions will go for clients, we generally get an idea pretty quickly as to how long it will take- in terms of short term vs long term types of issues.

• What does an actual session look like? This is pretty straightforward, as it’s a mostly scripted process. Some people have intense emotional reactions, others don’t. Ask the therapist for more of a breakdown. There are Youtube videos online of actual sessions.

• How do I prepare for a session? Some therapist use worksheets or specific activities to prepare, but it’s not necessary. They’ll guide you through the process. Usually there is 1-3 sessions of preparation, but sometimes we can jump right into the material.

The therapist will invite you to record thoughts and images between sessions of associated memories or feelings that come up. The processing continues in your brain for 1-2 days and it’s helpful to record your thoughts when they are fresh.