EMDR Therapy in Pennsylvania: The Importance of Phases 1 and 2
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapeutic technique that has been shown to be effective in treating a variety of mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), disordered eating, anxiety, and depression. The EMDR process involves a series of structured phases, each with its own purpose and goal.
At the start of EMDR therapy, clients often ask me when we’ll move on to the heart of the matter – the memory (sometimes the explicit memory and other times the felt sense) of their trauma.
This makes sense – often EMDR is the last in a series of modalities clients try, desperate for relief from years of distress. However, it’s important that we take our time with the early phases in order set a foundation for the deeper work of latter phases.
We begin our EMDR journey in what we call the History and Treatment Planning Phase, centered on building the relationship between client and therapist.
This phase is crucial for establishing a strong therapeutic relationship, building trust, and ensuring that you feel heard and understood. In this process, we’ll work together to identify your specific issues, concerns, and symptoms. We’ll also discuss your history, including past and present trauma, mental, and physical health conditions. Often, this includes consultation with other providers about your readiness mentally and physically for EMDR. Assessments may also be used to gather additional information about your history and how trauma impacts you. We’ll explore themes related to your trauma history and might engage in other therapeutic techniques, such as parts work, to help develop further insight. All of this will help us to prepare for later phases and identify a treatment plan that best meets your individual needs.
We’ll also spend a good deal of time in the second phase of EMDR- Preparation.
This phase is centered on helping you to develop coping strategies to manage the emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations that may arise during later EMDR phases.
A major goal in this phase is to equip you with resources to maintain your “window of tolerance” when exposed to distressing experiences. Think of this window as your Zen zone – a place where you can handle distress in a healthy, adaptive way. When anything distressing happens in this zone, you’re typically able to self-soothe on your own through deep breathing, quieting your mind, and/or seeing things in a different light.
Each of us has a uniquely sized window of tolerance in which we live. Many folx enjoy a wide range of tolerance, but many others find that window is quite small. Those of us who have experienced any type of trauma might find ourselves in the latter group. We might get stressed, overwhelmed easily (hyperaroused) and experience high anxiety, anger, rage, aggression, and outbursts. We may exhibit inflexibility or OCD symptoms. Some of us turn to impulsive behaviors, addictions, bingeing and restricting food, money, etc. in this elevated state.
We might also experience a state of hypoarousal where our brains and bodies go offline to protect us from perceived threats. I call this the shutdown zone because that is precisely what happens. We feel like we’re on autopilot, disconnected from ourselves and others, struggle to be present, and lose track of time and space as we dissociate from our current experience. It’s hard to feel much of anything in this space. For further info about this process, check out this blog about the impact of trauma.
Many folx feel a lot of shame in those danger and shutdown zones, which leads to further distress, more symptoms…and more shame.
Yet this is exactly what your brain and body were designed to do to protect you from danger. Unfortunately, trauma has a way of hijacking this process so that we live more and more in the danger and shutdown zones and feel less and less hope that things will ever get better.
So, before we dive into the traumatic event, memory or memories that contributed to this current state, first we need to work on opening that window wider by learning to experience that Zen zone in session and on our own. We’ll explore relaxation techniques, mindfulness practices, and other skills to help you manage your distress and remain calm and centered during therapy. We’ll use exercises that introduce bilateral stimulation (BLS), a major component of EMDR, including eye movement, tapping, and sound and figure out what method of BLS works best for you.
It is important to remember that the more we call upon the resourcing techniques taught in this phase, the more accessible they are to us.
Between sessions, you will be asked to practice the techniques to strengthen these resources. I invite clients to share any questions or concerns that come up so that we can continue to hone your skills. This phase is essential for ensuring that you feel safe and comfortable with the process and prepared for the intense emotional work that lies ahead.
As a bonus, these are skills that can help you to better manage stress on a regular basis.
Once we both agree that you’re ready to step in further, we’ll move on to later phases…more on that in another post. We never move on from these early phases, but rather continue to incorporate what you’ve learned throughout the EMDR process.
Sessions will begin and end with grounding and resourcing techniques, and we’ll call upon them at other times you may need them. We will get to the trauma, but first and most importantly we need to make sure you are safe, well-resourced, and ready. Until then, I invite you to be patient with yourself and trust the process.
My name is Laura Gordon.
I provide EMDR therapy in Pennsylvania for folx who have experienced trauma, body-shame and disordered eating.
Living in the aftermath of trauma is stressful and often times painful, but it is possible to work toward healing and recovery through EMDR therapy in Pennsylvania.
I would be honored to support you as you work reclaiming your life from the impact of trauma. To learn more about me, head here.
The therapists at Reclaim Therapy are trauma informed specialists who treat eating disorders, body image issues, trauma, complex trauma and grief in Pennsylvania.
Be sure to check out our team of compassionate EMDR therapists in Pennsylvania, who believe that all people are worthy of reclaiming their lives from diet culture, body-shame, eating disorders and the legacy of trauma and complex trauma.