EMDR Phase Three: Assessment
You thought you had put the past trauma all behind you. Except something happened at work and now you can’t stop the memories from crowding into your awareness. You feel jumpy all of the time and you’ve even locked yourself into the bathroom so no one has to know what’s actually going on.
If you’re reading this blog, you might have been researching the best treatments for PTSD. You might have heard that in PTSD treatment your memories need to be accessed and activated as a part of the healing. That sounds terrifying!! You’re actually trying to do the exact opposite!
Let me explain to you how we activate PTSD memories in a structured fashion in EMDR - hopefully this takes some of the anxiety out of the process. This is Phase Three: Assessment.
EMDR DOES NOT REQUIRE YOU TO “RELIVE” THE TRAUMA MEMORY
First things first - in EMDR, you don’t have to describe “the incident” in detail. So you won’t be describing what happened out loud. But we do need to activate the memory so your brain can begin making adaptive connections. Because every person stores memories differently (and each memory for each person might be stored differently), we access the memory by going through the assessment phase.
**Disclaimer - be careful here. Have a grounding tool nearby in case you find yourself activated.**
This phase really only takes a minute or two, and it happens right before we begin actually reprocessing the memory (which is called Phase Four: Desensitization). Here’s how it goes:
Image: “What image represents the worst part (of the memory)?”
Negative Cognition: “As you think of this memory now, what negative belief about yourself comes up?”
Positive Cognition: “What would you RATHER believe about yourself?”
Validity of Cognition: “When you bring up the memory we are working on and the words (here the words are whatever cognition you decided on, such as ‘I’m ok now,’ or ‘ I did the best I could’), how true to those words FEEL to you now?” (Here I remind people that there is a difference between what you logically know to be true and what feels true in your heart. We’re getting after what feels true in your heart - we want your logic and your heart to match by the time we’re done!)
Emotion: “When you bring up the memory and the negative belief, what emotions do you get right now?”
Subjective Unit(s) of Discomfort: “Out of ten, how intense does this memory feel right now? Where zero is neutral (or a sense of acceptance) and ten is the most upset you could ever be?”
Physical Location: “Where do you feel this in your body right now?”
That’s it! After that, we begin the bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements) and you allow your mind to go wherever it needs to go. Your only job is to let me know what you notice when I stop the bilateral stimulation. You don’t need to describe anything in detail (unless you want to), but I really just need a couple words - like, “I’m sad,” or “I feel tightness in my throat.” But all of that explanation is really for the next phase, Phase 4: Desensitization. That blog is coming soon!
If you are ready to finally take care of the past, click here to book a free 15 minute video consultation for EMDR Therapy and PTSD treatment in California.
Online EMDR Therapy and Trauma Counseling in California and Carlsbad, CA.
