Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a powerful, evidence-based therapy that helps your brain process traumatic memories and distressing experiences that remain stuck in your nervous system. At Better Lives Building Tribes, we offer EMDR as a specialized treatment for trauma, anxiety, and other conditions where past experiences continue affecting your present life.

What Is EMDR Therapy?

EMDR is an integrative psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s. Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements, but also tapping or auditory tones) while you recall distressing experiences, helping your brain reprocess memories in a way that reduces their emotional intensity and changes how they’re stored.

The theory behind EMDR suggests traumatic experiences overwhelm your brain’s natural processing capacity, causing memories to be stored in a raw, unprocessed state. These memories remain emotionally charged and can be triggered by current situations that resemble the original trauma, causing you to respond as if the threat is still present.

EMDR facilitates the brain’s natural healing process, similar to what occurs during REM sleep. The bilateral stimulation seems to unlock the frozen processing, allowing your brain to complete the work it couldn’t do at the time of trauma. Memories don’t disappear, but they lose their emotional punch and feel more like distant past events rather than present threats.

How EMDR Works

While researchers don’t fully understand EMDR’s exact mechanisms, brain imaging studies reveal it creates measurable changes in how traumatic memories are processed and stored:

• Decreased activation in the amygdala (fear center) when recalling traumatic memories
• Increased activation in the prefrontal cortex (rational thinking and perspective)
• Changes in how memories are stored from sensory/emotional to narrative/processed
• Reduction in the vividness and distress associated with traumatic images

The bilateral stimulation appears to help both brain hemispheres communicate more effectively, integrating emotional and cognitive processing in ways that natural healing couldn’t achieve alone.

The Eight Phases of EMDR

EMDR follows a structured eight-phase protocol ensuring safe, effective treatment:

Phase 1: History Taking and Treatment Planning
We discuss your history, identify traumatic memories or disturbing experiences affecting you, and determine if EMDR is appropriate for your needs. We create a treatment plan targeting specific memories or issues.

Phase 2: Preparation
Before processing trauma, we build resources and coping skills. You’ll learn self-soothing techniques, establish safe spaces in your mind, and understand what to expect during EMDR. This preparation is crucial for tolerating the processing work safely.

Phase 3: Assessment
For each target memory, we identify the image representing the worst part, negative beliefs about yourself connected to the memory, desired positive beliefs, emotions, and physical sensations. We also measure distress level and how true the positive belief feels.

Phase 4: Desensitization
This is the heart of EMDR processing. While holding the traumatic memory in mind, you follow bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, or tones). Your brain begins reprocessing the memory, often revealing connections to other experiences, insights, or perspective shifts. We continue until distress significantly decreases.

Phase 5: Installation
Once distress is reduced, we strengthen the positive belief you want to hold instead. Bilateral stimulation helps install this new, adaptive perspective, replacing negative beliefs that developed from trauma.

Phase 6: Body Scan
We check for any remaining physical tension or distress in your body related to the memory. If found, we process it with additional bilateral stimulation until your body feels calm thinking about the memory.

Phase 7: Closure
At session end, we use self-soothing techniques to ensure you leave feeling stable, even if processing isn’t complete. We discuss what to expect between sessions and strategies for managing any emotional material that may surface.

Phase 8: Reevaluation
At the beginning of subsequent sessions, we check how previously processed memories feel now. Often, continued processing occurs between sessions as your brain keeps working on its own.

What EMDR Feels Like

People wonder what happens during EMDR processing. Experiences vary, but common reports include:

• Images, thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations arising and changing spontaneously as processing unfolds
• Connections between the target memory and other related experiences becoming apparent
• The memory’s emotional intensity decreasing, sometimes dramatically, over the course of processing
• Insights or perspective shifts occurring naturally without forced analysis
• Time seeming to pass quickly during processing
• Feeling tired after sessions due to the intense mental processing

Processing doesn’t always feel pleasant in the moment, as you’re accessing difficult material. However, the bilateral stimulation seems to create some distance, making it more tolerable than simply thinking about trauma without it. Most people find EMDR less overwhelming than they feared.

Conditions EMDR Effectively Treats

EMDR was originally developed for PTSD and remains the gold-standard treatment for trauma. However, research demonstrates its effectiveness for numerous other conditions:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Multiple studies show EMDR significantly reduces PTSD symptoms, often more quickly than other trauma therapies. For single-incident trauma, some people experience complete resolution in just a few sessions.

Complex Trauma: For those with multiple or prolonged traumatic experiences, EMDR systematically processes each memory, building toward comprehensive healing.

Anxiety Disorders: EMDR helps process past experiences fueling current anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, or generalized worry.

Depression: When depression stems from negative beliefs formed during difficult experiences, EMDR can address these core wounds.

Grief and Loss: EMDR helps process complicated grief where loss remains painfully raw or unresolved.

Performance Anxiety: Athletes, performers, and professionals use EMDR to process experiences of failure or humiliation that impact future performance.

Chronic Pain: When pain has psychological components or traumatic origins, EMDR can reduce suffering even when physical sensation persists.

Disturbing Memories: Even experiences not rising to clinical trauma level can be processed with EMDR if they remain emotionally charged and interfere with current functioning.

EMDR Versus Traditional Trauma Therapy

EMDR differs from conventional trauma treatment in significant ways:

Less Verbal Processing Required: Unlike trauma-focused CBT requiring detailed verbal processing of traumatic experiences, EMDR can work without extensive discussion. You don’t have to tell me every detail if that feels too difficult.

Often Faster: For single-incident trauma, EMDR frequently achieves significant results in fewer sessions than traditional approaches. Complex trauma still requires more time but may progress more rapidly than expected.

Accesses Deeper Material: EMDR’s bilateral stimulation seems to unlock connections and material that might not emerge through talk therapy alone, leading to insights that feel spontaneous rather than analyzed into existence.

Works with All Memories: EMDR effectively processes both explicit memories (events you consciously remember) and implicit memories (emotional or sensory imprints from experiences you may not fully recall).

Requires Fewer Homework Assignments: While some between-session work may be assigned, EMDR’s processing primarily happens during sessions rather than requiring extensive practice between appointments.

Who Is a Good Candidate for EMDR

EMDR works well for many people, but not everyone. You might be a good candidate if you:

• Have traumatic memories or distressing experiences that continue affecting you
• Experience intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares
• Notice current situations trigger intense emotional reactions that don’t match the present reality
• Hold negative beliefs about yourself that formed during difficult experiences
• Have tried talk therapy with limited success for trauma-related issues
• Prefer less verbal processing of traumatic material
• Can tolerate focusing on distressing material for periods during sessions

However, EMDR may not be appropriate or requires modification if you:

• Have active psychosis or severe dissociative disorders (though specialized EMDR protocols exist for dissociation)
• Have significant substance use that would interfere with processing
• Are currently in crisis or lack basic stability in life circumstances
• Have severe cardiovascular conditions affected by stress
• Cannot tolerate bilateral stimulation due to specific medical conditions

We assess your readiness during the preparation phase and ensure you have adequate coping skills before beginning trauma processing.

Modifications and Specialized EMDR Protocols

EMDR has evolved to include specialized protocols for specific conditions and populations:

Recent Trauma Protocol: For processing trauma that occurred within the past few months, preventing development of chronic PTSD.

Attachment-Focused EMDR: Addresses early attachment wounds and relational trauma that shaped your sense of self and relationships.

Resource Development and Installation: Uses EMDR’s bilateral stimulation to strengthen positive resources, memories, and states before processing trauma, particularly helpful for those with limited positive experiences.

EMDR for Anxiety and Phobias: Targets experiences that developed the fear, often achieving resolution of specific phobias in very few sessions.

Performance Enhancement: Uses EMDR to install positive states and process performance blocks.

What to Expect Between EMDR Sessions

Processing doesn’t stop when the session ends. Many people experience:

• Continued processing of the target memory, often with further reduction in distress
• Dreams related to the memory or other connected material
• Emergence of other related memories or insights
• Emotional shifts as your brain continues its healing work
• Occasional temporary increases in distress or vivid dreams (usually brief)

These between-session effects are normal and actually positive signs that your brain is actively working on healing. We discuss strategies for managing any uncomfortable between-session experiences during the closure phase.

Combining EMDR with Other Approaches

EMDR integrates beautifully with other therapeutic modalities. At Better Lives Building Tribes, we often combine:

• EMDR for processing specific memories
• CBT for current thought patterns and behavioral strategies
• DBT skills for emotion regulation and distress tolerance
• Parts work for inner conflicts and fragmentation
• Mindfulness practices for grounding and present-moment awareness

This integrative approach addresses trauma while also building skills for managing current life challenges.

Why Choose EMDR at Better Lives Building Tribes

Dr. Meaghan Rice brings specialized training in EMDR with deep understanding of trauma’s impact. We provide EMDR in a safe, supportive environment with attention to your individual needs and pace.

Our EMDR approach offers:

• Comprehensive preparation ensuring you’re ready for processing
• Careful pacing that respects your nervous system’s capacity
• Integration with other therapeutic approaches for comprehensive care
• Trauma-informed practice throughout treatment
• Flexibility to modify protocols based on your response and needs

Begin Your EMDR Journey

If past experiences continue haunting you, if you react to current situations with intensity that doesn’t match the present reality, if trauma feels stuck in your system, EMDR might be the tool that finally creates movement.

Your brain already has the capacity to heal; it just needs the right conditions. EMDR provides those conditions, unlocking your natural healing process so traumatic memories can be processed and integrated rather than remaining frozen and intrusive.

Contact Better Lives Building Tribes today to discuss whether EMDR is right for you. Dr. Meaghan Rice will answer your questions, assess your readiness, and guide you through this powerful healing process.

The past doesn’t have to control your present. Let’s process it together.

Serving clients in Colorado and Arizona through secure telehealth sessions.