This month, the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) published a blog entitled “What should clients ask an EMDR therapist?” My answer was featured in the blog, and no surprise to anyone, it’s about intensive therapy! Ever since training in intensive EMDR therapy and going to my own EMDR intensive, I just can’t go back to standard hour-long weekly sessions. It’s so hard for folks to open up their trauma, process a little bit, and then close it back up again and find stabilization all within 50 minutes. In an intensive, we only have to open up the trauma once, at the beginning of the week, and by the end of the week we’ve cleared so much that most people don’t need to pack it back away again. Instead, they are able to move back into their lives with a freedom and lightness that most people express to me they’ve never experienced before.
If you are curious about EMDR therapy, this blog post from EMDRIA is a great place to start! It covers important questions to consider such as whether your therapist is EMDRIA certified (yes I am), whether they provide options other than eye movements (triple yes), has the therapist done their own work (always- and now, when I need to check back in on my own process, I always chose to go to an intensive for myself), will I be in control (you’ll be in control every step of the way!), what if I destabilize during the process (this is one of the reasons I LOVE intensives…we have plenty of time for you and all your parts to work through everything that comes up and get back to calm), and how will I prepare for this process (schedule a consult today and I’ll talk you through it!).
I was recently listening to the Armchair Expert podcast and heard Kristen Bell describe her EMDR experience as “magic” and “voodoo”. I love hearing that people have experienced the incredible healing power of EMDR for themselves. And if you’d like to know more about the excellent science behind how it works, just ask!
To read more of the great questions to consider in this blog from EMDRIA, you can find it at https://www.emdria.org/blog/what-should-clients-ask-an-emdr-therapist-part-1/
