Bringing EMDR Therapy to Life: A Glimpse Into A Denver EMDR Therapy Session
By Jordan Kurtz, MA, LPCC, EMDR Therapist in Denver, CO
For those who have done preliminary research and those who are hearing about EMDR for the first time, it can be challenging to get a felt-sense of who EMDR benefits and what to expect from the process.
Research studies spell out EMDR’s successes in clinical language: minimized baseline depression scores, decreased hypervigilance symptoms, enhanced sense of self-efficacy… but what does this feel like?
Below, I present a case study of an actual client who has undergone several rounds of EMDR therapy to provide substantial insight to the questions EMDR seekers are curious about.
*to protect confidentiality and eliminate any identifying information, a pseudonym has been used and specific details have been altered and/or omitted.
EMDR Therapy in Denver, CO: A Glimpse Into EMDR Treatment from the Perspective of the Client and Therapist
From the Client Side
Client Information
Mary* is a fifty-two-year-old cisgender, heterosexual Caucasian female who resides on the West Coast in a middle-upper class home. She is recently divorced from a partner of 15+ years who served as a corrections officer. She describes her former husband as absent, verbally abusive and self-centered. She is primarily responsible for their sole child- a fifteen-year-old son – who has behavioral and academic challenges at school. Mary is one of four daughters and deems her sisters as integral parts of her support system. Mary’s parents divorced when she was in her teens due to her mother’s struggles with alcoholism and her father’s infidelity. Mary discloses that she felt deeply loved by her parents but wished her mother had been more present and her father had been less critical about her body; she notes her father’s attitudes about exercise and diet have likely contributed to her own body dysmorphia in adult life. Mary’s mother passed away unexpectedly in 2020 due to a stroke which Mary defines as the greatest sadness of her adult life. Mary has taken an SSRI for anxiety for 10+ years and utilizes Pilates, an extensive friend network, travel, and involvement at work as coping mechanisms. Her presenting concerns are grief regarding her mother’s loss, body dysmorphia and subsequent behaviors of over-exercising, and anxiety related to parenting her teen son without spousal support.
From the Therapist Side
Synthesizing Client Information
The information stated above is what the therapist gathers during the first phase of EMDR known as History Taking. Clients may provide some of this information preemptively on an intake form, or the therapist may gather these details upon the initial meeting.
Details about family history and structure, medical and mental history, academic history, relationship history, coping mechanisms, and presenting concerns are inquired about by the therapist to help paint a broad picture of a client’s life story, current challenges, and how these challenges manifest and are responded to. The length of the History Taking phase is determined by therapist preference, though most often can be accomplished in a few sessions.
From the Client Side
Check Ins & Coping Overview
Mary’s friends have spoken highly about EMDR so she does not have many fears going into the process, though she is wondering how much EMDR will ask her to remember specific memories from childhood; Mary does not remember many details prior to age eight. Mary’s former therapist has taught Mary how to practice box breathing during stressful events and Mary reports to her therapist that she has never “blacked out” or been “unable to function” in the moment due to her anxiety.
From the Therapist Side
Educating about EMDR & Preparation
In Phase 2 of EMDR therapy, Preparation, the therapist will check in with the client about fears, questions and hopes regarding EMDR therapy and clarify what the process will look like to establish clear and aligned expectations. Therapists will evaluate how clients respond to negative emotions and teach the client various grounding and visualization techniques to use in session or after session if distress occurs.
From the Client Side
Defining a Focal Point
Mary wants to process and gain relief from many things, including the loss of her mother, feelings about her body, and anxiety regarding her son’s mental health and his performance at school. Mary speaks further with her therapist about what emotions all of these difficulties present, and they identify that with each, Mary feels fearful due to a perceived lack of control.
Mary’s therapist asks her to float back to the earliest point in time she can remember feeling fearful because she did not have control. Mary identifies several memories which her therapist helps her put in chronological order- these are Mary’s “targets”. Using the earliest memory Mary can recall related to this theme, Mary’s therapist asks her about images, emotions, and sensations attached to this memory.
From the Therapist Side
Mapping Out Baseline Measures
Phase 3 of EMDR therapy is Assessment in which the therapist and client collaborate to identify what the client’s desired focus is - remembering that multiple treatment plans and rounds of processing can be used to address different concerns. The therapist will help the client flesh out images, beliefs, feelings and sensations surrounding the identified focus (in Mary’s case, lack of control)– sometimes accompanied by scaling questions involving numbers- to establish how the client feels and thinks prior to the beginning of processing. Typically, several memories or targets are identified and the earliest memory is processed first. This is because processing an origin point for a feeling often provides relief for later related memories.
From the Client Side
The “Stuff” Begins
In the preparation stage, Mary’s therapist explains different types of bilateral stimulation they can use to facilitate processing (eye movements, buzzers, or tapping on the body. Explore this blog to learn more about the function of bilateral stimulation). Mary chose bilateral eye stimulation by following her therapist’s fingers. Mary’s therapist prompts Mary to bring to mind the identified target (earliest memory Mary could recall feeling out of control) and notice emotions, sensations, thoughts, and images that come up as they begin bilateral stimulation. Mary’s therapist does not offer feedback, insight or redirection in response to what Mary shares and rather, follows along with responses that Mary’s nervous system is offering in response to the bilateral stimulation. Mary repeats this process for multiple sessions and notices that in each session, her distress levels related to the memory are decreasing.
From the Therapist Side
Initiating Desensitization
Stage 4 of EMDR therapy, Desensitization, is where processing begins. The therapist facilitates client engagement with the painful memory while ensuring safety by monitoring a client’s body language, breath, and distress levels.
The therapist will start and stop the rounds of bilateral stimulation and end each round by asking the client, What do you notice? When the client indicates they feel the memory shifting in some way (i.e. the image is becoming less clear, they report feeling less sadness, tightness in their chest is disappearing, etc) the therapist will inquire about a client’s level of distress on a scale of 0-10.
After a client indicates the memory has reached a distress level of 0-1, the client and therapist can progress to the next level of processing. The desensitization phase of EMDR therapy often takes place over multiple sessions.
From the Client Side
Instilling Hope
In her third EMDR processing session, Mary’s distress level for her first identified target reaches 0, and her therapist notifies her they are ready to move into the next phase. In Phase 3 of EMDR therapy, Mary created a positive belief about herself she wanted to be associated with the painful memory (“I am resilient”). Mary’s therapist now asks her to recall the painful memory and pair it with the belief, “I am resilient” with eye movements. Mary notices as processing continues that her initially blaming beliefs about herself within the memory (“I am a weak person”) are lessening and she is feeling pride for herself for enduring the traumatic event.
From the Therapist Side
Incorporating Positive Beliefs
Stage 5 of EMDR therapy, Installation, is where the painful memory (now neutralized through the Desensitization Phase) is rewritten with an empowered lens the client has chosen in their own language. Bilateral stimulation in this phase often produces affects of relief because the “stuck yuck” in the initial memory has been desensitized and is receptive to pairing with a positive, self-affirming belief.
Clients will stay in this phase until they indicate their chosen positive phrase feels absolutely true (measured on a self-report scale of 0 to 7 where 0 is totally false and 7 is totally true).
From the Client Side
Body Check In & Session End
Mary reports total conviction in the positive belief (7 out of 7) and her therapist asks her to scan her body head to toe to notice if there is any tension or pain anywhere in her body that warrants further rounds of bilateral stimulation.
Mary reports that she does not feel any pain and Mary’s therapist concludes the session by guiding Mary through a calming visualization exercise that was introduced to her in the Preparation Phase. Mary’s therapist ensures she is feeling grounded in present time and space before she leaves the session for the day.
From the Therapist Side
Ensuring Total Body Processing and Return to Safety
Stages 6 & 7 of EMDR therapy, Body Scan and Closure, exist to ensure the memory has been fully processed by the nervous system on a physiological level. If a client reports pain or tension, the therapist will facilitate further rounds of bilateral stimulation until the pain or tension subsides.
“Closure” entails the therapist’s utilization of any grounding tools to return the client to a stable state of functioning and can include meditations, breath exercises, smelling essential oils, or movement. The therapist will ask the client to note any emotions, sensations, thoughts or behavioral changes that occur in between processing sessions.
From the Client Side
Circling Back
In between sessions, Mary notices that she feels less reactive to stressors and has the capability to take deep breaths before responding instead of anxiety taking control. She shares this things with her therapist at the beginning of the next session and they reflect on how these changes make Mary feel. Mary’s therapist asks Mary to recall the memory they have been processing and check in with distress levels. Mary reports that her distress levels are still at a 0 so Mary and her therapist decide to begin processing her next identified target.
From the Therapist Side
Reviewing Solidification of Processing
Stage 8 of EMDR therapy, Reevaluation, is how the therapist begins each session once processing phases have been initiated. If a client reports that distress levels have re-emerged, the client and therapist will return to processing the initial memory until it hits 0 before beginning processing of another memory.
Mary expands more fully on the benefits of her experience in Denver EMDR therapy:
*to protect client confidentiality, the following statements are not direct quotes from a client, and are instead summaries of real client feedback.
How would you describe the physical, emotional and mental experience of processing?
“The process has been physically and emotionally intense; when I am doing the bilateral stimulation and the trauma is being released I notice certain body parts reacting- most frequent is the tightening of my jaw and pain in my lower back. I have experienced profound release of emotions, expressed with heavy crying and changes in breathing while ‘in the zone’.”
How have you seen the benefits of EMDR unfold in your life?
“I have seen positive shifts in my life since starting this therapy- it has been about 3 months now and I have been going weekly. I notice my reaction to things that previously would ‘derail’ me and make me overreact or panic have changed and I am able to be more thoughtful in my responses. Things that would trigger me in the past are not causing the same negative feelings and I feel I am gaining an ability to change how I am manage things and take a more cognitive and logical approach versus an overwhelming emotional one.”
Experience healing with EMDR therapy in Denver, CO.
Curious about beginning EMDR Therapy in Denver? Connect with a Denver EMDR therapist at CZTG today by following these three steps:
Schedule a free 20-minute consult call to see if EMDR therapy in Denver is right for you.
Connect with the CZTG EMDR therapist of your choice via a phone consult.
Begin your healing journey!
Meet The Writer: Jordan Kurtz, EMDR Therapist in Denver, CO.
Jordan Kurtz (she/her) is a Denver EMDR therapist, couples counselor, and staff writer at CZTG. Jordan focuses on therapy for grief, trauma, adolescence, and relationships. Her approach is authentic, warm, and affirming, which she interweaves throughout her use of advanced evidence-based modalities, including EMDR, Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT), and somatic therapy. She provides therapy in Denver and virtually throughout the state of Colorado. If you’d like to work with Jordan, feel free to reach out to schedule a consultation call.