What is the EMDR Therapy Process? Part 8 --- Reprocessing Phases 4-6 -- Phase 4: Reprocessing Phase
What is EMDR Therapy? Part 8
Phases 4-6 are the Reprocessing Phases of EMDR therapy. We call them that because they are the phases where we are desensitizing and reprocessing memories and memory networks that are causing distress, symptoms. Each is designed to flush out and resolve what is driving the Presenting Issues you are working on.
Now that you have your memory target and eye movements set up and ready to go it is time to reprocess the memory and any other memories that arise with the reprocessing.
Once the assessment of the target memory is done you move immediately to Phase 4 Reprocessing.
After a set of eye movements to check in and see how things are going. Are you still reprocessing? Are you stuck? Are you done with that channel and it is time to move to the next step. Since we don’t know where you are we need to check in. These are not questions your clinicians ask you, it is what your clinician is assessing based on your feedback.
When we check in, we are looking for very brief feedback of where you are at that moment of check in. I often ask clients, “What are you experiencing right now?” to cue them to let me know what is occurring. We don’t need to know what happened during that set of eye movements. This is also a huge learning curve for clinicians since we are conditioned to dive into content.
As a matter-in-fact, if you give us all that information (and there is often too much to speak of because the other than conscious parts of the brain are that fast), you have stopped your reprocessing, and you can’t just pick up where you left off. The more you talk, you get up into your thinking brain again. Sometimes it is difficult to pick it back up again, especially if it was particularly upsetting. Your thinking brain will try to protect by letting all that upset go back underground. The thing is, if you let it reprocess to completion it does not have to get your attention through uncomfortable symptoms. Remember, The Truth Will Never Leave You Alone. (See February 1, 2025 post.)
What I am looking for is, are someone still reprocessing, or stuck or is it time to move to the next step. What emotions are present, what physical reactions you are having, what awarenesses have emerged (without going into detail) and if a bunch of other memories are coming and going, is really all I need to know. The details of the content are not important. Whether you are reprocessing, stuck or done is what I have to assess. Time can be left at the end of a session to talk about the content if needed. In some cases, my client and I choose to leave a few minutes at the end of the session to talk content. In other cases, people think that is what they want but when it comes time to do so they tell me they don’t need it. That what came up is no longer important or relevant. It is over and resolved and they just want to move on.
Over time you and your clinician develop good communication about what is occurring with very little talking. It does not take much to let your clinician know that you are still reprocessing and need to keep going if they have cued you to take a break. Or that you have reached the end of a channel and it is time to move on. Basically, that whatever you have been working on is neutral or positive a couple of times and no more upsetting material is emerging.
In the beginning your clinician should be helping you learn to let go and let whatever happens happen, to just observe what is coming and going. Reminding you to let your eyes slip, not to focus or look.
Your clinician should be observing you for emotions coming and going, for physical reactions to come and go. We do not stop your reprocessing if you begin to cry. Why? Because you will move through it much faster and easier if you are reprocessing the upset instead of stopping. I had one client say to me once she got how this all works, “This is so much more efficient.” Yep! And easier.
Think of it like watching a movie or tv show on streaming or DVD. Life is when you push play. It unfolds over time. When you reprocess it is like hitting fast forward. Things speed up, move really fast, resolve fast.
This can be a challenge at first if you are used to blocking upsetting emotions from arising. This is why Phase 2 is important to begin developing the capacity to allow emotion to flow instead of being stuffed. This is why Phase 2 can take a while for some people. Once you can allow this flow to occur, while being supported through the distressing material, reprocessing during destressing memories works really well. It can be a bit surprising at first but gets really easy over time.
Your clinician will also be observing what general length of eye movements you need for each set. By tracking your physical and emotional responses, and the energy you are experience (if your clinician has that capacity) your clinician will vary the length of eye movements accordingly. And check in with you when you appear to be in a more neutral or positive place. For longer bouts of distressing material, you will be in longer eye movements but checking in occasionally to make sure you are not stuck.
If you are stuck, there are interventions your clinician should have to unstick the process.
Another thing to be aware of in reprocessing is there is a lot of redundancy. Why? We are really good at hiding things from ourselves. We will hide things in the closet, in the cupboard, in the basement, in the attic, under the floorboard, we will create secret compartments, secret compartments behind secret compartments. In other times, dimensions, realities and non-realities. We are really complex beings and can create very complex protection mechanisms.
The redundancy helps flush out things that are really buried. Things may look neutral and positive a couple of times but adding one more set of reprocessing can flush out something else. If nothing more that is distressing comes up, we move to the next step.
The next means scanning through the entire memory again and seeing if anything else is still there. If it is, we are still reprocessing. Either way we do another set or two to flush out anything else that might be hiding. If it is still neutral or positive we measure the distress. If there is still distress, we continue reprocessing. Once it appears to have cleared, we do another set to see if it flushes out anything else.
I personally am a stickler for clearing everything out. Some clinicians will stop if appears to be as little as possible. For me I have always gotten my clients to a point where there is no distress left. Why? If there is something still there I want it out of their nervous system. I do not want it to arise somewhere later on. It usually means there is some sort of belief, or other memories in the network that have not yet come forward to be reprocess. Sometimes it is a mild sensation in the body, sometimes it is an emotion that is linked to something asking to change. Sometimes it is a belief system that they have lived with for so long they think it is just the way it is and accept it when it can be changed.
Once there is no distress left, you will move to Phase 5.