Psychotherapists have several techniques at their disposal to help clients articulate traumatic experiences, especially when clients struggle to find a starting point. In EMDR therapy, it is not s necessary for clients to verbalize their trauma explicitly. This method activates the brain’s inherent healing process to address traumas that have become psychologically stuck, as detailed in Francine Shapiro’s self-help book, Getting Past Your Past.
EMDR therapists often begin therapy at the point where the client feels most comfortable, starting with current symptoms, then tracing back to the earliest or most severe occurrence of the trauma. Additionally, therapists might employ non-verbal methods such as sand tray therapy, which requires specific training to be effectively used in sessions. Another approach involves expressive methods like drawing traumatic memories, which does not require artistic skills, or “partializing” the trauma, where the client describes the event through the five senses—focusing on the most distressing sensory detail.
For children or those unable to verbalize their experiences, child specialists in EMDR use various strategies to help express their perception of the events, such as play, sandtray, and story telling.
EMDR therapy does not require a conscious memory to be effective, making it suitable for resolving preverbal traumas as well as adverse experiences from later childhood and adulthood. EMDR accesses memories stored in the brain, which include associated emotions and body sensations. Clients who understandably do not wish to ‘tell their story” appreciate the way in which their own brains decide what needs to be healed.
Modifications by a skilled EMDR therapist begin with assessing why the individual has no memory of the events impacting their present functioning. During the intake process, a clinician can often trace current issues back to past events through skillful questioning, use of Dr. Francine Shapiro’s floatback or affect scan techniques . It is also crucial to consider whether self-protective blocked memories may stem from dissociation, which should always be assessed by the EMDR therapist.
The memories that are consciously recalled may differ from those that the brain chooses to access and activate during the later processing phases of EMDR. This highlights the effectiveness of EMDR: the brain navigates the linked neural pathways regardless of the starting point in accessing these issues. Thorough preparation in the initial history-taking and preparation phases of EMDR sets the stage for processing
Memories can resurface during trauma therapy as the process targets the memory network associated with traumatic incidents. As therapy progresses, related memories that have not yet been updated may emerge, becoming part of the therapeutic process. This is similar to pulling on a thread that begins to unravel an interconnected ball of yarn.
Target Sequence Planning outlines the initial order for processing past adverse events, but the brain ultimately dictates the course of processing. This underscores the power of EMDR—it is the brain that guides the healing, allowing dysfunctional memory networks to be reprocessed and stored as past events, devoid of distress.
If certain memories are too distressing and seem blocked, the therapist can help by temporarily setting them aside in a metaphorical container or using another resource. This strategy allows these memories to be addressed later when the individual is more prepared to handle them.
EMDR therapy is not designed to validate the authenticity of memories. It facilitates access to what the brain has stored from life’s adverse experiences. This process involves working with perceptions rather than definitive truths, which is the only reality we have about our world.
Memories are inherently unreliable—they can vary over time and differ among individuals. Anyone discussing past events with family members will encounter multiple perspectives, including varying recollections of the same events, even if they were not traumatic.
The key aspect of EMDR is what you believe and retain from those experiences, despite potential distortions or changes over time. Feeling relief after processing suggests that your brain has effectively managed the associated emotional distress of an event. This often leads to improved interactions and general well-being.
The question of whether a memory is true may never be conclusively resolved. EMDR therapists typically maintain that they cannot verify the factual accuracy of a client’s memories, emphasizing that it is the client’s brain, not the therapist, that determines the processing of these memories. This approach respects the client’s experience more than imposing an external judgment on the events remembered under distress.
Some memories, particularly those that are horrific, can be hard to accept as real. Others might be exaggerated, like a child’s phobia of spiders, which are generally not dangerous. Additionally, the use of EMDR in television shows to “prove” historical events is a misapplication of the therapy.
EMDR is intended for healing; when distress associated with a memory is alleviated, the memory becomes less intrusive and is regarded as part of the past, no longer affecting the present. This impact on present and future functioning is a crucial aspect of EMDR’s Three-Pronged approach, which includes ongoing work to solidify current and future well-being based on processed memories.
Bringing up suppressed memories in therapy, particularly through EMDR, does not involve forcibly uncovering these memories. EMDR therapy operates on the principle that these memories, though out of conscious awareness, continuously impact an individual’s daily functioning.
It is generally inadvisable to engage in EMDR therapy solely with the aim of uncovering past events, a practice sometimes depicted in television shows involving law enforcement. Suppressed memories often remain unconscious to help individuals cope with past traumas.
In therapeutic settings, when it becomes relevant to access memories related to current symptoms and disturbances, approached thorough preparation with the therapist, never alone. This preparation ensures that clients are ready to address whatever may arise, and the process is conducted in manageable segments, always with the therapist’s support.
From experience, forcing individuals to confront their traumatic past can be as unhelpful as advising them to simply forget about it. EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment designed to address memories of adverse experiences gently and systematically, which often lie at the core of psychological issues.
To suggest that suppressed memories should never be addressed would imply that individuals must live with their pain indefinitely. Many people do, not realizing that skilled therapeutic intervention can do more than just manage pain—it can alleviate it. In this therapeutic process, it’s crucial to respect the client’s own pace and readiness to recall memories, allowing their brain to guide the healing process.
EMDR therapy works by processing a person’s perception of events based on their brain’s stored memories of adverse experiences. It’s common during EMDR for individuals to reassess their beliefs, especially those formed under distressing circumstances, such as a child mistakenly believing they were at fault for abuse. Through therapy, these beliefs can shift towards more adaptive perceptions, like recognizing that one was merely a child and is inherently acceptable.
EMDR can change how we perceive and relate to memories, using Phase 8, reevaluation.This is an ongoing process of re-evaluating deeply held beliefs and memories. Underlying or “core” negative beliefs may need targeted to clarify and resolve remaining disturbance. Everyone has past experiences, positive and distressing, that impact present functioning. EMDR therapy is a most strength based therapy, where clients learn to trust their own brain’s ability to navigate the healing process to establish each client’s own personal truth
Bonnie Mikelson, LISW
