What Are EMDR Intensives?
Have you ever been in therapy, gotten deep into the root of the issue that you’re there for, feel right on the edge of a major insight, and then looked at the clock and seen that it’s time to go?
How would it feel to have three or even six hours to sink into the therapy space, and to leave feeling like you did some deep work and didn’t need to check the clock every fifteen minutes?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is a unique and powerful form of therapy that has helped millions of people around the world recover from trauma, anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. EMDR is based on the idea that traumatic memories and experiences can become stuck in the brain, causing a range of negative symptoms. By using specific techniques that stimulate the brain's natural healing processes, EMDR can unlock these stuck memories and allow the brain to process them in a more healthy and adaptive way.
In an EMDR intensive, you can fully immerse yourself in the healing process without the constant worry of time constraints–allowing you to explore more complex issues and look more deeply at underlying emotions. EMDR intensives, like all good therapy, are a safe and comfortable space for vulnerability and introspection.
EMDR intensives are not about solving all of the issues that are making life difficult in one session. They are simply about accelerating the therapy journey that you are on right now and allowing your nervous system to find relief and spaciousness.
If you want to feel less “on edge,” more in control of your life, and finally connect what you know cognitively to what your body knows in its bones, consider an EMDR intensive as one option in your therapy journey.
What is EMDR therapy?
EMDR is an evidence-based treatment to help you unlearn unhelpful patterns of thinking rooted in past experiences. It’s often framed as a “trauma therapy,” which it can be, but it is also a phenomenal tool for anyone looking to experience significant change in any area of their life.
EMDR is an eight-phase protocol that you walk through with your therapist, adaptable to your unique needs and circumstances. You start in Phase 1 by giving your therapist a bit of your history, including the issues that you are hoping to change and the strengths that you have that will help you with the process. Together, you’ll figure out if you want to target certain memories or beliefs that are creating distress in your life. Then you move to Phase 2: Resourcing.
Resourcing includes taking anything positive–visualizations, sensory objects, art, nature–and adding in bilateral stimulation. Bilateral stimulation engages the left and right sides of your body, either through moving your eyes back and forth, tapping on your chest or knees, listening to tones in headphones that ring left and right, or holding “buzzers” that vibrate in each hand. While you engage in bilateral stimulation in Phase 2, you will imagine positive things, such as an environment that helps you feel particularly safe. This helps integrate the positive visualizations into your nervous system and makes them easier to recall in times of distress. You may feel ready to move past Phase 2 after one intensive, or you may spend a few intensives on this powerful step. When you are ready to confront the memory or belief, you and your therapist will move to Phases 3-6: Reprocessing.
The “reprocessing” phases of EMDR often happen in rapid succession, which is why I group them here. Let’s say for example that you are processing a traumatic car crash that you were in. Your therapist will ask you questions like “What’s the image that represents the worst part?” and “What are you noticing in your body as you bring up the memory now?” These questions are meant to be rapid reminders, not prompts to get into the story of what happened. You may say something like, “The windshield cracking,” or “My muscles are tight.”
Your therapist will then offer fast bilateral stimulation to help process these physical sensations and the meaning they offer to decipher the emotional significance of the memory. What often happens is that you feel the intensity of the memory and of your own emotions and sensations rise for a while, then begin to drop off and feel much less intense. This could take several minutes, or the entire session. Sometimes targets take several sessions, or even several intensive sessions, to complete. This is totally normal.
A target is considered “complete” when you can think about the memory and have little or no distress, both cognitively and somatically (in your body). Your therapist will follow up in future sessions to ensure that the memory is truly “cleared.”
Here are some of the best things about EMDR therapy, in my experience as a Certified EMDR Therapist:
You and your therapist can target either memories or beliefs. Some people start EMDR therapy with a specific target memory in mind, saying things like “I just don’t want the memory of the car accident replaying in my head every night anymore.” Some people start EMDR therapy by targeting beliefs about themselves, saying things like “I’ve never felt like I was good enough” or “Ever since my loss, I’ve believed that I don’t deserve to be happy.” EMDR is about unlearning the unhelpful, old beliefs that no longer serve you and rewiring your brain to walk down more helpful “paths” (aka neuro-pathways).
You don’t need to talk about exactly what happened to you - it actually won’t be helpful to unpack the entire story in EMDR therapy. All you need to do is bring up the memory in your own mind, sit with the bilateral stimulation while it’s running, and notice what is going on in your body and mind.
You can do EMDR on anything that you find distressing - this means it can help you find relief related to worries and fears, relationship issues, grief, phobias, work stressors, or anything else going on in your life that causes you distress. If you feel like there is so much going on that you don’t even know what you want to work on first, you and your therapist will create a roadmap together so that we have a plan going forward.
Why should I consider an EMDR intensive?
An EMDR intensive just means doing EMDR Therapy in longer blocks of time - typically 3- or 6-hour chunks. This form of therapy allows you to progress in a shorter time frame using the same evidenced-based treatment that we know works well to unwind from trauma and install positive beliefs about yourself.
With EMDR intensives, you are basically “stacking” multiple weeks of therapy into one day or week. You still utilize all the same tools described above, but you just have a longer session to really sink into the work and not worry about interruptions or time constraints.
You may want to consider an intensive if:
Your schedule has felt so hectic that the idea of a weekly session feels unmanageable or overwhelming
You have some time in your schedule that allows you to do some deep work in a short time period, like parental leave or summer break
You have a significant event coming up, like becoming a parent or anticipating the loss of a family member, and want to try and clear some negative beliefs to better cope in the future
You are in regular therapy, but you feel “stuck” and know you need something different
You’ve had a hard time finding a therapist in your area, and you’d like to travel to where the EMDR therapist is to create a mini retreat for yourself
What does an intensive look like?
An intensive format starts just like any other form of therapy: with an intake. Your therapist will ask you questions about your history, your present stressors and struggles, and the strengths and resources that you are bringing with you into the process. This intake can be anywhere from 60-90 minutes.
From there, you and your therapist will decide what format of intensive will best meet your goals and needs at that time. Many therapists have different format options to choose from, but here are some common ones:
One day intensive: You and your therapist meet for 3 hours or 6 hours (with a break for lunch), to help you really sink into your goals. A 90-minute intake is completed before the intensive (usually the week before) so you already have “EMDR targets” picked out. This style is ideal if you have one target that you want to focus on, rather than developmental/relational issues that often require more hours together.
Two day/multiple day intensive: You and your therapist meet for several days in a row or meet every week for 3- or 6-hour chunks of time to allow you to further your progress. Many people meet for intensive therapy every two weeks for a few months, rather than meeting weekly for a longer period of time.
Weeklong intensive: This is definitely the most intense (no pun intended) form of EMDR therapy. You meet every day with your therapist for four or five days in a row, either in 3- or 6-hour increments. This is a great option for folks who have an extended amount of time off, like a parental leave or summer break. It can be a beautiful way to do a lot of work in a short amount of time, and create a mini retreat for yourself as you dive into some of the old patterns that you want to change.
Your therapist will likely work with you to figure out what format is best for you and what will help you meet your goals. Weekend intensives, retreat intensives (at a resort/travel location), and many other formats are common as well.
Do I need to be in therapy before considering an intensive?
An intensive is for anyone who is interested in accelerating their progress and condensing therapy into a shorter time frame. You don’t have to be in therapy previously to start an intensive, but you may spend more time in the resourcing phase of EMDR to build up your emotional vocabulary and Phase 2 resources before jumping into the reprocessing of your experiences.
Remember, an EMDR intensive is not guaranteed to “solve” anything, just like any form of therapy is not a cure-all solution to all of the problems that you walk through the door with. All good therapy includes relationship-building with your therapist, trust-building with yourself, and patience as the process unfolds.
Oftentimes, you can continue to see your EMDR therapist on a weekly basis after your intensive. It is not uncommon to have a few weekly sessions, do a few intensive sessions to get through a “stuck point,” then return to weekly sessions with the same therapist.
EMDR intensives can also be an “adjunct therapy,” meaning that you can continue to see your primary therapist, see an EMDR intensive therapist to do a piece of work, then return to your primary therapist to process the intensive and continue talk therapy. You can then return for an EMDR intensive whenever you feel like it would be helpful to work through a specific target or belief that you are struggling with.
Conclusion
For many people, EMDR can be a life-changing experience that helps them unwind long-standing unhelpful patterns of thinking and feel at peace with themselves and their past. If you're considering EMDR therapy, it's important to find a qualified and experienced therapist who can guide you through the process and provide the support you need to make the most of your sessions. With the right therapist and a willingness to engage in the process, EMDR can be a powerful tool for healing and growth.
You can learn more about EMDR therapy at: https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/.
You can learn more about EMDR intensives with me at:
