Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has been a trusted treatment for over 30 years, helping individuals manage conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and substance abuse. Recognized by clinicians, researchers, and leading professional organizations, EMDR is especially effective for individuals facing a dual diagnosis like addiction combined with trauma-related disorders.
How Is EMDR Therapy Different?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, sets itself apart from traditional talk therapy by relying less on conversation and more on activating the brain’s natural healing processes. It does this by stimulating both brain hemispheres, often through guided eye movements.
One of EMDR’s strengths is efficiency. It often requires fewer sessions than other forms of therapy. Its goal is to help the brain finally process unresolved trauma. When left unprocessed, traumatic memories can continue to cause harm and disrupt the brain’s ability to heal itself.
EMDR therapy engages the brain’s innate capacity for healing by targeting key regions involved in trauma processing (the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex) to help reprocess distressing memories so they no longer elicit intense emotional or physiological reactions. While the memories remain, their disruptive impact is significantly reduced, making EMDR an effective intervention for conditions such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other trauma-related disorders.
Here you can read more about the benefits of EMDR therapy for addiction recovery.
The Phases of EMDR Therapy
When you’re struggling with the aftermath of trauma, EMDR therapy offers a structured approach to healing. This eight-phase process helps you identify distressing memories and emotions and reprocess them using bilateral stimulation. As you focus on negative beliefs linked to traumatic events, the emotional charge begins to disappear, allowing positive beliefs to take their place. This therapy works by guiding the brain through a structured process that facilitates resolution and recovery.
Phase 1: History and Targeting
In the first phase of EMDR therapy, you’ll work closely with your therapist to explore your personal history in detail, identifying significant life events, patterns, and trauma that may still be affecting your mental and emotional well-being. This reflection isn’t just about recounting past experiences. It’s about understanding how those moments continue to shape your thoughts, behaviors, and emotional responses today.
Together, you and your therapist will pinpoint the specific memories, beliefs, and emotional triggers that continue to cause distress or disruption in your life. These may include single traumatic events, ongoing stressors, or early life experiences that still carry emotional weight. Your therapist will help you identify which memories hold the most emotional charge and are most relevant to your current struggles, setting the stage for focused processing in later phases.
This foundational phase is also where a strong relationship is built. Establishing trust, clarifying goals, and creating a safe and supportive environment are essential to make you feel empowered and understood throughout the process. It also allows your therapist to assess your readiness for EMDR and tailor the treatment to your specific needs, ensuring that the journey toward healing is both effective and emotionally safe.
Phase 2: Preparation
Before beginning the core phases of EMDR processing, you’ll enter a preparation stage that gives you the emotional tools and internal resources needed for your therapeutic journey. This phase is where you build resilience, acquire a strong sense of safety, and lay the groundwork for effective trauma reprocessing.
During this stage, your therapist will guide you through techniques for emotional regulation and distress tolerance. These may include deep breathing exercises, guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, or other grounding practices. You’ll learn how to apply these strategies during and between sessions and manage emotional discomfort when it arises.
A central part of this phase involves establishing a “safe place” in your mind—a calming, secure mental image that you can go to whenever you feel overwhelmed. This visualization becomes a powerful coping resource you can access throughout the therapeutic process.
There must be continued development of trust between you and your therapist. This connection ensures that you feel supported, respected, and in control as you manage the memories and emotions that need healing.
Phases 3 to 6: Reprocessing
Once the groundwork is complete, you’re prepared to begin the core phase of EMDR therapy: reprocessing. Spanning phases three through six, this stage focuses on targeting and transforming traumatic memories that continue to affect your present-day functioning.
With your therapist, you’ll identify a specific memory to process, starting with a vivid mental image from the event, the negative beliefs and emotions attached to it, and a new, more adaptive belief you’d like to associate with the experience. This shift from a disempowering perspective to a more resilient one lies at the core of the healing process.
Using bilateral stimulation (often in the form of guided eye movements) you’ll repeatedly revisit the memory in a safe and structured way. As the brain processes the information, the emotional intensity of the memory gradually fades. What once triggered distress begins to feel more distant, more manageable.
The memory doesn’t disappear, but it no longer triggers an intense physical or emotional reaction. Instead, it becomes a neutral part of your story, allowing you to move forward without the weight of unresolved trauma holding you back.
Phases 7 and 8: Closure and Evaluation
As you move through the reprocessing phases, EMDR therapy continues to prioritize your emotional safety and well-being. Phase seven focuses on closure, making sure that you leave each session feeling stable, grounded, and ready to re-engage with your daily life. Your therapist will guide you through calming techniques such as deep breathing, guided visualizations, or other self-soothing strategies to restore balance and reduce lingering distress.
You’ll also be encouraged to keep a journal where you can record any thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, or dreams that surface. These entries can offer valuable insight and help your therapist assess how your brain is processing information outside of the therapy room.
Phase eight centers on evaluation. You and your therapist will reflect on the progress made, reviewing the intensity of the memory, any shifts in core beliefs, and your overall emotional state. Together, you’ll determine whether the targeted memory has been fully reprocessed or if there’s more work to be done. If new issues or traumatic memories emerge, you may begin the process again with fresh targets.
This final phase highlights EMDR’s commitment to structured, comprehensive care, empowering you to move forward with clarity, resilience, and a renewed sense of emotional freedom.
Final Thoughts from Mile High Recovery Center
At Mile High Recovery Center in Denver, Colorado, we specialize in treating anxiety, PTSD, depression, and addiction, whether they show up on their own or together. Our skilled clinicians are trained in EMDR therapy and can integrate it with talk therapy to create a personalized, coordinated approach to your mental health care.
