1
History and treatment planning
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1-2 sessions
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History taking and target events created
2
Preparation
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Up to 1-4 sessions
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Establish coping and relaxation techniques
3
Assessment (reprocessing)
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3+ sessions
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Identify negative emotions and target event
4
Desensitization
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3+ sessions
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Eye movements/tappers used in the session
5
Installation
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2+ sessions
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Strengthen positive beliefs
6
Body scan
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1+ session
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Notice body tension and body responses to EMDR
7
Closure
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Ends every session
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Self-calming techniques
8
Reevaluation
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Starts every session
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Revisits treatment plan
Phases of EMDR: What to expect
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
As incredible as the human brain is at storing and processing thoughts, feelings and experiences throughout our lifetime, sometimes, our brain mistakenly autocorrects our present experiences with past ones that aren’t necessarily helpful.
EMDR therapy helps us rewire our brains to be more effective while giving us more control over our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. In addition, EMDR increases performance by reducing the unnecessary stress caused by anxiety, depression, fear, and trauma.
How does it work?
EMDR therapy is broken down into eight phases and requires that you attend multiple sessions. Treatment usually takes between 6 and 12 sessions, but additional sessions may be needed.
EMDR is done using bilateral stimulation, which uses something you can see, hear, or touch that moves from side to side – Kind of like when we play Pong! By accessing negative memories and their associated negative core beliefs, an individual can establish the formation of new positive beliefs that rewrite the old negative neural pathways. Typically, eye movements (hand or light bars) or “tappers” (a machine that vibrates in the hands) are used in the session. This works because it imitates the back-and-forth communication between the left and right brain when memories are formed and stored while we sleep. EMDR accesses this cheat code, but while you are awake and in control.
What can EMDR be used to treat?
EMDR was originally developed to treat trauma and PTSD, but it may also help reduce symptoms of other mental health concerns, especially those intertwined with past trauma.
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Anxiety
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Panic attacks
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Depression
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Phobias
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Bipolar disorder
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Dissociative disorder
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Recovering from grief
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Eating disorders
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Pain management
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Personality disorders
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Stress
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Performance anxiety
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Sleep disturbances
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Substance use disorder or addiction
Transform your performance with EMDR
At Mindbuffs, our trained clinicians use EMDR to help with a variety of mental health barriers faced by individuals in high-performance settings.
EMDR for athletes, entrepreneurs, and performers
Performance anxiety and slumps are the 2 most common negative experiences in high-performance settings and only exist when a negative core belief is pushing the buttons and pulling the levers in our brains. When you lose a game or blow a meeting, you may automatically tell yourself that you have “failed” or have feelings of “not being good enough.” In the next game or meeting, your “Default Mode Network” is activated because it doesn’t want you to fail again so it bombards you with “don’t miss this shot,” “don’t say anything stupid” or “everything is riding on this moment,” and then you are completely engulfed in fear. EMDR gets you out of slumps because it is able to permanently change the belief of “I am a failure” to “I am worthy” or “I am good enough,” which deactivates the internal alarm system and allows a person to access positive self-talk and high levels of confidence more easily in future experiences.
EMDR for performance anxiety
You have a big game coming up, and you feel a pressure physically weighing on your body as you try over and over again to “block off” your negative thoughts. It's as though your mind is a reality TV show that haters can laugh at, providing video evidence to your coach and teammates that you are to blame for the inevitable upcoming loss. You’ve lost precious sleep, been completely unable to focus on your studies or notice your friends and family as you binge-watch your impending doom.
Your brain has decided to remind you of every other time you felt this way in every game you’ve ever played and it is beginning to feel inevitable that the game will not go the way you want it to. EMDR can be used to replace these negative thoughts so that they do not interfere with your ability to bring your best game.
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