It’s Intimate and Powerful
I recently had the opportunity to provide an EMDR intensive over 3 days. There is something very intimate and magical about the intensive model for both myself as the therapist and for the client. In my last intensive, we spent 4 hours on Friday, 6.5 hours on Saturday and another 3 hours on Sunday working through multiple pathways and healing. Over 3 partial days, we essentially did the work that it might take someone 8 months to accomplish in 50-minute weekly sessions.
What’s the Difference?
The difference is that in a regular session, life happens in between sessions, and clients often have other issues they want to focus on that take time from our EMDR processing. We also have to set up the EMDR targets, and safely close down a session in enough time to ensure that a client is emotionally regulated, and able to leave the office without distress.
In an intensive, we set up all the desired processing targets and the negative cognitions and clients have the luxury of time to keep processing and desensitizing targets one after the other. Clients still have 2 nights in between processing to reflect, do some self care activities, and create insight from the sessions.
Sketching The Neuro Network
I have found that there is extreme power in taking the time to draw out and create a network sketch of presenting triggers that the client is currently experiencing. Then we identify all the emotions that are associated with specific triggers. After that is completed, we start to identify negative cognitions that the client attributes with the trigger such as, I’m not good enough, I don’t matter, Something’s wrong with me, I’m powerless, or responsible for everything. As we start titling events or situations that go with each negative cognition, we also start connecting lines from other cognitions that also represent the same events.
Often one event might be connected to 2 or 3 negative cognitions. For example, one childhood memory might be associated with I’m not safe, I don’t matter, and I’m broken. Once the brain sees the connections in this network cloud drawn out on paper or via Zoom whiteboard, the client’s brain automatically starts to group similar cognitions together. When working on the event in one negative cognition pathway, it’s possible that it will also clear out in the other pathway as the brain meanders through the network during processing.
EMDR Intensive Options
After consulting with many of my colleagues who also do EMDR and offer intensives, I am finding that it might be beneficial to offer EMDR sessions in longer sets. I have offered sessions in 90-minute blocks in the past which have proven to be very beneficial for the extra processing time. I will likely be offering 90-minute and 3-hour block sessions for clients interested in diving in deeper. Of course I will keep 50-minute offerings for clients unable to seek the intensive option. Interested individuals in full weekend intensives will have the option to either come for a retreat to Boise for the weekend as my last client did, or we can do the entire intensive virtually which has worked beautifully as well.
Healing is a Gift to Yourself
Therapy in intensive formats is obviously an investment in your emotional growth. Just like many other areas in life where we seek physical wellness through trainers, dieticians, coaches, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, etc., we need to also be mindful of how our daily triggers interfere with our ability to find peace and joy in our life. Resentment and anger prevent many of us from living the life we truly want. When we can dive in, dig deep, and make the commitment to our mental health, we open our hearts to healing, forgiveness, and the ability to let go of all that no longer serves us. Only then can we embrace our true potential.
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