What is the length of EMDR treatment?

The length of EMDR treatment depends on the individual client and their unique trauma history. For clients with a single-incident trauma, EMDR can last as short as 2 months. For clients with extensive, complex trauma histories, EMDR can last several years.

How long does it take to get to EMDR reprocessing?

Reprocessing typically begins after 1-2 sessions of history and treatment planning and 2-4 sessions of resourcing. Some symptom relief can occur during the resourcing phase, even before reprocessing starts.

How long does it take to reprocess a memory?

In sessions lasting 50-60 minutes once per week, some memories are fully reprocessed in a single session, while others take several sessions. Reprocessing can be picked up where it left off in a following session.

What if I don't remember the memory clearly?

That's okay. EMDR can still target an idea of a memory, focusing on the emotions, sensations, and beliefs connected to it, even for pre-verbal, repressed, or unclear traumatic memories.

How does EMDR work for complex trauma?

EMDR can treat complex trauma, such as repeated childhood abuse, without processing every individual memory. Therapists target representative memories, which can produce comprehensive healing across the broader pattern of trauma.

What Actually Happens During EMDR?

By: Karina Barretto, LPCC

Last Reviewed: 9/8/26

Summary: What happens during EMDR depends on the phase of treatment. In the early stages, you will spend time sharing about your history and learning coping skills. During later stages, you will spend time reprocessing trauma using bilateral stimulation.

What Are the Eight Stages of EMDR?

The eight stages of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) encompass intake and preparation, treatment, and future planning.

EMDR is an effective treatment for PTSD and anxiety disorders. Due to this success, it has gained popularity in recent years. Despite this, many people are uncertain what to expect from an EMDR session. EMDR has eight stages.

Stage	What Happens
1. History & Treatment Planning	Your therapist learns about your personal and trauma history
2. Preparation	You build coping resources, like the container exercise
3. Assessment	You identify the target memory, beliefs, and disturbance level
4. Desensitization	You process the memory using bilateral stimulation
5. Installation	You strengthen a positive belief to replace the old one
6. Body Scan	You check for lingering tension tied to the memory
7. Closure	Your therapist helps you settle before ending the session
8. Reevaluation	You and your therapist review progress and plan next steps

During Stage 1, your therapist will learn more about your personal and trauma histories. Common questions may include- “Who did you grow up with? Who were you close to growing up?” You do not have to share more than you are comfortable with. A skilled trauma therapist will adjust to your pace.

In Stage 2, your therapist will prepare you for active reprocessing. This is done through resourcing, or developing resources that you can go to when you are struggling with anxiety or trauma symptoms. For example, many EMDR therapists teach about the container exercise, which is a resource for compartmentalizing difficult emotions or memories.

Stage 3 and Stage 4 typically happen together. Assessment is when you identify the memory you will be targeting. Your therapist will ask you to rate how disturbing the memory is on a 10-point scale. You will also identify the beliefs, emotions, and sensations associated with the memory. Another important part is identifying what you would prefer to believe about yourself regarding the situation.

Then, desensitization occurs. This is what most people think of when they think of EMDR. You will be encouraged to envision the memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation. Bilateral stimulation can include back-and-forth eye movements or tapping.

Your therapist will check in with you every minute or so. You may chat about what you are noticing. Therapists will refer to the numerical scale to determine if the memory is being desensitized.

By Stage 5, installation, desensitization has been completed, so your therapist will guide you in evaluating your beliefs about the memory. Together, you will work on “installing” a positive self-belief. You’ll do this by focusing on the positive belief while engaging in bilateral stimulation.

Once you feel confident in your chosen positive belief, you will move to Stage 6, the body scan. Because trauma is stored in the body, it’s important to scan for any signs of it. This can present in many ways, including tension or tingling. If you notice a body sensation, you will focus on it during bilateral stimulation until it dissipates.

Stage 7 is closure. Here, your therapist will help you resolve any remaining activation and get ready to return to your day. You might use some of your resources, such as the container exercise to do this.

Finally, Stage 8 covers reevaluation. Your therapist will help you look at the big picture, deciding what memory to target next. You may even decide to focus on the future, perhaps identifying upcoming anxiety-inducing scenarios and rehearsing for them.

How Does EMDR Work?

EMDR works by promoting healthy coping strategies and adaptive memory consolidation.

Simply learning and practicing resources can offer relief from trauma symptoms and anxiety. Remember, resources are visualization coping skills used in EMDR. Resources can help people shift emotional states, for example shifting from anxiety to calm. Then, the reprocessing phase of treatment offers further relief.

Can you remember what you ate for lunch on this day 2 weeks ago? Probably not, and neither can I. Our brain easily consolidates, or “puts away” these benign memories. But if you have survived a trauma, you may remember it very vividly, even if it happened many years ago. This is because our brains want to protect us from the traumatic event happening again.

While this can be adaptive, it can also lead to lots of uncomfortable symptoms, like anxiety, hypervigilance, and insomnia. For this reason, we want to help our brains “put away” the trauma memory, just like a regular memory.

There are several ideas of how EMDR helps our brains do this. The most prominent idea is that EMDR taxes our working memory. It can be difficult to engage in bilateral stimulation and think about the target memory at the same time. Therefore, to keep up with the bilateral stimulation, our brains “put away,” or consolidate the memory.

When Should I Try EMDR?

EMDR can be a great treatment to try if you have already tried talk therapy or even medications but are still having PTSD or anxiety symptoms. These symptoms may include:

· Anxiety or hypervigilance

· Troubled sleep or insomnia

· Nightmares and/or night terrors

· Anger/irritability

· Relationship distress and difficulty trusting others

· Poor self-worth

Many therapists offer complimentary consultations. A consultation can help you determine if now is a good time to start EMDR.

How Do I Know EMDR is Working?

Signs that EMDR is working include in-session indicators of the target memory being desensitized, as well as broader displays of healthy functioning.

During reprocessing sessions, your therapist will check if the target memory or memories have been desensitized. This doesn’t mean the memory has gone away, but it does mean it doesn’t feel as disturbing as it used to.

My clients use several different ways to describe a desensitized memory. Some describe it as feeling far away and distant. Others share the memory appears cloudy in their mind’s eye. Still others talk about how their view of themselves in relation to the memory has improved.

When a memory has been desensitized, more systemic changes usually follow. These include:

· Feeling more relaxed

· Peaceful, restful sleep

· Nightmares replaced by more pleasant dreams

· Greater resilience under stress

· Improved relationships and communication

· A healthy sense of self-worth

Your therapist may use standardized questionnaires to help measure your progress. EMDR also includes continually reviewing your treatment plan to ensure you are on track to meet your goals.

FAQs

EMDR treatment can last anywhere from several weeks to several years. This depends on the individual client and your unique trauma history. For clients with a single incident trauma, EMDR may be completed in two months. For clients with extensive, complex trauma histories, EMDR can last several years.
Beginning the reprocessing phase of treatment typically takes three to six weeks. In my practice, I typically spend 1-2 sessions on history and treatment planning. Then, I usually spend 2-4 sessions on resourcing. After these stages are complete, reprocessing can begin. Many clients are eager to get the reprocessing phase of treatment. However, it’s important to note that you can begin to find symptom relief in EMDR during the resourcing phase of treatment as well.
Memories may be reprocessed in one session or over the course of several sessions. My sessions last 50-60 minutes once per week. Sometimes, my clients and I can reprocess a memory in this time. If not, it is possible to pick up where we left off in the next session.
That’s ok—EMDR is possible even when you don’t remember a traumatic incident clearly. In fact, forgetting aspects of a traumatic event or even repressing the whole memory is a normal trauma response. In EMDR, we can target an idea of a memory. In these cases, we focus mainly on the emotions, sensations, and cognitions related to this idea, rather than the image of the memory itself.
EMDR for complex trauma works similarly to EMDR for single-incident trauma but may require more time in treatment. Complex trauma refers to repeated traumatic events, often happening during childhood. For example, child abuse is complex trauma, because it doesn’t happen just one time, it is a series of events. The good news is, with EMDR we don’t have to target every single memory associated with a complex trauma. We can target representative memories and still find comprehensive healing.

This article is intended for educational purposes and isn't a substitute for an individual assessment. If you're wondering whether trauma may be affecting you, a qualified mental health professional can help you explore your experiences in the context of your own history.