EMDR Therapy Intensives: What They Are and How You Can Benefit From Investing in This Type of Therapy

EMDR therapy intensives are becoming more and more popular, but you may be wondering what exactly they are and how you can benefit from engaging in them. Below I will go through some commonly asked questions regarding EMDR therapy intensives and the benefits of engaging in one (or more!) sessions of this type of therapy. 

What is an EMDR Therapy Intensive?

EMDR therapy intensives generally entail a specified amount of focused time spent engaging in the EMDR process to target identified memories and experiences that have contributed to current suffering, with the objective of more rapidly reducing your current symptoms and helping you (the client) to experience change more quickly than you typically would in the 1 hour weekly/bi-weekly therapy model. In other words, this method of individual therapy is way for you to achieve your therapy goals at an accelerated rate so that you can feel better sooner!

How Long Do The EMDR Therapy Intensive Sessions Last?

This depends on the practice and therapist, as therapy intensives can be structured in several different ways. In my practice, EMDR therapy intensives consist of 6-9 hours of focused EMDR therapy, spread out throughout the period of 1-2 weeks. 

One of the beautiful things about the EMDR intensive model is that it can be tailored to the specific client’s needs and schedule. There are also clients with whom I work with regularly and we work ‘intensively’, meaning we meet regularly over a period of months but we tailor their sessions for the length of time that feels best suited for them which is often longer than the 1 hour model. 

Generally I will discuss with my clients which time frames I feel may be most beneficial to them based on what we know about their history, individual processing considerations, their comfortability with the process when starting out, and a few other factors. In most practices, determining your care should be a collaborative process where you have a say in when you are ready to take next steps and an influence on what those steps might look like. 

Who Can Benefit From an EMDR Therapy Intensive?

Many people can benefit from engaging in EMDR therapy intensives, particularly highly motivated clients with a fair amount of insight who want to experience results more quickly and are able to identify some specifics of what they want to work through during their intensive therapy sessions. 

I find that EMDR therapy intensives can be beneficial for most people with some tailoring from the therapist for lengths of time spent in reprocessing, the therapist having advanced knowledge on target identification outside of just the standard EMDR therapy model, and the therapist helping the client with additional preparation work when needed. 

Most therapists who offer an EMDR intensive option are willing to provide at least a 15-20 minute complimentary consultation call prior to booking the therapy sessions in order to make sure that this model is the best fit for you (the client). Some therapists may recommend preparation work prior to engaging in the intensive itself, which may be with that specific therapist or another therapist depending on what is recommended and what that specific individual therapist provides. 

In my practice I am able to identify what is needed and can most often assist with preparation work before a client engages in a therapy intensive or works intensively with me as their therapist. 

What Kind of Goals Would We Work on in an EMDR Therapy Intensive?

EMDR therapy intensives can be beneficial for a wide variety of common concerns that clients may seek therapy to work through and resolve, including but not limited to relationship/attachment concerns, low self-worth, difficulties with maintaining motivation and/or goal achievement, symptoms of OCD, symptoms of anxiety, and symptoms of depression. 

While EMDR is shown to be helpful in resolving symptoms of PTSD and C-PTSD, it is a method that can be utilized with a wide array of other concerns with additional training of the therapist beyond the basic model.

In my practice, I work with all of the above while primarily seeing clients who have a history of some kind of emotional, verbal, or physical neglect/abuse in childhood and resulting attachment concerns. We may therefore be working on resolving any of the long-term negative impacts and beliefs that these early experiences have contributed to. 

In using EMDR for reprocessing these early experiences, we can not only reduce the symptoms resulting from the trauma and the intensity of the memories associated with them, but also work to shift long-standing negative beliefs about self that resulted from these incidences (eg: I am not good enough; I’m powerless; I can’t trust, etc.). 

Can I Continue Working With the EMDR Therapist After the EMDR Therapy Intensive is Completed?

This depends upon the policies of the therapist you are working with, and is a great question to ask during the initial consultation call. The therapist should be able to tell you during that call what their availability for continuation of services looks like following the intensive and give you a full understanding of how that process works within their practice prior to you engaging in the EMDR therapy intensive itself. Some therapists only complete intensives and will refer clients out to another therapist following the intensive (if you aren’t already seeing another therapist) or will recommend further intensives/engagement in the EMDR process if more treatment is recommended. 

In my practice, I let clients know my current availability during the consultation call and do see clients both for intensives and for continuation of weekly/bi-weekly EMDR therapy or further intensives if recommended and we both determine we are a good fit to continue to work together. Again, making these decisions is a collaborative process where we determine this together based on what I recommend with my expertise and what works best for you!

Can I Continue to Work With My Current Therapist When Doing an EMDR Intensive?

Absolutely you can! Adding intensive EMDR work to your regularly scheduled therapy sessions can be a great addition for speeding along the progress you’re looking for in the therapy process. It is not uncommon for therapists to refer out for a client to engage in EMDR for a specific concern they continue coming up against in a different type of therapy that might need more attention and a specific protocol to help the client see improvements. 

Most EMDR therapists will be willing to speak with your current therapist with written permission if this is something you would like them to do in order to obtain more background information and better understand how they can best be a helpful part of your process. 

In my practice I frequently work in conjunction with other therapists who refer to me specifically for EMDR services. It can be helpful in allowing us to really zero in on the specific concerns we want to work on with EMDR when a client has a therapist to check in with on the day-to-day, process other stressors with, and strengthen coping skills with. 

Can EMDR Therapy Intensives Be Done Online?

With a therapist who has the adequate training for this modality this is absolutely something that can be done. Appropriateness of online therapy including virtual therapy sessions will generally be determined based upon the initial evaluation and assessing if this approach will be effective and safe for the specific client. At the time of this posting, when choosing to do a therapy intensive online, the therapist will need to be licensed in the state in which you (the client) are residing. 

I engage in EMDR therapy intensives with clients both online and in-person as appropriate, though my preference is in-person when the client is able due to the importance of the relationship between client and therapist in attachment work and the severity of symptoms that the clients I work with may be coming into therapy with. 

Although many clients achieve progress online, there are specific protocols that can be done in-office that will help you (the client) to maintain a sense of safety in the room with me during our in-person sessions. I complete a thorough screening with clients prior to any online intensive therapy work to ensure appropriateness of fit for engaging in this type of EMDR therapy online.

Can EMDR Therapy Intensives Be Done Over the Weekend?

In my practice I offer Saturday spots throughout each month for EMDR therapy intensives and do my best to coordinate with the schedule that my clients are coming in with. I have found that focused engagement can definitely be challenging for anyone after a long day of other responsibilities and that weekend mornings can be a less stressful time to dive into the process for some.

In general, whether therapy intensives are offered on the weekends depends on the policies of the specific therapist you are working with. There are several therapists in the upstate of South Carolina who design their intensives for clients with busy weekday schedules who want to experience a significant amount of progress in their time off, which may include weekend therapy availability. 

What Can I Expect to Experience After the EMDR Therapy Intensive is Over?

For many clients, the end result of the intensive may be experiencing a sense of resolve surrounding the incident(s) involved in the reprocessing, a reduction in symptoms related to the incident(s), and an improved outlook regarding sense of self, ones relationships, and/or the world around us. 

EMDR for complex post-traumatic stress (including incidences of trauma where something adverse happened repeatedly or neglect where something that was supposed to happen repeatedly did not happen) is often an ongoing process that will frequently require continuation of care and/or more than one therapy intensive to work through repeated incidences that have contributed to current symptoms and negative beliefs. Engaging in EMDR therapy intensives can still bring about resolve faster than with the weekly/bi-weekly therapy model for clients with complex trauma, particularly when working with a certified EMDR therapist with advanced skill sets beyond the standard model. 

For more information on scheduling an EMDR therapy intensive in Greenville, South Carolina, please message me below. I look forward to speaking with you soon!

*This website (healingvalleyscounseling.com) and the information it contains are not a substitute for therapy. This site is not meant to provide treatment advice, only to share general psychoeducational information. In the event of an emergency, please contact 911.