EMDR isn’t just eye movements.
That’s the most common misconception people have before they start. They picture following a finger back and forth and wonder how that could possibly help with something as significant as trauma.
The eye movements – or the tapping, or the audio tones – are one small part of a carefully structured eight-phase process. Each phase has a specific job to do. Each one prepares the ground for the next. Nothing is skipped. Nothing is rushed.
Understanding the eight phases of EMDR therapy before you begin takes the mystery out of it. You know what’s coming. You know why each stage exists. And that understanding makes the whole thing considerably less daunting.
Why the eight phases of EMDR therapy matter
Francine Shapiro didn’t just discover that bilateral stimulation reduced distress. She built a structured protocol around that discovery – one that ensured the work would be safe, thorough, and properly paced.
The eight phases of EMDR therapy aren’t eight separate sessions. They’re a repeating protocol that your therapist applies target by target. Some phases take multiple sessions. Others take minutes. The structure is the same each time – and that consistency is part of what makes EMDR work.
A therapist who rushes through the early phases to get to the eye movements isn’t doing you a service. The preparation and stabilisation work that happens before any processing begins is exactly what makes the processing safe and effective. The post on what happens in an EMDR session gives a fuller picture of what all this looks and feels like in practice.
Phase 1 – History taking and treatment planning
The eight phases of EMDR therapy begin with a conversation.
Your therapist takes a thorough history. You talk about what’s brought you to therapy. You explore the difficulties you want to address. Together, you identify the memories and experiences that are most relevant to what’s driving your current difficulties.
This isn’t just background information. Your therapist uses it to build what’s sometimes called a target list – a map of what to work on and in what order. They look for the memories that seem to be at the root of things. Reprocessing those key experiences often has a ripple effect on related ones, without needing to address each individually.
You don’t need to describe your experiences in detail at this stage. The history-taking phase is about orientation and planning – not processing. Phase 1 typically takes one to three sessions, sometimes longer for complex histories.
Phase 2 – Preparation and stabilisation
Before the eight phases of EMDR therapy move into any processing, you need the right resources to manage what comes up.
Phase 2 is entirely dedicated to that. Your therapist explains how EMDR works – what bilateral stimulation is, what form it will take, what to expect during processing. They teach you grounding and stabilisation techniques. Breathing exercises. Visualisation. Body awareness tools. These are the skills you’ll use during sessions and between them.
One of the most important things developed here is a safe or calm place – a real or imagined space you can return to if anything feels overwhelming. You practise accessing it quickly. It becomes a reliable anchor.
For most people, preparation takes one or two sessions. For those with complex or long-standing trauma, it takes longer. That’s not a delay. It’s the foundation that makes everything else possible.
You also get to try bilateral stimulation in a low-stakes way during this phase – experiencing what it feels like before it’s paired with any difficult material. That familiarity makes a real difference when processing begins.
Phase 3 – Assessment of the target memory
Phase 3 brings the target memory into focus.
Your therapist guides you to identify the most vivid image associated with it. You name the negative belief about yourself that the experience created – things like “I’m not safe,” “It was my fault,” “I’m worthless,” or “I’m powerless.” You identify a positive belief you’d like to hold instead. “I’m safe now.” “I did the best I could.” “I’m enough.”
You notice the emotions and physical sensations connected to the memory. You rate how disturbing it feels on a scale of zero to ten. That rating – called SUDS, the Subjective Units of Distress Scale – gives both you and your therapist a baseline to measure progress against.
This phase activates the memory. It brings it into focused awareness, ready to be processed. It can feel like a lot to hold – but you’re not alone in it, and the processing begins almost immediately.
Phase 4 – Desensitisation
This is the phase most people picture when they think of EMDR – and the heart of the eight phases of EMDR therapy.
You hold the target memory in mind – along with the image, the negative belief, the emotion, the physical sensation. Your therapist begins bilateral stimulation. If you’re working online, this usually means following a moving point of light on screen with your eyes.
Sets of bilateral stimulation last around 30 to 60 seconds. After each set, your therapist asks: “What do you notice now?” You report whatever comes up – a thought, a feeling, a different memory, an image, a sensation. You don’t need to analyse it. You just notice and say what’s there.
Your therapist guides the next set based on what you’ve noticed. Stimulation, pause, notice, report – and again. This cycle continues until the distress level connected to the target memory comes down, ideally to zero or close to it.
You’re fully conscious throughout. You’re in control. You can stop at any point by raising your hand or saying so. Nothing happens without your awareness.
What you experience during sets varies enormously. Some people notice memories shifting quickly. Others move through layers of associated material before things settle. Some feel emotional during the processing. Others feel surprisingly calm. All of it is normal.
Phase 5 – Installation of the positive belief
Once the distress connected to the memory has reduced, the eight phases of EMDR therapy shift direction.
Your therapist asks you to bring the memory to mind again – this time paired with the positive belief you identified in phase 3. Further sets of bilateral stimulation strengthen and deepen that positive belief. The aim is for it to feel genuinely true – not just intellectually acceptable, but actually felt.
You rate how true it feels on a scale of one to seven. Processing continues until the rating reaches six or seven.
This is one of the things that sets EMDR apart. It doesn’t just take away the bad. It actively works to install something better – a new relationship with the experience, and with yourself.
Phase 6 – Body scan
Trauma isn’t only stored in the mind. It lives in the body too.
Even when a memory has been processed emotionally and cognitively, the body sometimes holds residual tension. A tight chest. A held breath. A knot in the stomach. Phase 6 checks for that.
Your therapist asks you to scan your body from head to toe. You report any remaining physical sensations. If anything is still there, brief sets of bilateral stimulation target those specific sensations until the body also reports that the memory has settled.
A session isn’t considered complete until the body agrees. That matters.
Phase 7 – Closure
Every session in the eight phases of EMDR therapy ends with closure – regardless of where the processing reached.
Your therapist guides you back to a grounded, settled state. You use the stabilisation techniques from phase 2. You leave the session feeling present and oriented – not still inside whatever you’ve been working with.
This is important because processing can continue after the session ends. The brain keeps working. Dreams may become more vivid. Memories or feelings may surface between sessions. Your therapist prepares you for this and gives you tools to manage it. Keeping a brief journal of anything that arises is often helpful.
Phase 8 – Reevaluation
The eighth of the eight phases of EMDR therapy begins the following session.
Your therapist checks in. How is the target memory sitting now? Has the distress reduced further? Has anything new come up since last time?
If the previous target is fully processed, the work moves to the next one on the list. If more processing is needed, it continues. This cycle of reevaluation and processing repeats – session by session, target by target – until the work is done.
Progress in EMDR is measurable. You can see how things are shifting. Nothing is left vague.
The bigger picture
The eight phases of EMDR therapy exist because healing from trauma isn’t a straight line. It requires careful preparation, precise targeting, thorough processing, and proper closure at every step.
Done well, the result is lasting change – not because you’ve learned to manage something better, but because the source of the difficulty has been addressed. The memory no longer carries the same charge. The belief it created no longer feels like a fact.
If you’d like to understand more about what EMDR can help with before you begin, the hub post on what EMDR therapy is is the best starting point. If you’re weighing up whether it’s the right approach for you, this post on whether EMDR is a good fit is worth reading. And if you’re already fairly sure and want to know what a session feels like from the inside, the post on what happens in an EMDR session walks you through it clearly.
I work online with individuals across the UK and internationally. Sessions are 60 to 90 minutes. I offer a free initial consultation – no pressure, no commitment.
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Gareth Taylor is a Professional Accredited Member of the NCPS (PNCPS Acc.) and a qualified counselling supervisor. He is an EMDR-trained therapist working online with individuals across the UK and internationally, supporting people with trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief, low self-worth, and a wide range of other presentations.
