What To Expect From Your First EMDR Therapy Session in San Francisco, California

Whether you have been doing your own research about this evidence-based trauma treatment

or your individual therapist or your doctor has suggested seeking out EMDR therapy for trauma work,

You are wondering what to expect from EMDR therapy. Let me help you answer some of your questions!

if you are wondering what EMdr therapy is in general,

check out this other blog post first for an ultimate guide.

What do you need to do to prepare for the first EMDR Therapy session?

Make sure you know where to join your therapist in the virtual space! It’s best if you can join on your computer, especially for EMDR therapy sessions. Test out technologies like enabling your camera and microphone for video sessions. Make sure you have a good internet connection or mobile reception. Charge your phone or laptop. Test out the connection between your headphone and your computer. And relax - find yourself in a private space where you can talk comfortably for 50 minutes. Grab a cup of water and a box of tissue just in case for an emotional session.

If your schedule changes and cannot make it, please let your therapist know as soon as possible. Reach out to them by email or phone and leave a message!

What happens in the first emdr therapy session?

Your trauma therapist wants to learn about you!
Even in EMDR therapy, it starts with a thorough assessment or an evaluation of your symptoms and your history. This is to get an overall idea of what we are trying to address in therapy and to set a goal in agreement. It is also to be mindful of all factors that play a role in the issues. You will be asked to share about your work/school, symptoms, relevant recent experiences that brought you to therapy, family history, medical history, living situation, substance use, etc.

In the assessment of memories specific to EMDR therapy, which can be done in the following appointment, you will work with your EMDR therapist to explore the past memories or experiences that are related to the current issues you are facing. It can take additional sessions if needed.

You do not have to bring up the details and explain all the trauma history. It can be overwhelming and too much to hold. However, it is helpful to label these incidents so that you and your therapist can go back to this memory when it is time for reprocessing.

Your therapist may slow you down and reserve some of the topics of detail in the follow-up appointments.

how would i feel in between the emdr therapy appointments?

Sometimes you will feel great, restored, and enlightened. Some other times, you may feel exhausted, sad, and angry for what has come up.

For EMDR sessions, you may build some coping skills in preparation. It is encouraged to continue to practice these skills in between sessions so that they are readily available to you when you need some tools for managing difficult emotions and situations. You can also jot down things such as emotions, images, memories, dreams, etc., coming up in between the EMDR sessions (especially after a reprocessing session) and share them with your therapist.

how many sessions of emdr therapy might i need, and how often will we meet?

It depends on what issue we are trying to address. The mimimum number of EMDR sessions you can expect when you are starting new with an EMDR therapist is 4 weekly sessions. The first 1-2 sessions will be assessment. 1-3 sessions may include doing some resourcing exercises as well. The 3rd and 4th sessions can be reprocessing sessions focused on targeting the memories. All of these can be extended to several months (3-6 months) or repeated for multiple memories depending on each person.

Usually, once a week is a good frequency to start with. It can be done twice per week or more for intensive sessions. However, please expect to feel much more tired after a session and less time to recover. It is okay to reschedule time to time due to scheduled vacations/trips to skip a week. However, it is best to keep a regular weekly EMDR session to continue with the work.

What if I don’t like what happened in the first session or I am not sure it is a good match?

First, thank you for your honesty. The relationship with your therapist is fundamental to any type of work in therapy.

We are sorry for what happened. If it is something you are open to talk about, it is encouraged to directly communicate with your therapist. It is in our best interest to help you find the right therapist and direct you to the right resources. Sometimes, we figure it out by trying it out!

However, if you do not feel comfortable speaking with your therapist any longer, you can reach out to support@waltztherapy.com and share your feedback. We’d love to connect you with a different therapist who may be a better fit for you.

If you are still feeling stuck or don’t know where to start,

Feel free to call us at (415) 489-0258 for a free 15 minute phone consultation or book directly on our website. We’d be happy to hear about what is happening and help direct you to the right person. If you are looking for help with childhood trauma, sexual trauma, and other types of complex trauma, you can read more about how I can help here.

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