Collaboration: EMDR as Adjunct Therapy

We’ve all had those moments in therapy where we feel stuck or loop on issues related to negative life experiences. It can be discouraging for both the client and the therapist. Often times, when the primary therapist and client collaborate with an EMDR therapist, this partnership can help move treatment forward.

I partner with primary therapists and their clients to target their clients’ specific memories, body sensations, or limiting beliefs with EMDR. By narrowly targeting specific traumatic memories or intrusive material, brief adjunct EMDR can accelerate progress in traditional therapy, help the client and the primary therapist to resolve stuck points, and enrich their ongoing work.

Adjunct therapy does not replace or interrupt ongoing therapy; it is supplemental to the primary therapeutic relationship. With adjunct EMDR therapy, clients continue to receive treatment with their primary therapist. Usually adjunct therapy is short term (4-12 sessions) and desensitizes single incident trauma or simple phobias that interfere with the client’s therapeutic gains. Treatment is often scheduled in an intensive format. The success of treatment is based on clearly defined goals for the EMDR therapist, defined in collaboration with the primary therapist and client.

 

(Modified with permission from Kambria Evans Psychotherapy)