15+ EMDR Protocols & Techniques: A Guide for Clinicians

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy can be used to help clients who struggle with their mental health after experiencing a trauma or other adverse experience. Research has shown that EMDR can decrease negative emotions and the vividness of images related to a person’s trauma, therefore improving their symptoms and overall functioning. Keep reading for 

EMDR is a structured, evidence-based therapy that follows an 8-step protocol. This includes history-taking, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, and reassessment. Each of these steps has a specific purpose, allowing treatment to progress in an organized and effective manner. EMDR differs from other therapies because it does not include a free exploration of a trauma or adverse life event. Protocols outlined in EMDT provide consistency and safety, allowing you to measure your clients’ progress over time.

Within this process, EMDR techniques can be used. Bilateral stimulation, such as tapping, guided eye movements, and auditory sounds, is the most common. As a clinician, you will help your client identify specific memories to target, along with the resulting beliefs, emotions, and physical sensations. You can use tools like the Subjective Units of Distress (SUD) scale or the Validity of Cognition (VOC) scale to measure and track change. Stick with us as we outline the 8 EMDR protocols and interventions that can be incorporated into your work. 

For more valuable resources, view our EMDR Tools and Resources hub

EMDR Protocols

EMDR sessions follow an 8-step process that provides structure and consistency. These steps focus on addressing a single traumatic event and may be repeated for additional traumatic memories or adverse life experiences with the use of specific EMDR interventions

1) History Taking and Treatment Planning

Before you can begin treatment, it is important to take time to understand your client’s mental health history, current symptoms, and the appropriateness of trauma work.

What It Is: You will use a comprehensive assessment to target your clients’ psychosocial history and identify their target memories. You will then use this information to create a personalized treatment plan.

How It Helps Clients: Assessments are necessary to ensure that your client receives the right level of care and that EMDR therapy is clinically appropriate. This EMDR procedure is also needed to identify the target memory that later sessions will focus on.

How To Do It: Complete a detailed clinical assessment that focuses on past traumas, current triggers, and concerns about the future. Understanding their goals can help you create a treatment plan to guide your sessions.

2) Preparation

Preparation is a key step in EMDR therapy because it ensures that you have created safety within your relationship and that your client has the skills needed to cope with emotions that may arise as you transition through the EMDR procedure.

What It Is: This stage focuses on providing psychoeducation about EMDR and teaching appropriate grounding or stabilization skills.

How It Helps Clients: Your clients will strengthen their emotion regulation skills and their ability to cope with difficult emotions during reprocessing. This also lays the groundwork for their work, helping them understand what to expect at each stage of treatment.

How To Do It: Key topics to introduce include bilateral stimulation, grounding skills, container exercises, and imagery exercises. You’ll also continue strengthening the therapeutic rapport.

3) Assessment

The assessment phase of EMDR therapy focuses on activating a targeted memory in a structured, measurable way.

What It Is: You’ll help your client identify specific components of their traumatic experience. This can include the image they saw, negative cognitions (NC), positive cognitions (PC), body sensations, and their baseline.

How It Helps Clients: The assessment phase allows you to identify their target memory and their baseline for measuring progress.

How To Do It: You’ll ask your client to tell you about the worst part of their memory, a resulting negative belief, a desired positive belief, the emotional intensity of the memory using the SUD scale, and assess the validity of their positive belief with the VOC scale.

4) Desensitization

During this phase, you will begin processing your client’s trauma.

What It Is: Desensitization allows your client to focus on their target memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation. You can use eye movements, tapping, or auditory tones.

How It Helps Clients: Bilateral stimulation promotes adaptive information processing in the brain, reducing the emotional distress associated with the targeted memory. 

How To Do It: You’ll administer sets of bilateral stimulation while asking your client to notice the thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations that arise. After each set, you’ll ask your client to rate their experience on a 0-10 SUD scale, continuing until their answer is close to or at 0.

5) Installation

During this step of the EMDR procedure, your client will work to develop healthier beliefs. 

What It Is: The installation will pair your clients’ Positive Cognition (PC) with the processing of their identified memory.

How It Helps Clients: This EMDR intervention reinforces their adaptive beliefs, increasing their confidence and promoting emotional integration.

How To Do It: Your client will focus on their original memory while keeping their PC in mind. Bilateral stimulation is used to help strengthen their belief until their VOC  reaches a 6 or 7. 

5) Body Scans

Body scans are an EMDR intervention used to ensure that trauma is not being held within the client’s body, as it is often held somatically. This is an essential step for reprocessing and integration.

What It Is: Body scans are a structured process in which your client scans different areas of their body, often from head to toe. During this, they will keep their mind on their target memory and their new positive cognition. This increases awareness of the body’s tension.

How It Helps Clients: This is an effective way to notice subtle tension or discomfort that clients can experience, even with ideal SUD and VOC scores. Body scans can promote deeper healing and reduce the risk of future triggers.

How To Do It: Begin by asking your client to think about their target memory and their PC. You will then gently guide them as they slowly scan different areas of the body to notice physical sensations. When tension or tightness is found, use bilateral stimulation while they focus on reducing the sensation. 

7) Closure

At the end of each session, EMDR interventions focused on stabilization are used to ensure your client can manage their symptoms outside of sessions.  

What It Is: Closure ensures that clients feel grounded and regulated before their session concludes.

How It Helps Clients: Closure helps prevent unresolved distress that interferes with daily functioning.

How To Do It: Incorporate grounding exercises, containment strategies, or relaxation techniques. Journaling may also be used to track their thoughts between sessions.  

8) Reevaluation 

Reevaluation ensures that your client’s progress is maintained and informs the next steps.

What It Is: At the beginning of the next session, you will reassess your clients’ previously targeted memory and explore if there are additional memories that could be reprocessed.

How It Helps Clients: This helps confirm that your clients’ distress level is low and that their positive beliefs are strong.

How To Do It: You can use SUD and VOC scores to reassess their symptoms, review triggers, and make the necessary adjustments to the treatment plan.

9 EMDR Techniques to Use in Sessions

EMDR techniques can be used within the standard EMDR procedure. There is some discretion in which techniques you use with your clients, bearing in mind that this is a structured approach to trauma treatment. 

1) Bilateral Stimulation

Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) is the core technique of EMDR and what sets it apart from other trauma-informed therapies.

What It Is: With BLS, you’ll use rhythmic, alternating stimulation that activates the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This can be done with auditory tones, tactile tapping, or guided eye movements. 

How It Helps Clients: BLS is used to reprocess memories in an adaptive way. This reduces the emotional intensity of the distressing memories your client experiences. They may also experience new insights or cognitive shifts.

How To Do It: You’ll ask your client to focus on a specific memory. This can include the associated image, negative belief, emotions, and bodily sensations. At the same time, you will guide their eye movements or use alternating taps/tones in sets for 20 to 40 seconds. This process is repeated until your client’s overall level of distress decreases. 

2) Safe Place Exercise

The safe or calm place exercise is a stabilization technique typically introduced in the preparation phase.

What It Is: This guided imagery exercise helps your client visualize a real or imaginary place that makes them feel calm, comforted, and safe.

How It Helps Clients: You can use this exercise to strengthen emotional regulation and reduce anxiety. This can be used during or between therapy sessions.

How To Do It: You’ll guide your client as they imagine a peaceful setting. Bring their awareness to their senses, asking about what they see, feel, and hear. Bilateral stimulation is used to promote a positive emotional experience of this imaginary place, making it more accessible.

3) Cognitive Interweaves

Cognitive interweaving is a structured intervention that is used when clients are unable to process in session.

What It Is: This is a brief intervention that can include a targeted question, statement, or perspective to promote adaptive processing.

How It Helps Clients: This can help resolve stuck points, introduce missing information, and correct distorted beliefs.

How To Do It: Ask focused questions if you find that reprocessing has stalled. This can include questions like “Who was actually responsible?” After this is complete, bilateral stimulation is used to continue in the session. 

4) Floatback Technique

The Floatback Technique is used to identify earlier memories that are connected to current emotional triggers.

What It Is: A targeting technique that helps clients locate earlier experiences associated with present distress.

How It Helps Clients: Uncovers foundational memories that may be driving current symptoms or maladaptive beliefs.

How To Do It: Ask the client to focus on a present trigger and the emotions it brings up. Then guide them with prompts such as, “When was the first time you remember feeling this way?” Once an earlier memory emerges, that memory becomes the new reprocessing target.

5) Light Stream Technique

The Light Stream Technique is a somatic-focused intervention used when physical disturbance remains after cognitive processing.

What It Is: An imagery-based technique that helps reduce residual body tension associated with traumatic memories.

How It Helps Clients: Supports the release of lingering somatic distress and promotes a sense of physical relief.

How To Do It: Guide the client to imagine a healing light, energy, or calming presence entering their body and moving toward areas of tension. Bilateral stimulation may be added to strengthen the effect.

6) Resource Development and Installation (RDI)

Resource Development and Installation is used to strengthen a client’s internal coping capacity before or during trauma processing.

What It Is: A preparation-phase technique that builds and installs positive internal resources using bilateral stimulation.

How It Helps Clients: Enhances emotional regulation, resilience, and readiness for trauma reprocessing.

How To Do It: Identify a positive internal resource (such as strength, calm, protection, or confidence). Help the client fully experience it, then apply bilateral stimulation to “install” and strengthen the resource.

7) Future Template

The Future Template technique prepares clients to handle anticipated triggers using newly integrated beliefs.

What It Is: A guided rehearsal technique that strengthens adaptive responses to future situations.

How It Helps Clients: Increases confidence and reduces the likelihood of relapse by reinforcing new learning.

How To Do It: Ask the client to visualize successfully navigating a future scenario that previously would have triggered distress. Incorporate the newly installed positive cognition and apply bilateral stimulation to reinforce the adaptive response.

8) Body Scan

The Body Scan is used after memory reprocessing to ensure that no residual somatic disturbance remains.

What It Is: A somatic assessment technique conducted after installation of a positive cognition.

How It Helps Clients: Identifies and clears remaining physical tension linked to the target memory.

How To Do It: After reprocessing appears complete, ask the client to mentally scan their body for any lingering discomfort or disturbance. If anything is identified, continue bilateral stimulation until the sensation resolves.

9) Affect Bridge

The Affect Bridge is an emotion-focused targeting strategy that links present emotions to earlier experiences.

What It Is: A technique used to trace current emotional states back to their original memory source.

How It Helps Clients: Helps uncover unresolved memories that may not be immediately accessible through narrative recall.

How To Do It: Have the client focus on a present emotional state and guide them to follow that feeling back to an earlier time they experienced the same emotion. Once identified, the earlier memory becomes the reprocessing target.

Other Helpful EMDR Resources

TherapyByPro is a leading resource provider for mental health professionals. Our customizable, evidence-based tools can be tailored to your clinical setting and varying symptom presentation. These resources can be used to enhance your clinical work and build upon preestablished skills or practices. Examples of popular EMDR therapy resources include:

Final Thoughts on Using EMDR in Sessions with Clients

Thank you for taking the time to read about EMDR  protocols. We encourage you to remember that this is a simplified overview of EMDR techniques and interventions, and that you should practice within the scope of your clinical standards. This may include engaging in continuing education or other training experiences. Incorporating EMDR into a clinical setting typically requires proper training and supervision.

EMDR therapy is a leading trauma treatment that can provide you with structured care and measurable outcomes. EMDR differs from other therapeutic approaches and has long-term implications for recovery and symptom stabilization.

View all EMDR Worksheets

References:

• Shapiro F. The role of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in medicine: addressing the psychological and physical symptoms stemming from adverse life experiences. Perm J. 2014 Winter;18(1):71-7. doi: 10.7812/TPP/13-098. PMID: 24626074; PMCID: PMC3951033.