What is an EMDR intensive?
What is an EMDR intensive?
An EMDR intensive is an structured, short-term, accelerated form of therapy that centers around one full day of focused therapeutic work that lasts about 4-8 hours, in addition to one intake session, one to two preparation sessions, and one integration session. The entire duration of treatment lasts about two months, but will depend on your specific scheduling preferences and clinical needs.
This format differs from standard EMDR sessions which typically occur in weekly sessions over the course of several months or years.
Leading up to the intensive day, we’ll have one intake session for assessment and treatment planning and one to two preparation sessions to practice emotional regulation skills that are specific to your coping patterns. After the intensive day, we’ll have one integration session to organize your insights into meaningful change in your life.
What do the intake, preparation, and integration sessions entail?
Intake sessions are standard requirements for initiating any form of therapeutic relationship. You and your therapist get to know one another, discuss crucial background information about you, and explore your current goals for therapy. Your therapist will complete a thorough clinical evaluation and make recommendations for how to design your EMDR intensive, including pacing, treatment modalities, and goals.
During the preparation sessions, we’ll assess your body’s pattern of responding to stress and trauma, reviewing nervous system states and how they specifically manifest for you. From here, we’ll practice specific coping skills in session together, build your external support system, and review the patterns, beliefs, or memories we’ll address in the intensive day.
The integration session is a crucial follow-up to the intensive day, where we share perspectives, build meaning around your insights, and discuss ways to make changes in your life accordingly. We’ll also discuss next steps in your treatment, including coordinating with other providers as needed.
Tailoring EMDR intensives to meet your needs
If you’re feeling a little intimidated about 4-8 hours of therapy in one setting, you’re certainly not alone! Many people imagine the intensive like general talk therapy, when it’s actually quite different. EMDR is a structured protocol with specific steps and processes, and we weave in other guided experiential exercises throughout the day. We’ve received feedback from clients that it feels like the time passes quickly even though we’re slowing down.
That being said, we can tailor your intensive to fit your needs. Some people prefer working in 2-hour blocks twice per week, or even stacking multiple intensives days across two weekends. We’ll design your unique structure during the intake and preparation sessions.
What makes our intensives “creative”
Since we work with a lot of creative spirits and firmly believe in the healing power of the arts, we infuse our intensive sessions with music, drawing, movement, journaling, or whatever creative practice speaks to you.
We also take a multimodal approach to intensives and incorporate other evidence-based trauma treatments such as Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), somatic therapy, and exposure therapy.
What are the risks and benefits of EMDR intensives?
EMDR intensives are beneficial for treating patterns, behaviors, or beliefs that feel old, stuck, or unresolved, including:
PTSD and trauma
Ongoing or single incident trauma
Childhood trauma, religious trauma, racialized or identity-based trauma
Recent trauma or reactivated trama
Anxiety, overwhelm, and burnout
Overwhelm with work, responsibilities, finances
Caregiver/healer/activist stress, compassion fatigue
Panic attacks, hypervigilence, rumination
Performance anxiety, social anxiety, health anxiety
Attachment wounds and relational conflict
Abandonment and rejection fears
Difficulty trusting others
Chronic negative relationship patterns
Shame, self-worth, and identity-based pain
Persistent self criticism, harsh inner critics
Internalized shame, especially queer shame or shame about difference
Creative blocks and limiting beliefs
Fear of risk-taking, being seen, rejection
Self doubt and imposter syndrome
Grief and loss
Death or non-death losses
Complicated or unresolved grief
The risks of EMDR intensives include:
Dysregulation outside of your “window of tolerance” - feeling intense emotions that aren’t easily regulated with grounding skills
Increased sensitivity after sessions
Temporary increase in anxiety, grief, sadness, or protective responses such as distraction or dissociation
Temporary fatigue, vivid dreams or nightmares, or somatic responses (brain fog, headaches, GI issues, etc.)
EMDR intensives vs. weekly therapy
Weekly therapy sessions have limitations, especially for addressing trauma. It’s surprisingly difficult for your nervous system to settle into deep healing when you’re toggling between meetings and spending at least 10-15 minutes of the session on check-in and wrap-up.
Your work, creative pursuits, travel, and social events may interfere with carving out time for regular ongoing weekly sessions, let alone implementing new skills and perspectives. Progress can feel fragmented, like you’re constantly putting out fires instead of getting to the root of the problem. It’s easy to lose steam or get down on yourself.
EMDR intensives offer a really effective alternative to this, since we can focus on uninterrupted processing when the body is well-resourced and supported in the container of the day.
Is an EMDR intensive right for me?
EMDR intensives are great for people who:
are generally well-resourced but feeling stuck or plateaued in therapy sessions
struggle with stubborn patterns of behaviors or beliefs that get in the way of living fully
want to make significant headway in a short span of time
need a therapy reset or jumpstart, especially for a managed condition that might be resurfacing
struggle to fully open up in weekly sessions or take a while to warm up
crave more time for deep therapeutic work, especially to address an issue that doesn’t get the time it deserves in weekly sessions
are moving through a major life transition and feel like they need to reconnect with themselves
EMDR intensives are not suited for those who are experiencing acute crisis, active suicidal ideation, severe substance use or disorientation, or who need the support of weekly sessions instead.
How much does an EMDR intensive cost?
EMDR intensives are an investment for both the client and the therapist. They’re priced hourly at the therapist’s standard clinical session rate, which also includes the therapist’s preparation and care coordination outside of their direct service with you.
For example, if the therapist’s hourly rate is $300, an intensive can range from $1800-3200 depending on your scheduling needs. Payment can be broken up in installments or paid in full.
Although payment for intensives are made in larger lump sums, they usually end up being more cost effective than weekly therapy sessions, which include a lot of accumulated time for check-in and wrap-up, and fragment deeper processing time.
We also encourage you to think about this as an investment in yourself holistically, considering how powerful it is to dedicate the time and resources for your healing and the enduring value of improving your confidence, relationships, and creative pursuits.
Curious to learn more? Here’s your next step.
Our therapists offer free 30-minute discovery calls to explore your current needs, answer any questions you have, and make recommendations about how intensives can fit into your current therapeutic care.