Is EMDR Intensive Therapy Right for You?
For the longest time as a therapist I provided hour-long sessions.
The “fifty minute hour” is pretty standard in therapy. It basically means that 50 minutes are for the therapy, 3-5 minutes are spent scheduling and collecting payment, and the therapist gets the last five minutes of the hour to do the documentation of the session.
Here’s the thing though… that hour-long session isn’t based on what’s best for clients. It’s not based on what people might need or want as far as time with their therapist. It’s not based on any kind of evidence about what’s most effective for you as a mental health client…
That hour-long session is based on what insurance companies are willing to pay for. (This is just one of the MANY reasons why I don’t work in-network with insurance companies, but that’s a topic for a different time.) Because the insurance companies think you should have an hour of therapy per session, most therapists do exactly that, hour-long sessions.
The problem with this model is that sometimes clients need more time. Especially as an EMDR therapist, most of my clients benefit from longer sessions. After realizing this need, I started offering EMDR intensives and working with clients intensively.
What are EMDR Intensives and what are the benefits?
EMDR intensives are when a client signs up for a three to six hour long session. Working intensively is when a client does 90 to 120 minute sessions over the course of a few weeks instead of the regular “50-minute” hour long session.
Bang for Your Buck
One benefit of doing EMDR in “an intensive” or working intensively is you get “more bang for your buck”. The amount of material that can be reprocessed in longer sessions is better than hour long sessions. One EMDR therapist I collaborate with said she learned from an intensive trainer that every hour of an intensive is like 1.5 sessions of weekly, hour-long EMDR therapy.
While I haven’t seen literature to back this statement up, from my own experience as an EMDR therapist that has done hour-long, extended sessions intensively, and EMDR intensives, I have to agree that working intensively helps people get through more material in a shorter amount of time. This results in clients saving money in the long run by having fewer overall clinical hours in therapy.
Less Pressure Provides an Organic and Fulfilling Experience
Another benefit of longer sessions working intensively or in “an intensive” has to do with the structure of EMDR. It’s much like an exercise workout. EMDR requires a warm up and a cool down.
Trying to fit the warm up and cool down, plus time for reprocessing trauma, can leave people feeling incomplete. It can be frustrating for both clients and me as a therapist for a client to be reprocessing well and have to end due to timing that has been dictated by insurance companies. Doing EMDR for longer sessions allows the client to feel less pressure to “get it right” during sessions and have a more organic, fulfilling experience.
How does an intensive work?
When a new client reaches out to me, we have our half-hour good-fit call to ensure I’m the right fit for them. After we determine it’s a good fit, I send clients their intake paperwork along with a series of assessments for them to fill out. All of these exercises are important for me to get to know them and their issues a little better. Once they’ve completed that paperwork, we have one hour-long session where I:
do a clinical interview
review anything I need to from their intake paperwork
allow them to get a better feel for me as a therapist
I also answer any questions about EMDR and the process they are about to embark on.
Once we do that initial intake session, clients have the option to do a series of “resourcing” sessions where I help them stabilize and/or develop:
coping techniques
mindfulness practices
improve their distress tolerance for strong emotions
Usually these “resourcing sessions” are no more than 2 additional hour long sessions depending on the client. Once we’ve done a few resourcing sessions, we can schedule an intensive day.
When I do intensives, I schedule at least half the day for the client. A half-day intensive is three hours, and a whole day intensive is six hours. Clients and I have plenty of time to discuss how long they want their intensives to be before we schedule it. The clients make the decision for themselves, but I provide my recommendations based on my clinical expertise and the client’s stamina in the resourcing sessions for EMDR.
Is an EMDR Intensive right for me?
A lot of new clients ask me about intensives and longer sessions and for the most part, I highly recommend doing longer or intensive sessions for clients. The amount of processing and trauma-neutralizing we can do in even a 90-minute session compared to the traditional hour is incredible. Intensives can be helpful for both recent traumatic events and complex trauma, and it allows a client to learn more about EMDR by immersing themselves in the process.
An EMDR intensive could be for you if:
You want to clear trauma quickly - ripping off the bandaid so-to-speak
You’re afraid to try EMDR because you don’t want to have to think about your trauma over and over again for the next several months
You’re an adventurous person and like to try new things
You don’t want to have to see a therapist for weekly sessions over the course of several months
You don’t have any limitations in sitting down and staying focused for extended periods of time.
An EMDR Intensive might NOT be for you if:
You are dissociating a lot or can’t experience negative feelings for very long
You like to have weekly therapy sessions
You have a chronic health condition that spikes in stress and emotion would exacerbate (not necessarily a deal breaker, but as your therapist, I’d want to collaborate with your doctor first to ensure we are safe and keep you healthy).
Doing EMDR intensives and extended sessions are some of the most effective ways I help clients feel better faster. If you’re interested in learning more about intensives, schedule a good-fit call so we can discuss it more.
