What an EMDR Intensive Is, and Why It Might Be Beneficial for You

You're probably reading this because you're familiar with EMDR therapy in some way- as a client, as a clinician, or perhaps you're just interested in the topic. So what is an EMDR intensive, and how is it different from standard EMDR therapy?

In short, an EMDR intensive is a way of structuring therapy differently, usually by having one or more sessions that are a few hours long in a short period of time. For example, I offer a 3 day intensive that includes three 3-hour EMDR sessions all in the same week, along with intake and follow up sessions. Intensives are all about accelerating your mind and body's ability to heal from trauma, using evidence-based EMDR protocols. The content of the therapy itself is consistent with what you would experience in a weekly, 50 minute EMDR therapy session. You just get a lot more of it at once, allowing your brain and body to deeply focus on a particular treatment goal without all the interruptions that can happen in the week between therapy sessions. 

As a EMDR Certified therapist who has been working with clients using EMDR for the past 6 years, I absolutely love intensives. I truly believe they are more beneficial for my clients, help them find more relief in a shorter period of time, and help them reduce their overall time spent in therapy, which in turn saves them money. Intensives are really a win-win for me. But like any therapy, there are pros and cons. I'd love to share my perspective on those pros and cons, to help you make a more informed decision about your treatment path. 

Pro: Intensives Offer a Deep Dive

Intensives allow you to really focus on a specific treatment goal, such as processing a traumatic event, reducing symptoms of PTSD, reaching clarity about a difficult memory, or understanding yourself better. And they allow you to focus on that goal intensely enough to make meaningful progress in a short amount of time. Imagine the progress you could make with 9 hours of therapy in one week! 

On top of that, each individual hour is actually used more effectively with an intensive. When I have a standard 50-minute EMDR session with a client, we typically take 5-15 just to check in, maybe do a grounding exercise, and prepare to revisit the EMDR work. And we also need around 10 minutes at the end of session to wind down, regulate, and wrap up the session. That only leaves around 35 minutes at best to actually engage in EMDR therapy, and more often it's 25-30 minutes. It's really not a lot of time. With an EMDR intensive, we can keep going straight through to the next hour without needing to ramp up or wind down until the very end. It's significant more efficient.

Plus, there is the gap in between weekly sessions called life. A lot can happen in a week! Many of my clients really want to work on healing their trauma through EMDR, but life happens and they realize there is always something else they need to talk about in therapy. Sometimes they come back around and dedicate their therapy time to EMDR, but other times that's just not possible. With an intensive, we really plan the time around a specific treatment goal, and then dedicate the time to just that goal. So you can see a lot of progress more quickly. All of my clients still have a weekly/monthly therapist in addition to the intensive. You don't have to sacrifice discussing the stress of what's happening in your current life in order to do EMDR. We can do both! 

Con: Intensives Can Be Emotionally Draining

3 hours of therapy in one day is a lot. 3 hours of therapy in one day that dives into some of the darkest, most traumatic moments of your life is A LOT A LOT. Before you book an EMDR intensive, it's important to understand what you're signing up for. I do a lot of work with my clients to build up internal coping skills, plan a lot of self care around the intensive day(s), and engage with their outside supports. So no, I don't just throw you into this! But the work is heavy, and it's important to recognize that.

I also think it's fair to say that living with unresolved symptoms of trauma is a lot too.... and that healing is well worth it. But if you recognize that you're struggling to stay afloat day to day, the trauma is really recent or fresh, or you don't have any other support systems, it might not be the right time for an EMDR intensive and that's okay. If you're unsure, I would be happy to talk it through with you in a consultation. 

Pro: Intensives Save You Time and Money 

This one can feel like a hard sell at first, because intensives cost more up front. I totally get it! But because EMDR intensives are significantly more efficient, you can spend a lot less time in therapy overall to reach the same goals. And it's important to note that research (see here, here, and here) consistently shows that EMDR in general often leads to faster relief from trauma symptoms than traditional CBT talk therapy. Imagine finding relief in a week instead of a year. That's a lot of money not spent on therapy! 

Con: You Have to Block Intentional Time Out for Intensives

With an intensive, you can't just sneak off on your lunch break and hop back on for that 1pm meeting. I always highly recommend that my clients take the day of their intensive to focus solely on their therapeutic progress. No work, no caregiving as much as is realistic, no errands, no housework, no extra stuff. Intensives are, well, intense. So if you're doing a 3 day intensive, you would need to take 3 days off work in the same week. I have found that many people think this is worth it and consider it self care time. But if that's truly not possible for your schedule, it may be a good idea to consider a half day intensive, or ask your therapist about 90 minute sessions.

Pro: EMDR Intensives Offer Something Different

Perhaps you've tried traditional talk therapy and found it helpful to a certain extent, but then realize you had made as much progress as you could. Maybe your personality just takes a while to warm up, and it seems like the therapy hour is almost over by the time you're ready to dig deep. Maybe you just love the idea of a more retreat-like experience, and want to immerse yourself in the work. An EMDR Intensive can help with any of those! EMDR in general feels quite different from traditional talk therapy (more on that here), and the intensive format helps shake things up from the weekly session. 

Con: Doing an EMDR Intensive Doesn't Automatically Mean You're Done

Yes, I absolutely believe in intensives. But therapy and human beings, are both way too nuanced and complex for me to make any sweeping promises. An EMDR Intensive is an accelerated path. It's not a magical cure. You will likely still need to have somewhat regular sessions with a therapist to continue processing and integrating everything that happens during your intensive. You may need multiple intensives over the course of your therapy journey. And ultimately, you may find another modality to be more healing. I don't think this is a con about EMDR intensives so much as it is the reality of all therapy. While I am so happy to see therapy and mental health become increasingly accepted and mainstream, it's also important not to make therapy the solution to everything. 

Would You Try an EMDR Intensive?

Now that we've explored some of the basic pros and cons of intensives, what do you think? Would you try an intensive? If you are considering booking an intensive, please check out more info about my offerings here. Thanks for reading!