Phase 3: Assessment

 
This selection is not about recounting every unpleasant memory but rather focusing on those pivotal moments that seem to be the epicenter of your psychological tremors.

The criteria for choosing these memories are their intensity and the level of disturbance they cause, ensuring that the therapy addresses the most impactful areas first as long as therapeutic readiness is seen.

The SUD scale (Subjective Units of Disturbance) helps quantify your emotional response to the memory on a scale typically ranging from 0 to 10, where 0 represents no distress and 10 signifies the highest possible distress.

The therapist may ask:
“On a scale of 0 to 10, where is zero is no disturbance or neutral and 10 is the highest disturbance you can imagine, how disturbing does it feel now?”

This establishes a numerical baseline of disturbance before treatment.

A significant part of assessing traumatic memories is identifying the negative beliefs often intertwined with these memories. These beliefs might manifest as statements like “I am powerless,” “I am unworthy,” or “I am not safe.” Such beliefs can shape your worldview and impact how you interact with others and perceive yourself.

This process of connecting the cognitive aspects of the memory with the emotional and physical sensations prepares you for the subsequent phases of EMDR, processing and desensitizing trauma. It sets a comprehensive framework, integrating mind and body in the journey towards recovery, ensuring that the healing is mentally, emotionally and physically integrated.

In this phase, the therapist may ask:
“What happens when you think of the incident?”
“What picture represents the worst part of the experience as you think about it now?”

The therapist may designate a single image as the initial focus for treatment. The image does not have to be vivid, only symbolic.

They may ask the client to name the emotion with something like:
“When you think of the memory and the words [repeat the negative cognition] what emotions do you feel now?”

The therapist may also ask the client to identify their body-emotion sensations, such as:
“Where do you feel it [the disturbance} in your body?”

Associated body sensations are generally less intensely unsettling then mental images or emotions of the event.

 The client does not need to tell the therapist all of the details of the memory for treatment to be successful.