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EMDR Intensives: Taking Healing to the Next Level

By Leslie Davis

Addressing six weeks’ worth of therapy in two weeks sounds next to impossible. But Sierra Tucson’s new EMDR Intensives track in the Progressions Program aims to do just that to help patients more quickly work through their unresolved traumas.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) uses bilateral auditory, visual, and tactile stimulation to reprocess how a patient recalls and works through a traumatic event. EMDR Intensives allow patients to work on specific issues or unresolved traumas, such as childhood trauma, grief and loss, performance enhancement, interpersonal relationships, and smoking cessation.

“The EMDR Intensives are designed for individuals who are already in therapy with previous EMDR work but want to fast forward the healing process,” said Sierra Tucson Clinical Director Nancy Jarrell. “The therapeutic world used to believe that a patient had to wait 48 to 72 hours after an EMDR session to allow for process time, but we’ve found that consecutive sessions are useful.”

Sierra Tucson has developed and tested EMDR Intensives that involve two-hour EMDR sessions on five consecutive days. One case in point is a 36-year-old female* patient dealing with a lot of unresolved sexual trauma. By the end of the treatment process, she was able to fully address each of the traumas she experienced from the ages of 4 to 24.

“She was quickly able to open up, process, and close down so that she could move on to the next piece,” Jarrell said.

EMDR Intensives provide patients four to five two-hour EMDR sessions per week. In addition, patients receive group therapy and daily debriefing sessions with an EMDR therapist. Patients in the program receive a full complement of assessment services, such as psychological assessment and testing, and consultations for nutrition and fitness, grief, and spirituality. They also have access to many of the therapies available at Sierra Tucson, including:

• Somatic Experiencing®
• Acupuncture
• Equine-Assisted Therapy
• Adventure Therapy
• Experiential Groups
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Reiki
• Swedish Massage

EMDR Intensives are offered through the Progressions Program at Sierra Tucson beginning September 2009. The Progressions Program is available to those patients who have completed their stay at Sierra Tucson and who wish to more fully prepare for the next level of recovery. It is also available to alumni of the residential treatment center and anyone who will benefit and heal from this specific program’s shorter length of stay.

To apply to the EMDR Intensives track, patients must provide a letter from their current therapist. No more than 8 patients will be admitted to the program at one time, according to Jarrell. Sierra Tucson currently employs 11 EMDR therapists.

For additional information, please contact Sierra Tucson’s Intake Department at (800) 842-4487.

* Identifying information has been changed to protect confidentiality.