Glossary
Short, plain-language definitions of the EMDR and emotional-wellness terms you'll encounter across EmEase. Each entry links to the full articles and pillar guides where the concept appears in context.
EMDR Concept
Dual Attention Stimulus
The core mechanism in EMDR: holding attention on a difficult memory while simultaneously tracking a rhythmic left-right stimulus — eye movements, alternating sounds, or taps.
Negative and Positive Cognitions
The paired self-beliefs used in EMDR — a negative belief that feels true when a difficult memory comes up, and a positive belief you'd like to feel true in its place.
Subjective Units of Distress (SUDs)
A 0-to-10 self-report scale used in EMDR and many wellness practices to track how distressing a memory, thought, or feeling is in the moment — and how that distress changes as you process it.
Target Memory
The specific memory, image, belief, or body sensation you choose to hold in mind during an EMDR processing session — the 'what' of what you are working with.
Validity of Cognition (VoC)
A 1-to-7 self-report scale used in EMDR to track how true a positive, adaptive belief feels to you right now — complementing SUDs, which tracks distress.
Stabilization Resource
Calm Place
A visualized mental location that feels safe, soothing, and regulating — used as a stabilization resource before, during, and after EMDR processing to return to a grounded baseline.
Container Exercise
A visualization technique for temporarily setting aside difficult thoughts, memories, or emotions between processing sessions — storing them in an imagined container so you can come back to them when you're ready.
Psychological State
Emotional Flooding
A state of overwhelming emotional intensity that exceeds your window of tolerance and temporarily overrides your ability to think clearly, stay present, or regulate in the moment.
Hyperarousal and Hypoarousal
The two states outside the window of tolerance — hyperarousal is too much activation (fight, flight, flooding), hypoarousal is too little (numbness, freeze, shutdown).
Window of Tolerance
The range of emotional and physiological arousal in which you can feel what you're feeling, think clearly, and stay engaged with the present moment — the zone where processing is possible.
Practice
5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique
A sensory grounding exercise that anchors attention in the present by cycling through five sights, four sounds, three textures, two smells, and one taste — widely used for anxiety, panic, and post-processing integration.
Butterfly Hug
A self-administered form of bilateral stimulation — arms crossed over the chest, hands alternately tapping each shoulder in a slow, rhythmic pattern — widely used for self-soothing and resource installation.
Theoretical Framework
Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) Model
The theoretical framework that explains how the brain files everyday experiences as integrated memories — and what happens when overwhelming events interrupt normal filing.
Memory Reconsolidation
The brief neurobiological window during which a recalled memory becomes temporarily changeable before it is re-stored — the likely mechanism behind how EMDR shifts the emotional charge of difficult memories.
Polyvagal Theory
A framework developed by Stephen Porges describing how the autonomic nervous system shifts between three main states — social engagement, fight-or-flight, and shutdown — as it constantly assesses safety.