What is the preparation phase in EMDR?

It's Phase 2 of EMDR's eight-phase protocol, the stage where a therapist explains how EMDR works, builds trust, and teaches coping tools like a calm place before any distressing memory is touched. It happens once, near the start of treatment.

What does a therapist actually do during preparation?

Per EMDRIA, the therapist explains and demonstrates bilateral stimulation, teaches self-soothing and calming skills, and sets up a "stop signal" the client can use anytime to pause. Two exercises usually anchor it: the safe/calm place and the container exercise, for setting distress aside until it's safe to open again.

How long does the preparation phase take?

There's no fixed timetable. EMDRIA's guidance to therapists is not to rush this phase, since building trust takes time. It happens once per course of treatment, unlike later phases that repeat per memory, and can take longer for someone with a complex history.

What is a 'stop signal' in EMDR?

It's an agreed-upon cue, like simply saying 'stop,' that lets a client pause processing at any point. Therapists introduce it during preparation, before any memory work begins, so the client keeps a real sense of control once processing starts.

Can you practice preparation skills without a therapist?

Simple versions, yes: picturing somewhere calm or noticing body tension are safe to try alone for everyday stress. Deciding when someone is ready for real memory work depends on a therapist's judgment, including screening for dissociation, which is why self-guided EMDR has real limits here.

Preparation phase: what happens in EMDR’s Phase 2

The preparation phase is Phase 2 of EMDR’s eight-phase protocol: the stage where a therapist explains how EMDR works, builds trust, and teaches coping skills, like a calm place or container exercise, before any distressing memory is touched. It happens once, near the start of treatment, and sets up everything that follows.

Where does preparation fit in EMDR’s 8 phases?

Preparation is the second of EMDR’s eight phases, coming right after history-taking and before assessment, the phase where a specific memory actually gets named as a target. Phases three through eight repeat for every new memory a client and therapist work through together, but phases one and two happen once, near the start of treatment. Preparation is where that groundwork gets laid.

What actually happens during preparation?

Per EMDRIA, the EMDR International Association, the therapist explains and demonstrates bilateral stimulation, teaches self-soothing and calming skills, and sets up a “stop signal,” an agreed-upon cue, like simply saying “stop,” the client can use anytime to pause. Two exercises usually anchor it: the safe place, or calm place, and the container exercise, a way to mentally set a disturbing thought aside until it’s safe to open again. None of it is rushed. EMDRIA’s guidance to therapists is to take the time this phase needs, since a trusting relationship is part of what makes the harder work later possible.

Why prepare before touching a difficult memory?

Resourcing first, EMDR’s term for deliberately building coping skills and steady states, widens what someone can tolerate before it’s tested. Skip it, and revisiting distressing material risks flooding the nervous system rather than settling it. A full course of EMDR, all eight phases combined, typically runs about 6 to 12 sessions per the American Psychological Association’s 2017 guideline, though how much of that is preparation varies with how complex someone’s history is.

Can you build these skills without a therapist?

Simple versions, yes. Picturing somewhere calm or noticing where your body holds tension are safe to practice alone for everyday stress. What a therapist adds is judgment you can’t self-assess: screening for dissociation, weighing a real trauma history, and deciding when someone is ready for phase three’s memory work. That’s part of why self-guided EMDR has real limits.

EmEase, a self-guided EMDR app, offers the bilateral-stimulation practice at the center of the technique, paced for you rather than counted by hand, at app.emease.com — a wellness tool for present-day stress, not a stand-in for a therapist’s preparation work. Reevaluation, preparation’s counterpart, closes the loop later, checking that this early groundwork held.