Resource development and installation (RDI), explained

Resource Development and Installation (RDI) is a set of EMDR techniques, developed by psychologist Andrew Leeds, that strengthens a positive state, like calm, safety, or confidence, using bilateral stimulation. Therapists often use it in EMDR’s preparation phase, before trauma reprocessing begins, and especially to help stabilize people with complex PTSD.

Who developed RDI, and why?

Andrew Leeds, a psychologist and EMDR trainer, developed RDI to give clients something steady to draw on before facing harder material. A 2002 paper he co-authored with Deborah Korn in the Journal of Clinical Psychology described early, case-study evidence for using RDI to help stabilize adults with complex PTSD. Their emotional regulation can make standard trauma reprocessing too overwhelming to start right away.

Where does RDI fit in EMDR’s phases?

RDI belongs mainly to EMDR’s preparation phase, the second of EMDR’s eight phases, before any memory reprocessing begins. A therapist helps the client identify a resource, a memory, image, or quality that represents the needed state. They then run sets of bilateral stimulation to strengthen it, the same left-right rhythm EMDR uses in reprocessing, but aimed at something positive instead of a disturbing memory.

Is RDI the same as EMDR’s installation phase?

Not quite, and the shared name causes real confusion. Phase 5 installation strengthens a positive belief tied to a memory that’s already been processed in therapy. RDI, Leeds’s more formal, bilateral-stimulation version of what’s broadly called resourcing, builds a standalone positive state, often before trauma work even starts, with no requirement that a target memory has been reprocessed first.

Can you practice something like RDI on your own?

Not the clinical version. Choosing the right resource, and judging whether someone is ready to move from resourcing into deeper trauma work, is a therapist’s call, especially for complex PTSD. What you can do alone is the underlying idea: naming a calming memory or quality, then pairing it with bilateral stimulation to strengthen it.

That’s the everyday practice behind our resource installation exercise, and the kind of practice EmEase, a self-guided EMDR app, is built around at app.emease.com. See self-guided EMDR for more on where that line sits.