Validity of Cognition (VoC)

EMDR Concept

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.

Also known as: VOC, Validity of Cognition scale

The Validity of Cognition scale (VoC) is a 1-to-7 number that captures how true a positive belief feels about yourself in the moment. One means “it doesn’t feel true at all,” even if you can see that it is. Seven means “it feels completely true.” Where SUDs measures the charge of a difficult memory, VoC measures how much you can actually feel and live inside a new, adaptive belief about yourself.

VoC exists because emotional learning and intellectual learning don’t always line up. You can know that you were not at fault for something that happened to you as a child, and still carry the felt sense that you were. The new belief — “it wasn’t my fault” — might rate a 2 on VoC even if you can state it aloud. EMDR processing tends to move the VoC up over time as the felt truth catches up with the cognitive one.

How VoC is used in self-guided practice

  • Choose a positive cognition — an adaptive belief you want to strengthen, paired with the target memory you are working on. Examples: “I am safe now,” “I did the best I could,” “I am worthy of care.”
  • Check the number. Holding the memory in mind, how true does that belief feel on a 1-to-7 scale right now? Don’t negotiate with yourself. Record the honest number.
  • Re-check after processing. A shift from 3 to 5 or from 5 to 7 is a meaningful signal that the new belief is settling in somatically, not just cognitively.

For the distress-side counterpart, see SUDs. For the paired-beliefs structure VoC is embedded in, see negative and positive cognitions.