Understanding the Healing Journey: EMDR Therapy Sessions in Murrysville, PA
When trauma lodges itself in your mind, it can feel like being stuck in a moment that never quite ends. That's where EMDR therapy comes in – offering a path toward freedom that doesn't require reliving every painful event.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy sessions are structured healing experiences that help your brain process traumatic memories in a new way. Reprocessing a single trauma is generally accomplished within three sessions, although some cases may take longer. During these 60-90 minute sessions, you'll work with an EMDR therapist who guides you through bilateral stimulation – whether through eye movements, gentle taps, or alternating tones – while you briefly focus on targeted memory. This unique approach helps your brain "unstick" these experiences, allowing them to be stored properly without their original emotional charge.
Think of EMDR therapy at Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy as helping your brain do what it naturally wants to do – heal – but with some extra support to overcome the blocks trauma creates.
EMDR Therapy Session Basics
What to Expect Duration 60-90 minutes per session Format 8 structured phases Frequency Weekly or intensive formats Typical Course 3-6 sessions for single trauma Success Rate 84-90% recovery for single-trauma PTSD
What makes EMDR therapy different from traditional talk therapy is that you don't need to spend sessions analyzing or discussing your traumatic experiences extensively. Instead, your brain does the processing work internally while you maintain focus on the targeted memory during bilateral stimulation. Many clients appreciate this aspect, especially when talking about certain painful events feels overwhelming.
The results can be remarkable. Research shows that 84-90% of single trauma victims with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) no longer meet criteria for the diagnosis after just three 90-minute EMDR therapy sessions. Even complex trauma can show significant improvement, though it typically requires more EMDR sessions.
At Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy, our team of skilled EMDR therapists specializes in guiding clients through the EMDR treatment process with both expertise and compassion. We understand that each person's healing journey is unique, which is why we tailor our approach to your specific needs and comfort level. Whether you're struggling with a single traumatic event or more complex issues, we're here to help your brain and body find their natural path to healing.
Many of our clients in Murrysville, PA and surrounding areas tell us they appreciate the efficiency of EMDR therapy – the ability to make meaningful progress without years of weekly therapy. That said, we never rush the treatment process, ensuring you have the support you need every step of the way.
How EMDR Therapy Works: The Science Behind Healing
At the core of this powerful approach is something called the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. Think of your brain as having a natural healing system—similar to how your skin knows how to heal a cut. When trauma happens, this mental healing system can get stuck, leaving those past memories frozen in time.
During EMDR therapy sessions, we use bilateral stimulation—activities that engage both sides of your brain alternately—to jumpstart this natural healing process. It's fascinating how this works! The eye movements actually mimic what happens naturally during REM sleep, when your brain processes the day's experiences through an accelerated learning process.
This bilateral stimulation comes in different forms, and at Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy, we personalize the approach to what works best for you:
Eye movements are the classic technique of EMDR practice—following a light bar or the therapist's fingers as they move side to side
Tactile stimulation where you feel gentle, alternating taps on your knees, hands, or shoulders
Auditory tones that alternate between your left and right ears through headphones
What makes this approach so effective is that it addresses not just the thoughts about trauma, but how trauma is stored in your body. Your body literally "keeps score" of traumatic experiences through physical sensations, body tension, and nervous system responses.
EMDR Therapy vs. Traditional Talk Therapy
One thing our clients at Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy often appreciate is how different EMDR therapy sessions feel compared to other therapies.
With EMDR therapy, you don't need to tell your story in excruciating detail. This comes as a huge relief to many people who find talking about trauma overwhelming or re-traumatizing. Instead, the client focuses internally on the targeted memory while the bilateral stimulation helps your brain reprocess it without extended exposure.
The experience is more experiential than analytical. Rather than analyzing why something happened or dissecting your reactions, you'll notice what emerges naturally as your brain reprocesses the memory—physical sensations, disturbing emotions, insights, and connections often arise spontaneously.
Another welcome difference? EMDR therapy sessions typically don't involve homework assignments. Unlike cognitive-behavioral approaches that often require practice exercises between sessions, EMDR processing continues naturally after your session without formal assignments.
EMDR Therapy Session Formats
"How long will this take?" is one of the most common questions we hear. The honest answer is that it depends on several factors, including the nature of your traumatic event and your personal healing journey. But we can offer some general guidelines:
Format Session Length Frequency Total Duration Best For Standard EMDR 60-90 minutes Weekly 3-12+ weeks Ongoing support, complex trauma Extended EMDR 90-120 minutes Weekly/Biweekly 3-8 weeks Deeper processing per session EMDR Intensive 3-6 hours Daily (1-3 days) 1-3 days total Rapid processing, limited time availability
Research has shown remarkable treatment effects, particularly for single-incident trauma. Many people experience significant symptom reduction after just three 90-minute EMDR therapy sessions. For more complex trauma or multiple traumatic events, a longer course of 8-12+ sessions is typically needed.
After each session, your EMDR therapist will assess your progress and set the agenda for the next session to ensure continuous improvement. Individual therapy typically delivered in this format allows for personalized attention to your specific needs.
At Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy, we understand that everyone's situation is unique. That's why we offer both standard weekly sessions and intensive formats. Our intensive approach has been particularly helpful for clients who are traveling from outside the Murrysville area, need rapid symptom relief, or simply prefer to process trauma in a concentrated timeframe rather than weekly sessions.
The neuroscience behind EMDR therapy continues to evolve, but what we know for certain is that bilateral stimulation helps the brain access and reconsolidate memories in a way that reduces their emotional charge. The memory doesn't disappear—but its power to disrupt your life diminishes significantly.
The Eight Phases of EMDR Therapy
EMDR therapy sessions follow a structured eight-phase protocol developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro. This systematic approach isn't just a clinical framework—it's a carefully designed journey that ensures you're properly prepared, supported, and guided through the entire healing process.
Think of these eight phases as stepping stones across a stream—each one necessary for safely reaching the other side. At Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy, we honor this protocol while tailoring it to your unique needs and experiences.
Phase 1: History Taking and Treatment Planning
Your healing journey begins with connection. During these initial therapy sessions, your therapist asks about your patient history—not just the difficult chapters, but the whole narrative that makes you who you are.
Together, you'll explore your experiences, identify potential memories that might benefit from processing, and assess your readiness for EMDR work. This treatment planning phase typically spans 1-2 sessions and lays the groundwork for a trusting therapeutic relationship.
Phase 2: Preparation
Before diving into deeper waters, we make sure you have the skills to stay afloat. The preparation phase of EMDR therapy is like packing essential supplies for a journey:
You'll learn and practice self-calming techniques that become your emotional first-aid kit
Together with your therapist, you'll develop a personalized "safe place" visualization—a mental image sanctuary you can return to whenever needed
You'll also establish a clear stop signal, putting you in control of the pace throughout the process
Phase 3: Assessment Phase
Now the active work begins. In this assessment phase of EMDR therapy sessions, you'll:
Identify a specific traumatic memory to focus on—the one rippling outward and causing distress in your life
Briefly name the negative belief attached to this memory (thoughts like "I am powerless" or "I can't trust anyone")
Envision a preferred positive belief that you'd like to feel true instead ("I am strong now" or "I can choose who to trust")
Rate your distress level using the Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) scale from 0-10
Rate how true the positive cognition feels using the Validity of Cognition (VOC) scale from 1-7
These aren't just numbers—they're valuable markers of your healing journey.
Phase 4: Desensitization Phase
This is the heart of EMDR therapy sessions—where the change often begins. The desensitization phase is when you'll briefly focus on the disturbing memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation—those rhythmic eye movements, taps, or tones that help your brain process information differently.
Each set of bilateral stimulation lasts about 20-30 seconds. Between sets, your therapist asks, "What are you noticing now?"—whether it's negative emotions, physical sensations, or negative feelings. There's no right or wrong answer—whatever emerges is exactly what needs to emerge.
Many EMDR clients notice the targeted memory changing—becoming less vivid, shifting perspective, or feeling more distant. This process continues until your distress level drops significantly, usually to a 0 or 1 on the SUD scale.
Phase 5: Installation
Once the emotional charge has decreased, EMDR therapy sessions shift to the fifth phase: installation, where the focus is on strengthening the positive belief you identified earlier. This phase is about planting and nurturing new neural pathways.
Through additional sets of bilateral stimulation, you'll pair your positive belief ("I am worthy," "I am safe now," etc.) with the memory that once carried so much pain. This process continues until the positive belief feels deeply true—not just an intellectual level, but genuinely felt—typically a 6 or 7 on the VOC scale.
Phase 6: Body Scan
Our bodies often hold trauma in ways our conscious minds don't recognize. During this body scan phase of EMDR therapy sessions, you'll mentally scan your body while holding the target memory and positive belief in mind, paying attention to any remaining body sensations or residual tension.
Any remaining discomfort or unusual physical response signals are important. Your therapist ensures additional bilateral stimulation to process these physical components of the memory, ensuring comprehensive healing.
Phase 7: Closure
Every EMDR therapy session ends with proper closure—like gently closing a book when you need a break, knowing you can return to it later. Your therapist ensures you return to a state of emotional balance using the self-regulation techniques practiced earlier.
You'll discuss what to expect between sessions (processing often continues naturally) and receive guidance for managing any disturbing feelings that might arise. This ensures you leave each session feeling grounded and equipped, not raw or vulnerable.
Phase 8: Reevaluation
At the beginning of each subsequent EMDR session, your therapist will check in about your experience since the last meeting. Each session begins with this reevaluation phase to ensure you're emotionally balanced before diving into deeper processing work.
Together, you'll assess whether previous gains have been maintained, explore any new material that may have surfaced, and determine the focus for the current session.
This ongoing reevaluation ensures that your EMDR treatment remains responsive and effective. It's also an opportunity to celebrate progress—sometimes clients are surprised to realize how much has shifted when they return to memories that once felt overwhelming.
What to Expect During EMDR Therapy Sessions
When you step into Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy for your EMDR therapy session, you'll immediately notice the calming atmosphere we've created. Our Murrysville therapy rooms are thoughtfully designed to provide a sense of safety and comfort—essential elements for effective trauma processing. Soft lighting, comfortable seating, and minimal distractions help create an environment where healing can begin.
Bilateral Stimulation in Action
The hallmark of EMDR therapy sessions is bilateral stimulation—the rhythmic left-right activation that helps your brain process traumatic memories. This bilateral stimulation promotes an accelerated learning process, helping your brain process upsetting memories more efficiently. At our EMDR practice, we offer several personalized options to meet your individual needs and preferences:
Visual stimulation involves following a light bar that moves smoothly from side to side, or tracking the therapist's fingers as they guide your eye movements. This is the most traditional form of bilateral stimulation in desensitization and reprocessing EMDR.
Tactile stimulation uses small handheld devices that gently vibrate alternately in each hand. Many clients find this option particularly grounding, as it provides a physical anchor during the processing work.
Auditory stimulation delivers alternating tones through headphones, moving from left ear to right ear in a rhythmic pattern. This can be helpful for those who prefer to close their eyes during processing or who find visual tracking difficult.
Inside an EMDR Session
During the active processing phases of your EMDR therapy sessions, you'll be invited to notice whatever arises while focusing briefly on the disturbing event and engaging in bilateral stimulation. This is where the healing work happens—and it's quite different from what many people expect.
During processing, you might experience:
Shifting imagery – The pictures in your mind might change, become less vivid, or transform
Emotional waves – You might feel disturbing emotions intensify before they diminish
Physical sensations – You might notice tingling, warmth, heaviness, lightness, or tension releasing
Spontaneous insights – New understandings often emerge without effort
Memory connections – Your brain might link the traumatic memory to other related experiences
Throughout your EMDR therapy session, you remain in control. As an EMDR client, your active participation and feedback are crucial for successfully navigating through the EMDR procedures. We'll teach you a clear "stop signal" you can use anytime you need a break. Your therapist ensures regular check-ins, typically after each set of bilateral stimulation.
After an EMDR therapy session, processing often continues. Many client reports note dreams related to the memory, new perspectives emerging hours or days later, physical releases as your body lets go of stored tension, and negative emotions that continue to evolve between appointments.
Effectiveness, Benefits, and Considerations
When people ask if EMDR therapy really works for treating PTSD and other trauma-related conditions, the research speaks for itself. Since its development in the late 1980s, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing has been extensively studied, with compelling evidence recognized by the World Health Organization and American Psychiatric Association.
The numbers tell an impressive story:
After just three 90-minute EMDR therapy sessions, 84-90% of single trauma victims no longer met the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder
A study found that after six 50-minute EMDR sessions, 100% of single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple-trauma victims were PTSD-free
For veterans with combat-related trauma, twelve sessions freed 77% of them from their PTSD diagnosis
These aren't just statistics—they represent real people finding relief from suffering through EMDR treatment.
Beyond PTSD, our EMDR therapists have seen remarkable results with many other conditions:
Anxiety disorders
Depression
Specific phobias
Grief and loss
Performance anxiety
Chronic pain with psychological components
Self-esteem issues
Relationship and attachment challenges
Like any effective therapy, EMDR sessions can come with temporary side effects. During processing, you might experience increased emotional awareness of disturbing feelings. Between sessions, some clients notice vivid dreams or upsetting memories surfacing. You might feel emotionally tired after an intense session or notice physical sensations as your body releases stored tension.
These experiences, while sometimes challenging, are generally part of the healing process. Our therapists carefully assess each person's readiness for EMDR and provide robust support throughout.
Getting Started: Finding a Qualified EMDR Therapist
Finding the right therapist for your EMDR therapy sessions can make all the difference in your healing journey. The most qualified EMDR therapists typically have:
Basic EMDR training – approximately 40 hours of training through an EMDRIA-approved program
EMDRIA Certification – additional supervised experience, continuing education, and consultation beyond the basic training
At our Murrysville EMDR practice, all our therapists have completed comprehensive training, and many hold the gold standard EMDRIA Certification, ensuring you receive skilled, compassionate care throughout your healing journey.
Beyond credentials, it's helpful to find someone who has experience with your specific concerns. During your initial consultation, don't hesitate to ask about their experience with situations similar to yours.
Flexible Session Formats to Fit Your Needs
One of the benefits of working with our group practice is the variety of EMDR therapy session formats we offer, with individual therapy typically delivered on a weekly or bi-weekly basis:
Standard weekly sessions follow the traditional therapy model with 60-90 minute appointments spaced one week apart
Extended sessions last 90-120 minutes, giving you more time for deeper processing in a single appointment
EMDR Intensives offer a concentrated treatment experience over 1-3 days with sessions lasting 3-6 hours
We also understand that you might already have an established relationship with another therapist. EMDR therapy sessions can work wonderfully as adjunct therapy alongside your regular talk therapy. Many clients work with one of our EMDR specialists specifically for trauma processing while continuing their ongoing therapy elsewhere.
Preparing for Your First EMDR Therapy Session
Your first EMDR therapy session at Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy will lay the groundwork for your healing journey. To make the most of this initial appointment, consider these helpful preparation steps:
Take some time to reflect on your goals for therapy. What specific traumatic memories or negative beliefs would you like to address?
Consider your life circumstances and whether this is a good time to begin processing potentially disturbing emotions
Look at your schedule for the days following your sessions, especially early in treatment
If you have relevant medical or mental health records that might inform your treatment planning, bringing these to your first appointment can be helpful
Write down any questions or concerns you have about the EMDR process
Frequently Asked Questions about EMDR Therapy Sessions
Do I have to talk in detail about my trauma?
One of the most common concerns we hear is whether clients need to share all the painful details of their experiences. The good news is that EMDR therapy sessions don't require you to extensively recount your traumatic event.
Unlike other therapies, EMDR focuses more on internal processing than verbal expression. You'll need to briefly identify the memory and associated negative beliefs, but the deep work happens internally as your brain reprocesses the experience with the help of bilateral stimulation.
You remain in control of what you share. Our EMDR therapists create a safe, supportive environment where you decide how much detail feels right for you while still achieving meaningful healing.
How long does a full course of EMDR therapy take?
When clients ask about the timeline for EMDR therapy sessions, we emphasize that healing isn't one-size-fits-all. Your journey depends on several factors unique to your situation.
For single-incident trauma (like a car accident or specific distressing memory), significant relief often comes within 3-6 sessions. Many clients experience substantial symptom reduction after just three 90-minute EMDR therapy sessions.
For multiple traumas or more complex situations, 8-12+ sessions may be needed. And for those addressing developmental trauma that occurred over years, particularly during childhood, a longer course of 20+ sessions might provide the most comprehensive healing.
Is homework required between EMDR therapy sessions?
If the thought of therapy homework feels overwhelming, you'll appreciate that EMDR therapy sessions typically don't involve structured assignments between appointments.
Unlike some therapeutic approaches that rely heavily on between-session work, EMDR capitalizes on your brain's natural ability to continue processing after each session. The healing momentum continues even without formal homework.
That said, our therapists might suggest some optional supportive practices like journaling, self-regulation techniques, or visualization exercises to help maintain emotional stability while processing continues.
Conclusion
EMDR therapy sessions offer a transformative path to healing that goes beyond what other therapies alone can provide. By using your brain's natural healing capacity through eye movements and other forms of bilateral stimulation, EMDR helps reshape how traumatic memories are stored in your nervous system, reducing their emotional charge and creating space for you to move forward with greater freedom.
The journey of healing is deeply personal. At Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy in Murrysville, PA, we understand that your experiences are unique, which is why we take time to customize EMDR therapy sessions specifically for your needs. Our warm, compassionate therapists bring extensive training and a genuine commitment to your wellbeing to every session.
Whether you're struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, depression, or other trauma-related challenges, our group practice team is equipped to support your healing journey. We offer flexible options including traditional weekly sessions for ongoing support and intensive formats for those who prefer concentrated healing work.
Taking that first step toward healing can feel daunting, but remember—you don't have to face it alone. Our EMDR practice brings together specialists who understand trauma from multiple perspectives and can guide you with expertise and genuine care.