EMDR Phase 3 Explained: What Assessment Really Means (And Why Precision Here Changes Everything)

May 26

This blog is adapted from one of our recent podcast episodes. You can take a listen at the button above.

If EMDR Phase 2 is where you build the tools, Phase 3 is where you pick up the work. Assessment, the third phase of EMDR, is the moment the actual trauma work begins. Not the heavy processing, but the essential setup that determines whether processing will go anywhere at all.

In this blog post, licensed therapist and EMDR Consultant Cassandra Minnick breaks down exactly what happens in Phase 3, why precision matters more here than almost anywhere else in the EMDR process, and what both clinicians and clients need to understand before the real work begins.

Key Takeaways

In this episode, you'll learn:

What EMDR Phase 3 Assessment actually involves and why it's the setup that determines everything that follows
How to identify a specific, well-activated target using the "Polaroid" method
What negative and positive cognitions are and why getting them right matters
How body sensations activate the somatic component of trauma memory
When to use alternative assessment paths beyond the basic protocol (intrusion path, flash forward)
The most common assessment mistakes and how to avoid them

Phase 3 Is Where the Real Work Begins

Phases 1 and 2 of EMDR (history taking and preparation) are about building the foundation. Phase 3 is where you finally step onto it.

If EMDR were a pickleball match, assessment is the serve. It's not the rally. It's not the point. But how you set up that serve determines everything about how the next exchange goes. Poor assessment leads to wandering, ineffective sessions. Precise assessment sets the whole process up to move.

In Phase 3, the therapist is doing four things:

Selecting a specific target to work on
Activating that target sufficiently before BLS begins
Establishing baseline measurements of distress
Creating a clear roadmap for processing

The goal by the end of this phase: every component of the target is online and measurable.

How Phases 1, 2, and 3 Connect

Before going deeper into assessment, it helps to understand how it fits with the phases before it because they don't operate in isolation.

In Phase 1 (History Taking), the therapist gets the titles of a client's story, not the full book. By the end of that phase, a skilled clinician already has a rough picture of what assessment will likely look like. They're not diving into targets yet, but they're building toward them.

In Phase 2 (Preparation), the client develops the internal resources — Safe Place, Container, resource figures — that will allow them to tolerate what comes up in processing. Resourcing is the antidote to trauma. It doesn't address the trauma directly, but it builds the capacity to meet it.

Phase 3 is where the actual trauma work begins. The toe-dipping is over. The client is now equipped, and the therapist is ready to activate a specific memory and map it in full before BLS begins.

→ Want to go back to the beginning? Read EMDR Phase 1: History Taking & Treatment Planning

Curious about EMDR at Seen Therapy? Book a free consultation →

Selecting a Target: The Polaroid Method

The first task in Phase 3 is choosing a target, and specificity is everything.

A target is not "my abusive childhood." That's too broad, too general, and too unfocused to activate the memory network in the way EMDR requires. A target is something like "the night dad threw the plate." Specific. Vivid. A single moment in time.

I use the Polaroid method with clients: if the memory is a video, the target is the snapshot. The most disturbing moment, frozen in time. One frame.

Once that image is identified, the therapist checks for activation - is the client actually responding to this memory emotionally and physically? If not, sensory grounding questions can help bring them back into the moment:

What do you remember smelling when that happened?
What do you remember hearing?
What did you feel under your feet?
What were you wearing?

For some clients, naming the Polaroid alone is enough to activate the memory fully. For others, this sensory work is what gets them there. The point is to not proceed until the target is sufficiently not just theoretically activated.

Negative and Positive Cognitions: Getting Them Right

Once the target is identified, the therapist introduces one of EMDR's most important concepts: the negative cognition.

A negative cognition is not what happened. It's what the memory made the client believe about themselves. The difference matters enormously.

Common negative cognitions include:

I am powerless
It's my fault
I am damaged
I am not safe

Here's the critical piece that's easy to miss: the negative cognition needs to be false. If a client says "some people are unsafe," that's not a negative cognition - it's true. EMDR works by desensitizing a memory and updating the belief connected to it. If the belief is accurate, there's nothing to update, and the processing won't move.

The distinction I draw: "I will never find someone who I can be safe with" is false, and therefore a workable negative cognition. "Some people are unsafe" is true, and therefore not.

The positive cognition is what the client would rather believe - the updated belief they're working toward. It doesn't have to be the polar opposite of the negative, and it doesn't have to feel fully true yet. A positive cognition can be as nuanced as "some people are unsafe, but not all people are unsafe." It acknowledges reality while opening the door to something different.

Emotions, Distress Levels, and the Baseline Measurement

With the Polaroid identified and the cognitions in place, the therapist moves into measuring distress.

Two things are happening here simultaneously:

Identifying emotions: What specific feelings are tied to this target? Fear, shame, grief, rage? Naming them matters because it makes the internal experience concrete and trackable.

Measuring distress (the SUD scale): On a scale of zero to ten, how disturbing is this memory right now? This is the baseline the therapist will measure against as processing moves forward.

A note for newer clinicians: in early practice, ask the client to report a number. Write it down. As experience grows, you'll start to read distress from behavior and body language - the slight catch in the breath, the shift in posture, the voice that flattens. But that skill comes from having seen hundreds of EMDR sessions. Until then, the reported number is your anchor.

Moving a client from an eight to a two is meaningful progress, even if they never reach zero. Holding zero as the only acceptable outcome is an unrealistic expectation that sets clinicians up to feel like they've failed when they haven't.

Body Sensations: The Somatic Component

The final piece of target activation is the body.

Where does this client feel their anger? Their anxiety? Their shame? Chest, throat, stomach, and shoulders are common - tension, heaviness, a buzzing or vibrating sensation. The therapist asks directly and waits for the answer.

This isn't a minor detail. Trauma is stored in the body, not just the mind. Activating the somatic component of the memory is what allows it to be fully accessed and ultimately reprocessed. Phase 6 (body scan) will return to this, but the groundwork is laid here in Phase 3.

Pulling it all together, the three layers the therapist is activating in this phase are:

Sensory/external — the image, the Polaroid, what was happening around them
Cognitive/internal — the negative cognition, what the experience made them believe
Somatic — where the memory lives in the body

All three need to be online before BLS begins.

Ready to start EMDR therapy? Book a free consultation with Cassandra →

When the Basic Protocol Doesn't Fit: Alternative Assessment Paths

The standard EMDR basic protocol assumes the client has specific memories to work with. But not every client does, and that's where experienced clinicians earn their stripes.

Some clients arrive without clear, accessible memories. What they have instead are nightmares, intrusive images, or intense anticipatory anxiety about something that hasn't happened yet. These presentations require a different assessment approach.

The Intrusion Path is used when the primary symptom is intrusive imagery - recurring nightmares, flashbacks, or unwanted images. Rather than a specific past memory, the intrusive image itself becomes the target.

The Flash Forward Path is used when the primary symptom is anticipatory anxiety - a client who is consumed by imagining the worst-case scenario of something in the future. The image of that feared future event becomes the target, rather than anything from the past.

These approaches are not basic protocol. They require experience to navigate well. If you don't have specific memories to work with, that's all the more reason to seek out a seasoned EMDR provider. A clinician just out of basic training may not have the tools to work with you effectively. Asking a therapist how they would approach a case without specific memories is actually a useful way to gauge their experience level.

Common Assessment Mistakes

Phase 3 is precise work, and there are predictable places it can go wrong.

Being too vague. Targets need to be specific memories, not general categories. "My childhood was hard" cannot be processed. "The afternoon my teacher humiliated me in front of the class" can be.

Poor negative cognitions. A negative cognition that's actually true won't generate movement in processing. If a client's stated belief is accurate, even if painful, it needs to be refined before BLS begins.

Skipping body sensations. If you're consistently moving past the somatic component of assessment, it's worth asking yourself why. I did this in my early years and now recognize it as a gap. The body piece is not optional.

Rushing activation. If a client is calm and unbothered when they bring up a memory, it is not activated. A memory that isn't activated will not desensitize. The therapist's job is to stay in assessment until the target is genuinely online, not just named.

Skipping the baseline. If you don't know where distress started, you can't measure where it's going. The baseline measurement is the anchor for everything that follows.

What This Means for Clients Considering EMDR

Phase 3 is detailed, technical work. But if you're considering EMDR therapy, knowing what this phase looks like gives you something useful: the ability to ask informed questions.

A well-run assessment phase should feel intentional and thorough. Your therapist should be helping you identify a specific memory, checking in with your body, and taking time with the beliefs connected to the experience, not rushing you into processing before you've been properly set up for it.

If things feel vague or hurried in Phase 3, it's okay to ask your therapist to slow down and walk you through what they're looking for.

Questions worth asking:

How do you identify a target for EMDR?
What happens if I don't have clear specific memories?
How will we know when I'm ready to begin processing?

Considering EMDR at Seen Therapy Services? We'd love to connect. Book a free consultation →

Frequently Asked Questions About EMDR Phase 3

What is EMDR Phase 3 Assessment?

EMDR Phase 3 is where the therapist and client identify and fully activate a specific trauma memory, called a target, before processing begins. This phase involves selecting a Polaroid image (the worst moment of the memory), identifying negative and positive cognitions, measuring distress levels, naming emotions, and locating body sensations. All of these components need to be online before bilateral stimulation begins.

What is a negative cognition in EMDR?

A negative cognition is the false belief a trauma memory created about the self or the world. It's not a description of what happened - it's what the experience made someone believe. Examples include "I am powerless," "it's my fault," or "I am not safe." Negative cognitions need to be false to be workable in EMDR; if the belief is accurate, processing won't generate movement.

What is a positive cognition in EMDR?

A positive cognition is the updated belief a client wants to move toward - what they'd rather believe about themselves once the memory is processed. It doesn't need to be the complete opposite of the negative cognition, and it doesn't need to feel fully true yet. It just needs to be more accurate and more adaptive than the negative belief it's replacing.

What is the SUD scale in EMDR?

SUD stands for Subjective Units of Disturbance. It's a zero-to-ten scale used to measure how distressing a memory feels in the present moment. Zero means no distress; ten means the highest distress imaginable. The SUD score taken at the start of Phase 3 becomes the baseline that all subsequent progress is measured against.

What does "activation" mean in EMDR?

Activation refers to the degree to which a memory is emotionally, cognitively, and somatically online, meaning the client is genuinely responding to it, not just describing it intellectually. A memory that isn't activated won't desensitize during processing. Therapists use sensory grounding, body awareness, and the target image itself to bring a memory to sufficient activation before BLS begins.

What if I don't have specific memories for EMDR?

Some clients don't have clear, accessible memories to work with. Instead they may experience recurring nightmares, intrusive images, or intense anxiety about future events. Experienced EMDR clinicians can work with these presentations using alternative protocols like the intrusion path (for nightmares and intrusive images) or the flash forward path (for anticipatory anxiety). These approaches require more advanced training, so seeking out a seasoned EMDR provider is especially important in these cases.

How long does EMDR Phase 3 take?

Phase 3 typically happens within a single session, though it may take more time with complex presentations or clients who have difficulty accessing the somatic component of their memories. The goal isn't speed; it's completeness. All components of the target need to be identified and sufficiently activated before moving into processing.

Related Resources

Hello. Hello. Hello, friends, welcome to the podcast where we simplify everything about mental health. Just kidding. But here's what we are gonna do. We're gonna sit down together a licensed mental health professional, that's me and a regular old Joe as my husband Garth would describe himself. We're gonna talk about the nitty gritty of EMDR, some nervous system mapping, how couples can help each other heal. What's healthy parenting actually look like? Maybe a little bit of good old banter mixed in. All with the goal of making mental health a little bit simpler for you. Quick note, because my lawyer says that I have to, I'm a therapist, but not your therapist. Unless I am. Even if I am. This is still just a podcast. Okay, now have a good listen. Hello friends. We are here to continue our series EMDR in the eight phases, and we are on phase three. As always, I'm joined by Garth. What's up everybody? So Garth, phase three. Oh, I'm so excited. We're gonna be talking assessment. That's right. That is phase three. So phase three is where you are really setting things up. If you're a pickleball fan or any racket sport, like you are tossing the ball to serve like it's mm-hmm. It's getting everything ready. Okay. To really get to where the action's at. So before we dive in mm-hmm. Bant, what do you have for us today? All right. Today we have a very important banter question. Okay. And it is how spicy do you like your food like in comparison to you. Okay. Do. How would you describe your, your spice? My like level? Yeah. Not, 'cause I know personality wise, oh, you're a spicy jalapeno, but, but where am I at when my food? Yeah, yeah. I don't know. What do you think I'm at? Like if we put, if we put it on a zero to 10 spectrum, where would you put yourself? Because I feel like I can answer it better if I know, like if I make it in relation to you. Okay. Well, I really, really like spicy food. Mm-hmm. So if we're going to zero to 10 scale, yeah. I'd probably say I'm probably at like a seven. You're to seven, okay. Yeah. So if you're to seven, I would put myself at a four. Mm. Okay. Yeah. Well, there you go. I. Like spice a lot more than I did a decade ago. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 'cause I keep dosing you with it. You keep dosing over and over again. Yeah. I'm de I'm desensitized to it. That's right. Yeah. Look at us. Yeah. I'm throwing in some E MDR R terminology. So yeah, I think if you're a seven I'm a four. Okay. I'm surprised you didn't put yourself in an eight. I thought you were gonna say eight because you're not like used to be spicy all the time. No, and and I also, like there are things that are too hot. I'm not one of those people that's like nothing too hot for me. Yeah. There, there are things that are too hot for me. Don't, I don't like it whenever it hurts like that. Well, and yet you, you've said before, like, I don't just want my mouth to hurt. Like I want it to be good food. Yeah. Like, and, and recently, yeah. Having some some different chilies and different things like that. I've, I've discovered different ways to make things spicy. Yeah. That are super yummy. Yeah, I just, I like, I like spice. It's not like, get it over with. I'm, I'm so tough. Some people are like that. They're just like, I'm so tough. I can eat anything. It doesn't matter how hot it is. Well, so that would be a 10. That would be, yeah. So you'd put yourself in a seven. And they don't necessarily even like the food, they like the experience, but we won't get on that soapbox. Yeah. Like they, they like, yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Okay. Yep. Cool. Yeah. Thank you for your band. Yeah, of course. As always. I appreciate it. Yeah. I would love to get shout out to another podcast real quick. Mm-hmm. Hot ones. Yeah. They're a little, I love to get their hot sauces. They're a little bigger than us. They are. Yeah, just a couple more followers. Probably a little more well known. Yeah. Hot ones you said. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They, they, they sell their, their hot sauce. It's good stuff. Okay, so phase three. We have phase three. Can, can I put you on the spot? You did. Can you take us through the first two phases? You don't have to give 'em a description. Take us through. Oh goodness. I think just, can you just name 'em? Oh, goodness. Yes, of course. I can name 'em. Oh, hope I get it right. First is going to be history taking. Mm-hmm. So go into them a little bit more or just, just name 'em. No, no, that's okay. And then second is resourcing. Ooh, you did it. I wondered if you went. So actually preparation big. Oh, preparation. And you said it last episode. I'm remembering it now. Resourcing is a big part of preparation, but it's not the only thing that happens. Okay. I even call it resourcing sometimes though. So it is what it is. It is what it is. Here's the thing. I think you and I both do this. Concepts are really important, and understanding concepts are really important. Understanding names are not all that. Important. Yeah. We don't, and maybe I'm just biased because that's how my brain works. Yep. But we've got history taking, we've got preparation. We've gone over those episodes, now we are into assessment. So what does assessment look like? We are moving from preparation to the actual trauma work. Now. We dipped our toe in trauma, both in history taking and in preparation. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because we. Have to obviously have an idea of what we'll be addressing in history taking. Right, right. And then psychoeducation, we're talking about how the trauma has affected your body. Mm-hmm. What EMDR looks like that's happening within preparation. Yep. Resourcing happening within preparation, for sure. Resourcing is like the antidote to trauma, so we are not, tackling trauma head on, but we are addressing it. Mm-hmm. If we're, yeah, trying to create an anecdote, right? Mm-hmm. So it's not as though we haven't addressed the trauma at all, but we're really getting into the actual work where we're meeting it head on. Today we are going to talk about the essential components that really activate the memory network. Okay. And that is, we keep talking about different ways that EMDR can go wrong. I think one of the ways in the assessment phase that EMDR can go poorly is that people don't identify things that activate clients enough. Mm-hmm. We're gonna get into that a little bit here in a moment. All right. So in phase three we are selecting which specific targets we want to identify. We are getting to a point where we are fully activating mm-hmm. That target before we begin BLS. I don't know that I love the language fully. That's what I had put in my notes where we are activating it sufficiently. Mm. Okay. Before we get into BLS, we are establishing baseline measurements. So how distressing is this target to this person at this time? Mm-hmm. Okay. And we are creating a roadmap for processing the goal. Sounds good. The goal is to have all the components of the target. Online and measurable. Mm-hmm. By the time we get to the end of this phase. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. So in selecting a target, I wanna walk through what you would do from the EMDR basic protocol, and then I wanna go back to a flow chart that we had just briefly talked about in history taking. Mm. So just the way I do history taking. I'm kind of tip dipping my toe in assessment just a little bit. Okay. In history taking, and you don't necessarily have to do it that way, but that was the first step. Yes. The first phase. Yes. In the first phase. At the end of the first phase. I'm just getting an idea for, okay. Maybe I'm not dipping my toe in the assessment phase. At the end of history taking in the first phase, I'm giving myself a picture of what the assessment phase will likely look like. Mm. Okay. So in history taking in that episode, we had talked about a flow chart that takes us through different ways that we can address EMDR. Do you remember that? Yep. I do. Different ways we can address EMDR targets. So I wanna go through the basic protocol way first, and then I wanna go back to that flow chart. Sounds good to me. Okay. So in selecting a target in the traditional way, we are choosing a specific memory. Not vague. Okay. Not general. Okay. Specific memory. We are then picking the worst part. Okay. Of that memory. So the way I've described it to clients before is if the memory is a video, when we think of the worst part, I want a Polaroid. Mm-hmm. I want a snap mm-hmm. Of the worst part of that memory. So an example would be we are not, and this could be potentially a, a triggering Yeah. Example. So I want. Everybody take a deep breath. Okay. And if you don't wanna listen to this pause, fast forward two minutes and get rolling there. But I, I don't really know how to explain this portion without using something specific. Mm-hmm. So we are not identifying targets like my abusive childhood. That's not what we're going for here. Mm-hmm. We are identifying targets like the night dad through the plate. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Specific. Yeah. If we're not specific, we're not getting the level of activation that we need. Okay. You're gonna keep hearing that word activation and we're going to, mm-hmm. I'm gonna keep explaining it as we go along. Okay. So what picture represents the worst part of the memory? Again, the language that I use with clients is what's the Polaroid? Most disturbing moment frozen in time? It is specific, it is vivid. There is sensory experience with it. So once I ask them for the Polaroid mm-hmm. I will ask. Especially if I see that the client isn't very activated by the experience. Mm-hmm. So they're not really responding emotionally to the experience. What do you remember smelling mm-hmm. When that Polaroid happened? What do you remember hearing? Yeah. What did you feel under your feet? What clothes were you wearing? Things like that that really kind of bring them back into that moment. And. We, we take that as, as far as we need to within reason. Yeah. For some people, even just bringing up that Polaroid mm-hmm. Is very activating. Mm-hmm. And that's all they need. Okay. Another thing that we do to really bring somebody in the moment, I don't love this terminology, it's MDRs terminology. It is what it is. We ask them to identify a negative cognition. What does this make you believe about yourself now? Yeah. Not what happened, but what it means. Things like, I'm powerless, I'm not safe, it's my fault I'm damaged. Clients may also come, come up with words negative cognitions regarding the world around them. Mm-hmm. I will never find a safe person. Yeah. Here's what's really important as we're identifying this negative cognition. Is it false? Right? Some people are unsafe. That's not false. Mm-hmm. I will never find someone who I can be safe with. That's false. Mm-hmm. I think, right? Yeah. I don't think that's realistic. Some people are unsafe. Some people will hurt me. Right. That is realistic. Okay, so then we get to the positive cognition, asking the client, what would you rather believe about yourself, the world around you, and a positive cognition actually could be as mild as some people are unsafe, not all people are unsafe. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's still acknowledging that there is sometimes a lack of safety in the world, but it's also acknowledging that some people will work to keep you safe. Mm-hmm. Yes. Does that make sense as well? It does. Okay. So then we go into identifying what are the emotions surrounding this, and how distressing is this experience for the client in the moment. So we're literally identifying what emotions are tied to this target. Mm-hmm. And then we're also identifying on a scale of zero to 10, how disturbing is the event now? Now a lot of experienced clinicians will not have you actually put it on a scale. Okay. They're kind of assessing your response to it. Mm-hmm. And they're putting it on a scale. Yeah. That's what I do now. I do think that clinicians that are new and if the, if it's your preference for your entire career, yeah, totally fine. But I think clinicians that are new should be writing down an actual number that is reported by the client. Mm-hmm. I'm writing down a number, but I'm reporting that number. Yeah. Based off of observations that I'm making. Right. When I was new though, there's so many different things that you're focused on at once. You can't necessarily observe different things from the client and put things on a scale, and you also don't have the data to draw from. Right. To put things on a scale. Mm-hmm. Whereas I've seen hundreds of people for EMDR at this point, and so I, when I see someone's behavior. It does indicate to me. Mm-hmm. Oh, that looks like a three level distress. Mm-hmm. And so part of that is clinician preference. Part of it is again, learning the science of this and really following the rules, and then it can become more of an art. Yeah. As you grow. And then you're also going over what body sensations the client's experiencing. Where do you feel, anger in your body. Mm-hmm. Where do you feel anxiety in your body, you know, chest, throat, stomach, shoulders or often places that people will describe, like tension or a, a buzzing feeling. This activates kind of the somatic component of the memory and allows the client to, to focus on that for a moment. And it prepares us for a later phase as well. Phase six, which we won't. Get into right now any more than we did. An episode, the first episode of the series, trauma is stored in the body. We need to access it. So, mm-hmm. This part of this phase is important. And pulling all of this together, we're bringing up the image, the negative cognition. The positive cognition we want to work towards the emotions that come with this, the level of distress, the body sensations that come with it. You can see how they're kind of bunched together. Mm-hmm. In. What was my sensory experience? What was my cognitive experience and what was my internal body experience? Okay, so what was happening externally? What was happening internally and what was happening cognitively? Mm-hmm. That's what we want to identify those three things, is really what it comes down to in order to really get somebody into a target. Okay. Now I don't wanna spend too much time on this flow chart. But if we move away from the basic protocol, I just wanna remind you that there are different ways to assess, there are different ways to case conceptualized. So we talked about just keeping this in mind. Mm-hmm. Excuse me. We talked about just keeping this in mind with history taking. Yeah. But the assessment phase is really where it shows up. So. Some people are going to come to you and they are going to tell you that they don't even have specific memories for targets. Mm-hmm. But that they are having nightmares or they are having really. Intense anticipatory anxiety. Yeah. There are ways to conceptualize these cases without using specific past memories. Okay. So the intense nightmares. So on the flow chart that we went through history taking that allows you to assess and case conceptualize differently. It. Goes through an option, it's called the intrusion path. Okay. It goes through an option where the most significant thing happening for that client is they're having intrusive images. I would consider a nightmare, an intrusive image, and so I would follow that intrusion path mm-hmm. For assessment. Rather than the e mdr r basic protocol. Okay. Again, I don't, we could like get so far in the weeds on this. I, I am sensing that. Yes. Yeah, there's, and I don't want, I don't wanna do that. I just wanna present the, the idea that in this phase and assessment phase mm-hmm. We are really case conceptualizing, really identifying targets and the nitty gritty of targets. Yeah. And, there are, like I said, there are different ways to do that. So that's one example. Anticipatory anxiety was another one that I gave. And with anticipatory anxiety, we would use the flash forward path or we could use the Flash forward path. Mm-hmm. Rather than typical basic EMDR protocol. So we are using the image of the worst case scenario Yeah. As the target rather than a past memory. Right. Again, this is atypical stuff. This is not following the basic protocol. Use the basic protocol first, use it well. Mm-hmm. And for clients that are listening. If you don't have specific memories that you want to address with EMDR, all the more reason you need to be going to a seasoned provider. Yes. Yeah. Because somebody brand new out of basic training is not going to know how to navigate that. Right. So presenting that question to someone is kind of a good indicator of how experienced are they? Are they going to be able to navigate this with me? Mm-hmm. Okay. The last thing that I want to go to through is some common mistakes. First thing that I think we can mess up in this phase, we talked about this earlier, is be too vague. Okay. We need to be identifying very specific things. The second thing I think we can do is we can identify poor negative cognitions. Mm-hmm. So sometimes, like I said, the world, isn't all that safe. Right. Something like that. One that's too general. Two, it's true. Mm-hmm. Sometimes the world isn't all that safe. Yeah. So sometimes we don't see movement with those negative cognitions and it's not because the memory is not being desensitized, it's because that really isn't false. Right? Yeah. Like we need the negative cognition to be false. Yeah. Another thing that can go wrong is skipping body sensations. I would if, if you're a clinician listening and you're skipping over body scanning, body sensations, uhhuh, I would really reflect on what is making me uncomfortable with that portion of this work. Okay. That was an issue for me at the very beginning of EMDR over a decade ago. Mm-hmm. I had a hard time sitting with what's coming up in your body. I, it feels strange to even. Remember that now? Mm-hmm. Because that's so different than. What my current therapeutic process looks like. But if you're a clinician who is noticing that you're having trouble going there mm-hmm. Just sitting with why that is and maybe even going to your own therapy to Yeah. To sit with why that is rushing through and not sitting with. The target and allowing it to be fully activated. If this person is sitting completely cool, calm, and collected when they bring this memory up, it is not activated right, and thus it's not going to desensitize. Okay. And then not assessing what the baseline is for this person. Where was their distress at when we started? Mm-hmm. I think another, not necessarily mistake, but unrealistic expectation. We've talked about this before. When we are addressing individual targets, they don't always get to zero distress when they have very strongly related targets and. Clinicians can sometimes feel like that's a failure of some sorts. Mm-hmm. It's not. Mm-hmm. Moving from. A distress level of eight out of 10 to two out of 10 is really, yeah. That's great. Really good. Yeah. Yeah. So that's to worry about in later phases anyway. But I, I just wanted to make that note really quick. I'm getting ahead of myself. Okay. Phase three is laying a really good foundation for everything that follows per precision here is really important. Again, if you are playing pickleball mm-hmm. It is like getting the ball ready to serve and how you get ready to serve it is, it's setting up the serve and determining how well it actually goes. Yeah. Right. Poor assessment is gonna be. Wandering, it's gonna result in ineffective sessions. You've got to put in the work mm-hmm. Here. And, and do it really, really well. Phase one, two, and three, they all go together. Mm-hmm. Beautifully. This is the final piece of really being ready to, to do some work. Okay. Okay folks, last episode was a real long one. We tried to cut this one down a little bit for you. We're getting into the nitty gritty, so this is deep stuff. We always appreciate you listening. If there is something that you want us to add to this series or something that you would like us to chat about after this series is over, feel free to comment. Mm-hmm. Or to send us over an email at admin@scenetherapy.org. Thank you so much for the listen. We will talk to you soon. Bye-bye. Okay, bye. 📍 Well, that's all folks. Please see our show notes for ways to connect with us or go give us a follow on Instagram. You can find us at Simply Mental. If this episode resonated with you, send it over to a friend. Give us a five star rating. Subscribe. Download all the things the cool kids are doing these days. Thanks for having to listen.