Hey there,

Have you ever found yourself excitedly sharing about a powerful EMDR resourcing exercise or an “aha moment” in the assessment phase… only to be met with blank stares from your non-EMDR colleagues?

It's like you've suddenly started speaking a foreign language!

As EMDR practitioners, we have our own unique “lingo” (i.e. shorthanded ways of communicating complex concepts central to our approach). Terms like "bilateral stimulation," "touchstone event," or "future template" roll off our tongues without a second thought.

But to therapists trained in other modalities?

This language can feel opaque and inaccessible. And that disconnect can create real barriers to cross-pollination and collaboration between therapeutic communities.

That's why I wanted to send over this handy “cheatsheet” for decoding some of the most commonly confused EMDR terms into language that your non-EMDR colleagues can understand and relate to.

Think of it as a "Rosetta Stone" for EMDR.

By learning to speak without EMDR vernacular, we can open up new pathways for sharing knowledge and working together to support our clients' healing.

Let’s dive in.

Resourcing

• EMDR definition: The process of helping clients access and strengthen positive internal states and memories, building a reservoir of adaptive experiences to counterbalance traumatic activation.
• Non-EMDR translation: Emotional regulation skill-building, positive schema reinforcement. Developing mindfulness skills and self-awareness. Equipping clients with tools to manage distress and cultivate resilience.

Assessment Phase

• EMDR definition: The part of the protocol where we gather history, identify reprocessing targets, and develop a treatment plan. Getting a sense of the client's "trauma landscape."
• Non-EMDR translation: Case conceptualization and treatment planning. Identifying stuck points. Formulating a hypothesis about core issues and identifying effective interventions. Not to be confused with clinical assessment measures like the PCL-5 or PHQ-9…

Desensitization

• EMDR definition: The heart of reprocessing, where we use bilateral stimulation to help clients reprocess distressing memories and beliefs. Where the "magic" of adaptive information processing transforms trauma into resilience.
• Non-EMDR translation: Exposure therapy - systematically helping clients face and overcome feared stimuli. EMDR uses a more free-associative, non-linear approach - creating the proper conditions with bilateral stimulation (BLS) and protocol framing, then trusting the brain's innate healing mechanisms.

Cognitive Interweave

• EMDR definition: The art of intentional and strategic reflection or inquiry while client is processing - typically in desensitization phase - meant to help facilitate efficient or deeper processing, or help client move through stuck processing.
• Non-EMDR translation: Various modalities can inform cognitive interweaves. CPT may lean on "Socratic questions". Somatic or mindfulness based therapists may lean more on body scans. PE may focus on vivid details of the traumatic material. All are helpful.

Installation

• EMDR definition: Strengthening and integrating positive cognitions that emerge during reprocessing, helping the brain "lock in" new adaptive beliefs.
• Non-EMDR translation: Cognitive restructuring, belief modification. Actively working to replace limiting schemas with more functional, self-affirming ones.

Body Scan

• EMDR definition: Checking in with somatic experience to ensure reprocessing is complete, using remaining physical sensations as clues for lingering material.
• Non-EMDR translation: Mindfulness exercise, somatic experiencing, embodied awareness intervention. Tuning into the wisdom of the body, anchoring cognitive shifts in felt experience.

Of course, these translations are approximations, as each modality has its own nuances and connotations.

But by better understanding these linguistic bridges, we can create greater connection and collaboration across therapeutic communities.

Because at the end of the day, we're all in this together.

Working to help people heal.

And the more we can learn with and from each other, the better equipped we'll be to serve our clients and advance the field.

So the next time you find yourself in a cross-modality conversation, try busting out a few of these translations. See if you can find some common ground and spark some “aha moments” for your non-EMDR colleagues.

Hope this helps!

Chris

P.S. Got a favorite EMDR phrase that always seems to trip up your non-EMDR colleagues? Hit reply and let me know!

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Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for informational purposes only. This is not legal or clinical advice and we make no guarantees about the outcomes or results from information shared in this document. Proceed at your own risk and discretion.