The protocol is a scaffold. Not a script.
Francine Shapiro's eight-phase protocol is the standard around which EMDR is taught and credentialed. It works. That isn't the question. The question is whether reciting it as a script ~ without understanding what each step is for ~ produces good clinical work.
Read this page first, then go to The Deconstruction for the critique, and Components Reassembled for how the pieces are used outside their original slot.
8 phases ≠ 3 phases.
I. History-Taking & Treatment Planning
Original purpose
Identify processing targets, assess readiness, build a roadmap.
Standard EMDR opens with a thorough trauma history and the construction of a target hierarchy ~ past memories, current triggers, future templates. The original protocol assumes this can be completed in 1–2 sessions. With complex trauma, it cannot.
Where it bends in practice
For complex/relational trauma, treat history-taking as iterative across the relationship, not a discrete intake task. Use validated screenings (DES-II, ITQ) before targeting any memory.
II. Preparation
Original purpose
Build the therapeutic alliance, teach self-regulation, install resources, explain the model.
Preparation is where the metaphors are taught (train, movie, light stream), where the calm/safe place is installed, and where the client learns the stop signal. The protocol allots 1–4 sessions; clients with dissociation need many more.
Where it bends in practice
This is the phase clinicians most often shortchange. Resource development (RDI), CIPOS, and BHS are introduced here but used everywhere. See Anytime Tools.
III. Assessment
Original purpose
Activate the target memory: image, negative cognition, positive cognition, VOC, emotion, body location, SUD.
The assessment phase is the protocol's most rule-bound moment. Each component is documented before ABLS begins. The structure exists to give the desensitization phase a measurable starting point ~ and a measurable end.
Where it bends in practice
Useful as a teaching frame. Treat the SUD/VOC numbers as observation, not a contract. In dissociative clients, the 'image' and the 'negative cognition' may belong to different parts; titrate accordingly.
IV. Desensitization
Original purpose
Process the target memory using alternating bilateral stimulation until SUD reaches 0 (or ecologically appropriate).
Sets of ABLS, with brief check-ins between sets ('what comes up now?'). The clinician follows associative chains rather than steering. The phase ends when SUD = 0, the target won't move further, or time runs out.
Where it bends in practice
ABLS comes in three forms ~ tactile (taps/pulsers, my default and the primary DAS method named in my manual), auditory (tones), and eye movement (the original Shapiro form). Largely interchangeable in their effect on processing; choose by client tolerance, not by orthodoxy. 'Following the chain' requires clinical judgment about when to interweave and when to stay out of the way ~ and contrary to the dominant teaching, most of the interweaves I use are imaginal (resourcing, repair, relational, action-oriented), not cognitive. Cognitive interweave is one tool of eight.
V. Installation
Original purpose
Strengthen the positive cognition with ABLS until VOC = 7 (Shapiro's standard protocol).
In Shapiro's standard 8-phase protocol, the PC chosen at Assessment (Phase III) is paired with the original target and reinforced with ABLS sets until VOC = 7.
Where it bends in practice
My modified script departs structurally here. No PC is elicited at Assessment, SUDS is skipped at the start, and the VoC is dropped entirely. After desensitization, with the original image up, the client is asked what they now believe ~ that is the PC, redefined as the Present, Adaptive Cognition. It's installed with short tactile sets. If no adaptive cognition emerges, desensitization isn't complete or the system isn't ready. See Phase 2 ~ Processing for the full modified sequence.
VI. Body Scan
Original purpose
Scan the body for residual disturbance while holding the target + PC.
Any remaining body sensation is targeted with additional ABLS until the body is clear or only positive sensations remain.
Where it bends in practice
Often skipped under time pressure. Don't. Body residue is the single best predictor of incomplete processing.
VII. Closure
Original purpose
Return the client to a stable state at session end, complete or incomplete.
If processing is complete, log/journal protocol. If incomplete, use a closure procedure ~ calm/safe place, container, light stream ~ to seal residual material until next session.
Where it bends in practice
Closure is a clinical skill, not a technique. With dissociative clients, build extra time into every session for closure work.
VIII. Reevaluation
Original purpose
At the next session, check progress on the previous target before moving forward.
Re-rate SUD on the previous target; check the PC; check between-session triggers; decide whether to return to that target or move to the next.
Where it bends in practice
The protocol assumes weekly sessions. With clients who only see you every two weeks, reevaluation is also re-stabilization.
After the eighth phase.
When you've read the protocol on its own terms, move to the deconstruction for what's missing, then to components reassembled for how to put the pieces back to work in any phase of trauma treatment.