Glossary of EMDR & Trauma Terms

Trauma therapy has its own vocabulary. These short, plain-language definitions cover terms you are likely to encounter across this site and in conversations with clinicians. For fuller explanations, follow the links to the relevant pages.

Abreaction

A strong emotional release that can occur when a distressing memory is reprocessed. A trained clinician helps you stay grounded if it happens.

Adaptive Information Processing (AIP)

The theoretical model behind EMDR, which holds that the brain naturally processes experience into healthy memory, and that trauma can leave a memory stored in an unprocessed, distressing form. See How EMDR Works.

Bilateral stimulation (BLS)

Rhythmic left-right stimulation — eye movements, alternating taps, or tones — used during EMDR reprocessing while a person briefly attends to a memory.

Closure

The seventh EMDR phase, in which every session ends by returning the person to a calm, grounded, present-focused state. See The Eight Phases.

Cognitive interweave

A brief, therapist-offered thought or question used to get reprocessing moving again when it stalls, without taking over the client's own process.

Complex trauma

Distress arising from repeated or prolonged adverse experiences, often beginning in childhood, typically requiring longer, carefully paced treatment.

Container

A preparation exercise in which a person imagines placing distressing material into a secure container to set it aside safely between sessions.

Desensitization

The fourth EMDR phase, in which the emotional charge of a target memory is reduced through sets of bilateral stimulation.

Dual attention

Paying attention to a memory and to a present-moment bilateral task at the same time — a defining feature of EMDR reprocessing.

EMDRIA

The EMDR International Association, which sets recognized training and certification standards in North America and hosts a public therapist directory. See Training & Certification.

Grounding

Techniques that bring attention back to the present to manage distress, such as noticing physical sensations or the environment. See Trauma-Informed Care.

Installation

The fifth EMDR phase, in which a preferred positive belief is strengthened and paired with the previously distressing memory.

Negative and positive cognitions

The self-belief linked to a memory ("I am powerless") and the healthier belief a person wants to hold instead ("I have choices now"), identified during assessment.

PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder — a condition that can follow trauma, marked by intrusive memories, avoidance, negative mood changes, and heightened arousal. See EMDR for PTSD.

Reprocessing

The core work of EMDR: helping a stuck memory move to an adaptive, less distressing form.

Resourcing

Building inner strengths and calming imagery — such as a "calm place" — that a person can draw on during and between sessions.

Stabilization

Building coping and self-regulation resources before reprocessing begins — part of the preparation phase.

Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD)

A 0-to-10 self-rating of how upsetting a memory feels, used to track progress during desensitization.

Target

A specific memory, present trigger, or future situation selected for reprocessing.

Trauma-informed care

An approach to services that recognizes the impact of trauma and works to avoid re-traumatizing people, guided by principles of safety, trust, collaboration, and choice.

Validity of Cognition (VoC)

A 1-to-7 self-rating of how true a positive belief feels, used during the installation phase.

Window of tolerance

The zone of arousal in which a person can engage with difficult material without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down.