What Brings You Here?
Module 0 introduced three key questions worth getting clear on:
- What brings you here?
- What are your goals?
- What will be different when this work succeeds?
These questions sound simple. They are not. Most people arrive at therapy with a general sense of distress — “I am anxious,” “I am not coping,” “my relationship is struggling.” These are real, but they are not specific enough to work with. EMDR needs a target.
From General to Specific
“I am anxious” becomes: “When my manager calls an unscheduled meeting, I go into a panic that lasts for hours, even when I know I have done nothing wrong.”
“My relationship is struggling” becomes: “When my partner seems cold or distant, I become preoccupied, cannot concentrate, and either pursue relentlessly or shut down completely — neither of which works.”
The specific version names the situation, the trigger, the response, and the pattern. That is what we can work with.
This is what the next lesson asks you to do.