IFS-Informed EMDR: What Are the Benefits of Integrating EMDR and IFS Parts Work Therapy?

Combining EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and IFS (Internal Family Systems) Parts Work Therapy creates a powerful synergistic approach for recovering from trauma. 

Integrating EMDR and IFS Parts Work Therapy

See my articles about EMDR and IFS: 

What is EMDR Therapy?

IFS Parts Work Therapy is a Gentle Evidence Based Trauma Therapy

How Are EMDR and IFS Therapies Integrated For Trauma Processing?

EMDR therapy uses accelerated processing to target traumatic memories while IFS provides a gentle nonpathologizing framework that honors the many aspects of the client's personality (also known as "parts").

Integrating EMDR and IFS Parts Work Therapy

Blending EMDR and IFS is called IFS-informed EMDR. The integration of these two therapies helps trauma therapists to navigate dissociation, resistance and processing blocks for clients with unresolved psychological trauma.

Phases 1 and 2: History Taking, Treatment Planning and Preparation: Whereas traditional EMDR focuses on identifying target memories and teaching basic grounding skills, integrating IFS shifts the focus to mapping the client's internal system and establishing foundational safety:

• Parts Mapping: The trauma therapist maps out the client's psychological protective system. These protective parts are known as Managers and Firefighters. The wounded parts of the client, which hold the client's trauma history, are known as Exiles.

IFS Mapping

• Identifying Negative Beliefs as Parts: Instead of treating negative beliefs as just thoughts, the therapist treats negative beliefs, like I'm unlovable" or "I'm powerless", as protective parts which are trying to protect the client from future harm. 

• Cultivating Core Self Energy: The therapist ensures the client can access their Core Self. The Core Self is characterized by compassion, curiosity and other similar qualities. Core Self acts as the client's primary internal resource before trauma processing begins (see my article: Understanding Your Core Self and Parts in IFS Therapy).

Phases 3 and 4: Assessment and Reprocessing: This is where the synergy of integrating EMDR and IFS takes place. Instead of framing the client's "resistance" as a problem, the therapist understands the protective nature of resistant parts and uses IFS Parts Work to clear the path for EMDR's bilateral stimulation:

• Securing Protector's Consent: The client's protector part's permission is essential so, before using EMDR's bilateral stimulation on a traumatic memory, the therapist will check with the protective part guarding the memory. She will ask, "Is it okay if we look at this memory today? Would you be willing to step aside?"

Integrating EMDR and IFS Parts Work Therapy

• Handling Looping and Blocks: If processing stalls or the client dissociates, the therapist recognizes that a protector part has stepped in to block the intensity of the processing. If so, the therapist will introduce an IFS-informed cognitive interweave, "Can the part that is blocking the processing let us know what it is worried would happen if we keep going?" 

• Maintaining Functional Dual Attention: Dual attention means the client keeps one foot in the present moment (Core Self energy) while simultaneously witnessing the Exile's trauma during the bilateral stimulation (see my article: What is Dual Awareness in Psychotherapy?).

Phases 5 and 6: Installation and Body Scan: Once a memory has been desensitized, the focus shifts to internal alignment and somatic integration:

• Inviting the Parts to "Try On" Positive Beliefs: Instead of installing a positive belief globally (as would be done in traditional EMDR), the therapist will check out how individual parts of the client receive it. She will ask if the protective parts feel safe adopting a positive belief like "I am lovable" or "I feel empowered". 

Integrating EMDR and IFS Parts Work Therapy

• Somatic "Befriending": During the body scan, if any residual tension is detected, the therapist will treat this physical sensation as a part. She will help the client to bring curiosity to this area of the body to see what emotional burden it is holding.

Phase 7 and 8: Closure and Re-evaluation: These final phases ensure the internal system remains stable and cohesive between sessions:

• Systemic Inclusion: Before closing an incomplete session, a trauma therapist explicitly checks back in with the protector parts that stepped aside. She will acknowledge their hard work, thank them for their cooperation and ensure they feel safe returning to their roles until the next session. 

• Assessing Systemic Shifts: At the start of the next session, the therapist will evaluate the client's inner world to see how the client's parts reacted to the last session. She will also check to see if new protectors have emerged or if old ones feel lighter. 

What Are the Benefits of Integrating EMDR and IFS Parts Work Therapy?

Integrating EMDR and IFS combines the rapid processing of EMDR and the gentle framework of IFS. This hybrid approach, which is called IFS-Informed EMDR, addresses the limitations of each modality when used alone. 

IFS-Informed EMDR offers several distinct clinical advantages including:

• Reducing Dissociation and Emotional Flooding: Traditional EMDR can sometimes overwhelm certain clients with complex trauma. This overwhelm can lead to dissociation. The IFS benefit is that the therapist does not push beyond the client's defenses, which are seen as "parts". By identifying and gaining permission from protective parts before starting bilateral stimulation, the pacing of the therapy matches the client's internal threshold which prevents sudden decompensation (see my article: What is Complex Trauma?).

Integrating EMDR and IFS Parts Work Therapy

• Overcoming Treatment Blocks and Looping: In traditional EMDR, processing can stall ("loop") when the client's unconscious mind resists going to the traumatic memory. By using IFS, instead of viewing resistance as a hindrance, the therapist sees the protector part as doing its job. The therapist will pause the processing to hear the protector's fears (e.g., "If I let go of this fear, I'll be at risk for being traumatized again"). Hearing the protector's fears can unblock the processing without triggering internal conflict for the client.

• Providing an Internal Attachment Figure: Traditional EMDR relies heavily on the therapist as the external source of safety and containment during processing. IFS cultivates the client's Core Self energy of compassion and curiosity to act as the primary healing agent. The client's Core Self becomes the internal attachment figure that holds, validates and "re-parents" the wounded child part (known as the Exile) during trauma processing.

• Maximizing Safety For Complex PTSD: Clients with complex developmental trauma often lack a single, clear target memory to process which makes traditional EMDR therapy difficult to initiate. The IFS mapping provides a clear internal landscape because therapists can target the relationship between the parts or focus on the negative core beliefs held by a specific part. This offers a structured roadmap for clients with fragmented trauma histories.

• Enhancing Post-Session Integration: After an intense EMDR session, clients can sometimes experience a backslash from internal defenses that feel blindsided by the rapid changes. Integrating IFS involves explicitly thanking the protectors and checking back in with the internal system before ending the session. This ensures that the whole system feels respected which drastically reduces the possibility of a post session backlash.

Conclusion

Integrating EMDR therapy and IFS Parts Work Therapy combines the best aspects of both trauma therapies including the rapid processing of EMDR and the gentle non-pathologizing aspects of IFS.

Get Help in IFS-Informed EMDR Therapy

Whereas traditional talk therapy is a top-down approach, both EMDR and IFS are bottom up approaches (see my article: What is the "Top Down" and "Bottom Up" Approaches to Trauma Therapy?).

Get Help in IFS-Informed EMDR Therapy

If traditional talk therapy hasn't been effective in helping you to heal from trauma, you could benefit from working with a licensed mental health professional who integrates the best aspects of EMDR and IFS.

Rather than struggling on your own, seek help with this integrated approach so you can work through trauma and live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, IFS Parts Work, AEDP, Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

As a trauma therapist, I have helped many individual adults and couples over the years.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Also See My Articles:

Combining EMDR and IFS to Overcome Emotional Blocks 

EMDR Therapy - When Traditional Talk Therapy Isn't Enough 

How Are Emotions Processed in EMDR? 

What Are Imaginal Interweaves in EMDR?

What is the Connection Between IFS and Neural Networks?

How is Experiential Psychotherapy Different From Traditional Talk Therapy?

What is Experiential Psychotherapy?

Experiential therapy is an active, bottom-up approach to psychological healing where you focus on what you are feeling in your body and mind in the present moment rather than just talking about it in an intellectual way. 

Experiential Therapy is More Effective Than Traditional Therapy

Whereas traditional talk therapy focuses primarily on logical thinking and cognitive insight, experiential therapy uses the mind-body connection to actively process unresolved trauma, emotional pain and defense mechanisms at their root. 

What Are the Characteristics of Experiential Psychotherapy?

Experiential therapy have four basic characteristics that distinguishes it from traditional psychotherapy (like cognitive behavioral therapy):

• Present Moment Tracking: Experiential therapists guide you to observe real-time physical sensations, physiological shifts and emotions as they surface during therapy sessions.

• Bottom-Up Processing: Healing begins in the nervous system and the emotional centers of the brain (the body's "felt sense") before being integrated into logical, conscious thoughts (see my article: What is the Difference Between a Bottom-Up and a Top-Down Approach to Therapy?).

Experiential Therapy is More Effective Than Traditional Therapy

• Safety and Containment: Experiential therapy prioritizes clinical safety to keep you from feeling overwhelmed.

• Neuroplastic Transformation: In experiential therapy, your brain physically updates and rewrites its automatic emotional scripts. This is a process called memory reconsolidation (see my article: Neuroplasticity: The Mind Has an Innately Powerful Ability to Heal Itself).

3 Popular Experiential Therapies: AEDP, EMDR and IFS

• AEDP stands for Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (see my article: What is AEDP?)

• EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (see my article: What is EMDR Therapy?).

• IFS stands for Internal Family Systems, which is a type of Parts Work Therapy (see my article: IFS is a Gentle Evidence-Based Therapy).

Primary Focus

• AEDP focuses on emotional transformation through a deeply connected therapeutic relationship with the AEDP therapist.

Experiential Therapy is More Effective Than Traditional Therapy

• EMDR focuses on processing and neutralizing traumatic memories stored in the nervous system.

• IFS focuses on harmonizing the different "parts" (subpersonalities) that make up your inner world.

Primary Experiential Technique

• AEDP involves relational processing and "undoing aloneness." The AEDP therapist actively displays warmth, affirmation and shared emotions so you can process emotional pain and trauma followed by metaprocessing (reflecting on the healing process itself). AEDP is often used to process relational trauma, chronic isolation, deep grief and healing attachment wounds.

Experiential Therapy is More Effective Than Traditional Therapy

• EMDR uses Bilateral Stimulation (BLS), including tapping, eye movements and other forms to BLS. While using BLS, the client holds a distressing memory in their mind to stimulate both sides of the brain. This helps to open up associative memories, insights and mental health integration. EMDR is frequently used to heal acute trauma, PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) and disturbing memories. 

• IFS involves clients closing their eyes and sensing into their body and mind to find various parts of themselves that are protector parts (like an inner critic or an anxious part), learn it's positive intent and locate your Core Self to heal vulnerable traumatized parts.  

Conclusion

Experiential therapy is highly effective if you feel "stuck in your head." 

The three Experiential Therapies discussed in this article are some of the most commonly used therapies. Other types of Experiential Therapy also include:

• Somatic Experiencing

• Emotionally Focused Therapy For Couples (EFT)

• Hypnotherapy (also known as Clinical Hypnosis)

I see many clients who have spent years in traditional talk therapy who can explain their problem in an insightful way. They know why they have problems, but nothing has changed for them. This is because insight alone doesn't create change.  

Experiential Therapy is More Effective Than Traditional Therapy

These clients are still feeling, thinking and behaving in the same way they did before they began traditional talk therapy (see my article: Healing From the Inside Out: Why Insight Isn't Enough).

The bottom-up approach to Experiential Therapy creates a physiological foundation for clients. Processing emotions in Experiential Therapy is more effective than just talking about them in traditional talk therapy because Experiential Therapy alters the underlying neural and memory networks that generate emotional suffering instead of just temporarily managing systems.

Whereas talking about emotions keeps clients in an analytical, intellectual state, fully processing emotions in Experiential Therapy involves actively feeling, experiencing and restructuring within the mind and the body. This shift from cognitive processing to experiential processing is what drives lasting behavioral and psychological transformation.

Getting Help in Experiential Therapy

If you have been unable to work through your problems on your own, you could benefit from working with an experiential psychotherapist.

Unburdening yourself from unresolved emotional problems, including traumatic memories, can help you to live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Parts Work (IFS and Ego States Therapy), Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

I have helped many individual adults and couples over the years.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Also See My Articles:

Experiential Therapy Can Achieve Emotional Breakthroughs 

How Parts Work Therapy Can Be Empowering 

How Does AEDP Process Emotions?

How Are Emotions Processed in EMDR Therapy?

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (see my article: How EMDR Therapy Works: EMDR and the Brain).

How Are Emotions Processed in EMDR Therapy?

EMDR was developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the 1980s as an alternative to traditional talk therapy to heal psychological trauma. 

EMDR is one of several types experiential therapies, including AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) IFS (Internal Family Systems) Parts Work and Somatic Experiencing, that were developed by trauma therapists help clients to overcome trauma (see my article: Why is Experiential Therapy More Effective Than Traditional Talk Therapy to Overcome Trauma).

The cornerstone of EMDR is the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) system which is a theory about how the brain stores memories and that the brain stores regular memories and traumatic memories in a different way.

While normal memories are stored by strengthening connections between neurons, traumatic memories aren't stored in a cohesive way. Instead, traumatic memories are stored with fragmented, sensory and emotional imprints due to the hyperactivation of the amygdala and inhibition in the hippocampus in the brain.

The unprocessed nature of traumatic memories can cause flashbacks and triggers.

Prolonged trauma can lead to structural changes in the brain with a reduction in neuroplasticity, but the reduction can be repaired by EMDR therapy and other trauma therapies.

How Are Emotions Processed in EMDR Therapy?

Emotions related to traumatic memories are processed in EMDR therapy using bilateral stimulation (BLS) which can be either eye movements, bilateral tones or tapping, to stimulate the brain while the client focuses on the traumatic memory (see my article: What is Bilateral Stimulation?).

EMDR Therapy Using Tappers For BLS

This technique is similar to REM (Rapid Eye Movement), which is a crucial stage of sleep associated with dreaming and increased brain activity.

Bilateral stimulation helps the brain to "metabolize" the unprocessed traumatic memories by  reducing their emotional charge and replacing negative self beliefs with positive, adaptive beliefs.

Prior to processing traumatic memories with EMDR, an EMDR therapist assesses whether EMDR is the appropriate therapy for a particular client. 

If so, she obtains a client's history, helps the client to develop the necessary internal resources and coping skills to do the trauma work and evaluates whether the client is ready to process the trauma. 

Some clients, who have a significant history of ongoing trauma might need an extended period of resource development before they can process traumatic memories (see my article: Developing Internal Resources and Coping Skills).

What Are the Key Aspects of EMDR Therapy?

Here is a breakdown of the eight phases of EMDR therapy.

If the therapist assesses that EMDR therapy is appropriate for a client, there are eight phases to EMDR which vary in length depending upon each client's needs:

• Phase 1: History Taking and Treatment Planning: The therapist obtains the client's history, as mentioned above. She identifies the traumatic memories and creates a treatment plan in collaboration with the client. During this stage, the therapist helps the client to identify the "touchstone" memory, which is the earliest memory related to the trigger the client is experiencing. For instance, if the client seeks EMDR therapy to deal with a difficult boss who humiliates the client in staff meetings, the touchstone memory might be memories of being humiliated by a critical father. The earlier memories would each have their own eight stages for processing. The therapist tries to find a touchstone memory which will have generalizable effects meaning that working with a one or a few of these memories is healing to the other similar memories. If these earlier touchstone memories aren't processed, the client is likely to get triggered again with another current situation that has similar elements to the touchstone memory. The mechanism for identifying the touchstone memory is the Float Back technique which is also known as the Affect Bridge in hypnotherapy (also known as clinical hypnosis).

An EMDR Therapist Writing Down the Client's History

• Phase 2: Preparation: The therapist explains the process, establishes safety for the client, and teaches the client coping skills (also known as internal resources) to manage emotional stress during trauma sessions and between sessions (see my article: Why is Establishing Safety So Important in Trauma Therapy?).

• Phase 3: Assessment: The therapist activates the traumatic memory that she and the client have chosen to work on by identifying specific images, the client's negative self beliefs, emotions and physical sensations related to the trauma. This is also known as setting up the EMDR protocol.

• Phase 4: Desensitization: Bilateral stimulation (eye movements, taps or tones) is used to reduce the distress associated with the memory. When clients have experienced ongoing trauma, such as developmental trauma during childhood, there can be many memories to process using the eight stages for each memory. For instance, if a client experienced extensive physical abuse as a child as well as bullying in elementary school and date rape in adolescence, each one of those experiences would need to be processed.

• Phase 5: Installation: A positive belief, which is identified by the client, is strengthened to replace the negative belief associated with a particular traumatic memory.

• Phase 6: Body Scan: The client checks for any remaining tension in the body linked to the traumatic memory. If there is tension in the body associated to the memory, the therapist uses bilateral stimulation until the tension dissipates.

• Phase 7: Closure: After each EMDR session, the therapist uses stabilization techniques, which might include debriefing/talking about the experience or a meditation, to ensure the client feels secure at the end of a session.

• Phase 8: Reevaluation: The therapist assesses the client's progress, determines the success of the treatment and plans the next step of the therapy in collaboration with the client.

What Are Emotional Blocks?

Emotional blocks are unconscious barriers to processing traumatic memories.

Overcoming Emotional Blocks in EMDR Therapy

An emotional block can occur at any phase of the EMDR processing.

I have been doing EMDR therapy regularly since 2006 and, unless a client comes with an uncomplicated one-time traumatic event, there will be emotional blocks during processing.

The emotional block can take many forms. One common example is the belief, "I don't deserve to feel better". 

When a therapist and client encounter an emotional block, to use a metaphor, it's like encountering a tree that has fallen across a train track. The train can't go any further until the tree, which is blocking the train track, is removed.

Similarly, EMDR processing won't go any further until the emotional block is removed. 

When a client and I encounter an emotional block in EMDR processing of a memory, I find it's useful and efficient to conceptualize the block as a part of a client. It might be a very young part (or inner child) or another part the client has internalized. 

Whatever the block might be, I have found that working with the part using Parts Work can help to soften or remove the block so that the part allows the processing to continue (see my article: Trauma Therapy: Combining EMDR Therapy and Parts Work to Overcome Emotional Blocks).

Another way to think about an emotional block is to think of it as a defense mechanism that was a survival strategy at one point (usually when the client was younger) but no longer is adaptive.

It's not unusual for there to be several emotional blocks along the way during EMDR processing and each one needs to be addressed before EMDR processing can continue.

Conclusion

EMDR therapy is one of several types of trauma therapies.

The trauma therapist assesses each client to determine which type of trauma therapy--whether it's EMDR, AEDP, Somatic Experiencing, Parts Work or a combination of these modalities is for a particular client. 

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

If you feel stuck with unresolved trauma, you could benefit from working with a licensed mental health professional who is a trauma therapist.

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

Freeing yourself from your trauma history can help you to live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Parts Work (IFS and Ego States Therapy), Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

As a trauma therapist, I have over 25 years of experience helping individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Also See My Articles:

Trauma Therapy: The Mind Has a Powerful Innate Ability to Heal Itself

What Does Processing Your Emotions Mean? 

How Are Emotions Processed in AEDP?

What is the Life Cycle of an Emotion?

How Can Intergenerational Trauma Affect Your Ability to Make Decisions?

In the current article I'm discussing how trauma can affect decision-making. 

Intergenerational Trauma and Fear of Making Decisions

What Are Some of the Psychological Factors For Fear of Making Decisions?

If you have this problem with making decisions, it's important to start with compassion.

Developing Self Awareness and Compassion

It's important to look beyond the surface with compassion so you won't be so hard on yourself.

In general, every person who has problems making decisions is unique and has their own set of psychological factors related to decision-making.

Here are some of the most common factors:

• Pessimism and Fear of Change: A negative or pessimistic perspective can lead to only focusing on the potential downside to every possible decision.

• Insecurity: Personal insecurities can lead to someone having difficulty with potential decisions.

• A Problem Solving Identity: Some people like to see themselves as problem solvers for themselves and for others. This helps them to feel useful and needed. However, it can also become a crutch to avoid making decisions.

• Cognitive Dissonance: Some people experience an internal conflict when faced with solutions that challenge their beliefs. This can lead to their challenging every possible solution offered to them to maintain a sense of internal consistency (see my article: Understanding the Negative Impact of Cognitive Dissonance).

Clinical Vignette

The following clinical vignette, which is a composite of many cases, illustrates how a particular type of trauma, intergenerational trauma, an affect making decisions:

Liz

When her boyfriend, Ray, recommended that she seek help in therapy, Liz wasn't open to the idea at first. But when he talked to her about the many times she approached her problems with pessimism and fear of change, she realized she had a problem, so she sought help in therapy.

Anxiety and Fear of Change

When her therapist asked Liz about her family history, Liz revealed that both of her parents had problems making decisions because they usually feared the worst possible outcome.  

Both of Liz's parents experienced intergenerational related to severe poverty. So, even though her parents were now financially secure, whenever they had to make any decision about money, they approached the decision making process with pessimism, anxiety and dread (see my article: What is Intergenerational Trauma?).

The smallest financial decision created so much anxiety that they would find a problem with any possible decision. This lead to procrastination so they made decisions at the last possible moment. This often lead to poor choices in many cases because they weren't able to think about the choices calmly so they made last minute decisions in haste.

Even as a young child, Liz understood that her parents' anxiety and dread were misplaced. She knew that, unlike earlier generations, both of her parents were in high paying professions and they could relax more about money. 

But even though Liz understood it logically, on an emotional level, she took in her parents' fears and anxiety on an unconscious level.  

This created problems between Liz and Ray because whenever they were faced with certain decisions related to spending money, like whether to buy new furniture or whether they could afford to go on vacation, Liz had so much anxiety that she couldn't make a decision.

Logically, Liz knew she and Ray could afford the furniture and a vacation, but whenever he proposed various options, she found reasons to reject everything he proposed.  She couldn't understand why she couldn't reconcile her logical thoughts with her emotions.

After hearing about her family history, Liz's therapist provided her with psychoeducation about intergenerational trauma. 

Although Liz wasn't happy to hear that she was traumatized, her therapist's explanation made sense to her, especially when she heard about the symptoms. 

Some of the symptoms of intergenerational trauma resonated with her, including:

• Persistent anxiety

• Hypervigilance (a constant state of high alert or feeling a sense of threat)

• Problems with emotional regulation

• Shame
  

• Guilt
  

Liz's therapist worked with her to prepare her to do trauma therapy. Since Liz's anxiety was so high, she needed several months of preparation and stabilization before they could start processing her trauma in trauma therapy.

Part of the preparation involved developing self compassion and better coping skills.

When her therapist assessed Liz was ready to work through her trauma, they did a combination of IFS Parts Work Therapy, Somatic Experiencing and EMDR Therapy over a period of several months.

Whenever they discovered an emotional block in the trauma therapy, her therapist used Imaginal Interweaves to help Liz overcome the block (see my article: What Are Imaginal Interweaves in Trauma Therapy?).

Even though the work took over a year until Liz worked through her trauma, she felt incremental relief along the way.

Overcoming Anxiety and Fear of Change

Over time, Liz experienced her emotions as being more in synch with her logical understanding. She was able to modify her emotions and behavior to make decisions without anxiety, pessimism or fear of change.

Whenever she considered possible solutions to problems, she was able to consider each options and make a decision without finding problems with every solution.

Trauma therapy enabled Liz to free herself from a history of intergenerational trauma.

Conclusion

If you have unresolved trauma, a good place to start is developing self awareness and compassion.

Most people don't want to create problems for themselves and others when they're trying to solve problems or make decisions, so there's usually a coherent reason. 

If the reason isn't apparent, it's often unconscious (see my article: Making the Unconscious Conscious).

Getting Help in Therapy

A skilled mental health professional who is trained as a trauma therapist can help you to identify the psychological factors involved and work through the problems (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?).

If the problems are related to trauma, seeking help from a psychotherapist who is a trauma therapist can help you to overcome the trauma so you can lead a more fulfilling life free from your history of trauma.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Parts Work (IFS and Ego States Therapy), Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

As a trauma therapist, I have helped many individual adults and couples to work through trauma.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

What Are Imaginal Interweaves in Trauma Therapy?

In prior articles I provided a basic explanation for Imaginal Interweaves in Trauma Therapy (see my articles Imaginal Interweaves - Part 1 and Part 2).

In the current article, I'm taking a deeper dive to explain Imaginal Interweaves, an intervention I often use in trauma therapy.

What Are Imaginal Interweaves in Trauma Therapy?

Imaginal Interweaves are techniques used in trauma therapy.

Imaginal Interweaves in Trauma Therapy

I learned how to do Imaginal Interweaves in an advanced Attachment Focused EMDR Therapy training about 20 years ago from EMDR expert Laurel Parnell, Ph.D.and I have found them to be an effective way to help clients to heal.

Imaginal Interweaves are techniques used in EMDR and other Experiential Therapies where a trauma therapist guides clients to use their imagination to connect with different aspects of themselves (see my article: Why is Experiential Therapy More Effective Than Traditional Talk Therapy?).

This often includes imagining their younger child self (often called "inner child"). This is especially helpful if clients become stuck when they're processing unresolved trauma. 

Examples might be imagining their current adult self:

• Comforting their younger self

• Defending their younger self from someone who was abusive

• Taking their younger self away from an unsafe, abusive environment to a place where their younger self feels safe

Imaginal Interweaves are:

• Specific therapeutic interventions used in trauma therapy, like EMDR therapy, AEDP, Parts Work Therapy and other Experiential Therapies.

• A tool to process trauma when a client gets stuck during the processing

• Guided imagery the therapist facilitates

• A technique for self connection 

Imaginal Interweaves work by:

• Helping a client to develop internal and external resources

• Bridging different perspectives including a gap between a more vulnerable part of a client and a more capable adult self

• Facilitating new emotional responses by using the imagination to work through overwhelming feelings related to trauma

What Are Some Examples of Imaginal Interweaves?

There are many different types of Imaginal Interweaves.

Imaginal Interweaves in Trauma Therapy

Here are examples of a few:

• Adult-Child Interactions: The adult self comforts the child self to provide a sense of present-day safety and reassurance.

• Expressing Anger: The adult self can be imagined as holding the perpetrator so the child self can express anger while feeling safe.

• Direct Communication: After asking the client's permission, the therapist can speak directly to the child self to find out what the child self needs.

Making a Distinction Between What Actually Happened and An Imaginal Interweave

Trauma therapists make the distinction with the client about what actually happened during their trauma and an Imaginal Interweave.

Imaginal Interweaves in Trauma Therapy

In no way would I try to get a client to believe that something different happened from what actually happened.

The purpose of Imaginal Interweaves is to give clients a new embodied experience using their  imagination while continuing to know that what is being imagined didn't actually happen.

An embodied experience means the client experiences a mind-body connection during an Imaginal Interweave which helps with the integration of the new experience.

To help them to experience an embodied experience, I will help the client to have a felt sense where they feel the new imagined experience in their body. 

This serves as an anchor for the experience in an embodied way rather than just being an intellectual process (see my article: The Mind-Body Connection: Developing a Felt Sense of Your Internal Experiences).

Using an embodied approach facilitates healing.

How Can Imaginal Interweaves Help to Free You From Your Traumatic History?

By processing unresolved trauma using Imaginal Interweaves, you can free yourself from your traumatic history by:

• Overcoming unresolved trauma that keeps you stuck in your current life

• Overcoming false negative beliefs you have about yourself

• Connecting you to your inner resources

• Integrating various internal parts of yourself to achieve improved mental health

• Gaining self confidence to cope with past, current and future challenges

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

Traditional talk therapy can help you to gain insight into your problems, but it doesn't always help you to heal from trauma.

Experiential Therapy that includes Imaginal Interweaves provides you with a mind-body oriented experience that is a more holistic way to heal.

Rather than struggling on your own, seek help in Experiential Therapy so you can heal and live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Parts Work (IFS and Ego States Therapy), Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

As a trauma therapist, I have helped many individual adults and couples to work through unresolved trauma.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.