Case Conceptualization in EMDR Therapy Go With That Magazine® Issue
We invited several authors to write about EMDR therapy case conceptualization in the Winter 2026 Go With That Magazine® issue. Deany Laliotis’ article is highlighted here. EMDRIA members can access all other articles and issues at the Go With That Magazine® homepage.
AIP Case Conceptualization: Easier Said Than Done?
“The past is present for better and for worse is the essence of the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. That means our experiences in the present are informed by our experiences in the past. When those past-present connections are emotionally confusing and/or disturbing, they have a negative impact on us. As EMDR therapists, we learned to identify and reprocess these memories from the past that are similar in one or more ways, to the client’s experiences in the present by applying the Standard Protocol. Once the past memories are resolved and the present-day situations are no longer triggering and confusing, we apply a Future Template to ensure that the client has more adaptive ways of thinking, feeling, and responding going forward. While offering symptom relief is always important, it’s also about developmental growth and change. Using a developmental lens to supplement our AIP understanding of what the problem is allows us to not only identify and reprocess relevant life experiences, it also offers a map that helps us fill in what’s missing. It’s elegantly simple; it can be replicated, and it works. But often, it’s more complicated than that as we humans are much more than the sum of our memories. It’s about who we become in response to our life experiences that help define who we are.
Most of us learned a symptom-focused approach to EMDR when we were first trained. This is particularly useful when we are treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) based on a single event or episode. The onset of the symptoms is directly correlated to the event itself, so treating the symptoms offers clients the necessary relief from their PTSD. After all, the goal for the treatment of PTSD is symptom resolution, so clients can pick up their lives where they left off before the traumatic event occurred.
Most often, however, the case is more complex, so the conceptualization is not as straightforward. If a client’s predominant symptom is anxiety about giving a performance, for example, we are looking for one or more bad performances in the past that would explain anticipatory anxiety about the future. Is it that simple? Sometimes, but it’s usually more involved than identifying a similar type of event that occurred. So, in addition to asking about what happened, we also need to understand why it keeps happening in the present. Asking “why” directs us to the client’s lived experience in the present. Are they reacting with anticipatory anxiety because they’re not good enough out of their sense of inadequacy? Or is it because they’re feeling unsafe and they are afraid of getting in trouble if they don’t do well? Or is it because they feel that they’re not in control despite their attempts to control themselves and the situation? If we’re also curious about why it’s happening now in addition to what happened, it leads us to the client’s experience of self in the present, which informs the types of memories that need to be reprocessed. ” [Keep reading by clicking below]
This issue also includes the following articles:
- Case Conceptualization in EMDR Therapy – by Jennifer L. Fee, Kimberly Wilder, and Viviana Urdaneta Melo
- Learning in Layers: Discovering the Map Beneath the Method in EMDR Therapy – by Mary Eason
- Contain the Case: Conceptualization from Neuroscience, Through an Anti-Racist Lens – by Barbara Horne and Suzanne Aikens
- The Silent War – by Arielle N. Jordan
- Community Voices: EMDR Case Conceptualization
- Counselor’s Corner: Extreme Social Anxiety
Back to Focal Point Blog Homepage
Additional Resources
If you are a therapist interested in the EMDR training:
- Learn more about EMDR therapy at the EMDRIA™ Library
- Learn more about EMDR Training
- Search for an EMDR Training Provider
- Check out our EMDR Training FAQ
If you are EMDR trained:
- Check out the EMDRIA™ Let’s Talk EMDR Podcast
- Check out the EMDRIA™ Focal Point Blog
- Learn more about EMDRIA™ membership
- Search for EMDR Continuing Education opportunities
If you are an EMDRIA™ Member:
Related Articles
