Yes, big feelings can come up in the middle of EMDR

Yes, big feelings can come up in the middle of EMDR. I'd rather you hear that from me now than find out in the middle of a session.

A hard memory isn't only a picture in your head. The nervous system stored the feeling with it. Heart, chest, stomach, the heat in your face. Those memories also hold the old survival reactions: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. When we touch that memory on purpose, that stored feeling can come back online. That's often why a big feeling shows up in the middle. Not because something went wrong. Because the body kept the charge with the memory, related to survival.

Here's what the method looks like, in plain words. You hold a memory in mind while something in the room keeps you here too. That can be a ball you follow on a screen. It can be sound. It can be a tap or a buzz you feel in your hands. Same idea. Your brain is doing two things at once: the old memory, and something happening now.

The ball, the sound, or the tap stimulates regions next to the amygdala. That can open access to stored traumatic memories that hold those intense emotions and reactions. It also gives the nervous system a now to hold onto while the old feeling is up. That's the part people mean when they ask why this works, and that's why the feeling can get big before it settles.

That stimulation also connects the limbic system with the prefrontal cortex. The limbic system holds the old survival charge. The prefrontal cortex is the here-and-now, thinking part. When those two are talking, a negative core belief can give way to a more rational one, while you stay in the present. That is what changes how we function, and how we view ourselves, in current life.

Big can mean tears. It can mean anger, or heat and a tight chest. It can be a feeling that seems bigger than the memory deserves, or one that doesn't seem to match the memory at all. Big for one person isn't big for another.

If a method can bring up big feelings, you should hear that first, in a straight sentence. A page that only sounds calm doesn't answer the question. A plain yes does. Then you decide with that in hand.

Some people have a big moment and some people don't. What I can say is how I work. I go at the pace you can handle. If a feeling gets to be more than you want, tell me and we can pause or stop.

I know a yes like that can sound like a warning. I'm not trying to scare anyone off, and I'm not trying to talk anyone into it either. It's one honest answer to one honest question, and what you do with it is yours.

So the short answer is yes. Big feelings can come up in the middle of EMDR, because the nervous system stored them with the memory, and it's better to know that before the first session than after it.

If this is familiar, write me. We can set a free consultation so I can answer your questions.