You’ve likely heard about how effective EMDR can be for past traumatic events and to heal PTSD. But a PTSD diagnosis requires 4 weeks of persistent symptoms. What if you are experiencing ongoing trauma in your workplace? What if you had a single event this week? “Workplace trauma” looks different based on your profession and lived experience. For healthcare providers and therapists, it can be the vicarious trauma of bearing witness to someone’s worst moments. For women in leadership roles and male-dominated fields, it can be the chronic stress that comes with having to perform perfection or risk being perceived as incompetent. Multiply that exponentially for women of color in professional settings. And the short answer is that, yes, EMDR is effective for treating ongoing workplace trauma.
No matter the cause of your workplace trauma, the lasting effect is the same. It’s the rumination on your day, intrusive memories of things said or left unsaid, each misstep, and feeling each micro-aggression. It leaves you bracing before heading to work and the way you hold your breath as you enter the building.
Francine Shaprio’s Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy modality is an 8-phase process. EMDR leads clients through desensitizing their systems to traumatic material and internalizing positive beliefs about themselves and the world. When we follow the standard protocol, we desensitize and reprocess information across 3 prongs of experience: Past, Present, and Future. But what about when there’s a recent stressor or trauma? This blog post breaks down how and when to use 3 EMDR recent event protocols (EMD, R-TEP, and EMDr/”EMD little r”).
I also want to note that I most often will move into the full, standard EMDR protocol for workplace trauma. Using recent event protocols offers containment of the current distress so that we can do that deeper work.
EMDR for Workplace Trauma: Using EMDR Recent Event Protocols
EMDR Recent Event Protocols can prevent PTSD and reduce trauma symptoms following ongoing events, such as workplace traumas. Desensitizing anxiety, shame, and distress following a workplace trauma or secondary trauma experienced through work can reduce burnout and compassion fatigue symptoms.
Recent event protocols (EMD, R-TEP, and “EMD little r”/EMDr) focus on desensitizing present day traumas and stressors. Rather than opening up the memory network, these protocols are significantly more contained. Using these protocols for ongoing workplace trauma allows for some processing of related events without allowing the brain to stray too far.
The goal with these protocols is to contain your workplace stress and reduce the related distress and disturbance it causes you. You will feel better with use of these protocols, but if you have a lot of earlier experiences that contribute to your distress, you will not feel the full relief that you would get from the EMDR standard protocol.
What is the Recent Traumatic Episode Protocol (R-TEP)?
Developed by Elan Shapiro, this protocol is focused on a “traumatic episode,” which he defines as being the time period from the time of the traumatic event until the moment the client is in the therapy room. The client processes points of disturbance throughout the traumatic episode and the therapist supports with containing processing to keep associations related to the point of disturbance and redirecting back to target, as needed. R-TEP is also the foundation for Shapiro’s EMDR Group Traumatic Episode Protocol (GTEP), which adjusts R-TEP to private processing in a group format.
What is EMDr (EMD little r / contained processing)?
This is a variation of the standard EMDR protocol that is similar to R-TEP. EMDr remains focused on pieces of a traumatic event rather than using R-TEP’s “episode” approach. You offer this approach when the whole event feels overwhelming. Instead of finding the “worst part,” you process small pieces at a time until the whole event feels less disturbing. The therapist supports the client with reprocessing only material that is associated with the target memory. In addition to being useful for reprocessing recent events, this protocol is helpful for reducing distress for clients who experience overwhelm during phase 4.
What is EMD (restricted processing)?
EMD is Francine Shapiro’s most contained protocol; it is pure desensitization. Using shorter sets of BLS, the therapist returns the client to target following each set and collects SUDs. You resume BLS from there. Returning to the target each time and only collecting SUDs keeps desensitization contained; we don’t ask what the client is noticing beyond the SUDs to avoid opening the network wider. In addition to reducing distress with recent or ongoing stressors, you can use this protocol to reduce distress or to target a small part of a larger, overwhelming target.
When trying new EMDR protocols, it’s important to seek EMDR consultation
Whenever you use a new protocol, it is important to seek consultation to review fidelity and work through any kinks. I like to meet with a consultant as part of my own preparation for trying something new and again after to debrief how it went. Other clinicians prefer to do just one or the other. Making sure that you are meeting with someone who has the proper training is key.