Phase 4 is the Desensitization and Reprocessing Stage of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. It is the phase in which the traumatic memory you (the therapist) are intentionally addressing to become less distressing for the client. In this process, the client’s meaning making about the memory itself can change. For example, the client’s belief of “it’s my fault” changes to “I was betrayed – this was not my fault”. As a seasoned EMDR therapist, I can say that Phase 4 is where the “magic” happens as clients can experience a significant decrease in distress and significant personal transformation.
When Phase 4 gets stuck though what’s called ‘looping’ occurs. Looping happens in an EMDR Phase 4 session when there are no changes after two sets during reprocessing. EMDR therapists are trained to look for this and be prepared for how to support the client to move through.
When looping happens, oftentimes the stuckness is due to what’s called ‘a blocking belief’. We all have blocking beliefs as human beings – these can show up in EMDR reprocessing or in any therapy modality. A blocking belief is a deeply embedded belief that may be a cultural belief (e.g. “don’t rock the boat”) or may be about a fear related to the client’s treatment. For example, a blocking belief for a grieving client may be about feeling the reality of unprocessed grief a person is carrying (e.g. a client may say “If I let myself feel this, I may never get through it”).
IFS interweaves can help a client when they are ‘looping’ in EMDR Phase 4, helping them get unstuck in order to proceed with EMDR trauma reprocessing. From an IFS lens, when a blocking belief occurs, it is likely due to a protector part stepping in. This just indicates a need to befriend this part of the client. ‘Befriend’ is a term that just means get to know from a place of curiosity. So during the set in which you as the therapist are checking in with the client without bi-lateral stimulation and recognizing the client is stuck in a blocking belief, you can guide the client (without bi-lateral stimulation) to briefly befriend the protector part holding the blocking belief.
The simplest way to do this is to use an adaptation of the IFS technique called the ‘6 F’s’ in which the therapist asks the client to communicate with the protector part that has the blocking belief to better understand it. For example, this can look like:
- Ask the client where are they experiencing the part with the blocking belief? This gives the client an opportunity to mindfully notice where they are experiencing this part of themselves. Clients often report physical sensations or say “its in my chest” or “its in my throat” which helps the client zoom in on the visceral felt sense experience of the blocking belief and the energy associated with it.
- Ask the client to bring their attention to this part once they have connected to a felt sense of where the part with the blocking belief is.
- Invite the part to take in the client’s presence, letting it know that the client wants to understand it.
- Ask the client to ask the protector part with the blocking belief what it wants the client to know about the blocking belief. This will reveal more information to the client that they realistically were not aware of, including the part may share about the blocking belief being a deeply held cultural belief or a long-standing unspoken belief from the client’s family of origin.
- Once the protector part shares more information about the blocking belief, the therapist then guides connection with it by asking the client: “does that make sense to you?” If not, the client can ask the part more information about the blocking belief including where the part absorbed it from (for example, from a family member, a parent, from a teacher, or from a specific traumatic experience). If what the protector part is sharing makes sense, then the therapist invites the client to let the part know the client understands it. This process generally calms the system.
Once the part reveals new information through using this IFS interweave, the therapist then returns to using bi-lateral stimulation and continue with EMDR Phase 4 reprocessing. The IFS interweave is brief and used with the intention to return to Phase 4 reprocessing.
In applying an integrative perspective (i.e. integrating IFS-based interventions into EMDR Therapy), protector parts are on the same neural network that exiles are on. The therapist is likely targeting exile’s in the clients system when doing EMDR reprocessing. So when a blocking belief emerges in EMDR reprocessing – not to worry, its natural and normal for them to emerge as its just indicating where the adaptive information needs to connect to next on the neural network you are targeting in EMDR.
Why is it important to return to Phase 4 Reprocessing after using an IFS interweave?
Blocking beliefs are normal in Phase 4 – they are part of the process. If the EMDR therapist does not return to do Phase 4 Reprocessing, they may accidentally be doing what’s called therapist drift. Therapist drift occurs when therapists who are trained in evidenced-based models veer away from the treatment protocol of EMDR. So an important thing to keep in mind as an EMDR therapist is “what am I doing” and “why” and, also “where are we going in treatment?”.
When a client experiences a blocking belief a therapist can use an IFS interweave to get them move through the block, and return to EMDR reprocessing so the client can reap the full benefits of EMDR as an evidenced-based trauma model.
The content from this article is solely from Dr. Fatter’s book: “Integrating IFS (Internal Family Systems) into EMDR Therapy” (2026).
