Between-Session Log for EMDR (TICES)

About this resource

In the closure phase of every EMDR session, the therapist tells the client that processing may continue after the session ends, and asks them to keep a brief log of anything that comes up: new memories, dreams, triggers, thoughts, feelings or sensations. Shapiro recommends the TICES format for this log: Trigger (what set it off), Image (what picture came to mind), Cognition (what the client thought about themselves), Emotion (what they felt), Sensation (where and what they felt in the body), together with a distress rating on the 0 to 10 scale used in session. The log is reviewed at the start of the next session as part of re-evaluation and can identify new targets, unresolved channels or present triggers that need processing.

The log serves several purposes at once. It structures the client's observation so that disturbing experiences between sessions become data rather than evidence that something has gone wrong. It reinforces the stance of dual awareness, noticing the experience while remaining in the present, that processing depends on. It gives the therapist a reliable picture of the week. And it prompts the client to use the self-soothing skills learned in preparation, since the log ends with a field for what they did to settle.

The professional version notes that the log should be brief (a line or two per entry, not a journal), that clients should be told explicitly not to try to process material on their own, and that a rise in distressing material between sessions is common in the early stages and usually settles as processing proceeds. It also reminds the clinician to check the log every session, since clients stop keeping logs that are not read.

How to use it

1. Introduce the log in the preparation phase, alongside self-soothing skills, and explain each element of TICES with an example. Give the first copy at the end of the first processing session as part of closure.
2. Tell the client to note experiences in a line or two, as close to the time as is practical, and not to dwell on them or try to process them alone. The log is for noticing and containing, not for working through.
3. Review at the start of every session during re-evaluation. Ask which entries feel linked to the current target, which are new, and which resolved on their own. Add persistent triggers or new memories to the target sequence plan.
4. Use the 'what I did to settle' field to reinforce skills and to identify clients who need further stabilisation work before continuing.
5. If the log shows escalating distress, risk or dissociation between sessions, slow the pace, return to preparation, and review the plan.

References

• Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
• Leeds, A. M. (2016). A Guide to the Standard EMDR Therapy Protocols for Clinicians, Supervisors, and Consultants (2nd ed.). Springer.