EMDR
DECONSTRUCTED.
Alternating bilateral stimulation ~ the proposed active ingredient ~ by light and sound, in your hands.

Welcome

This is the EMDR Deconstructed™ workbook, running live ~ alternating bilateral stimulation by light and sound, with the scripts built in. Everything here comes from the book. Nothing here replaces the judgment of a trained clinician.

How it works · 1

Choose your work from the tabs above

First time? Start with the guided path on the Resources tab ~ Lemon Exercise, then Container, then Comfortable Place, in that order. Containment comes before everything else, on purpose.
How it works · 2

Follow the script, tap where it tells you

Wherever a walkthrough says Short set ABLS, tap it. The engine at the bottom of the screen runs the light and sound, counts the passes, stops on its own, and checks in with you ~ what do you notice, in your body, first?
How it works · 3

Set up once

Headphones on ~ the sound alternates ear to ear. Phone or tablet sideways for eye movements ~ the eyes must cross the midline, head still. Volume is yours; so is Stop, always. The Container button in the engine bar is one tap away from anywhere, any time you need it.
What's here

The tabs

  • Resources ~ twelve imaginal resources with full installation walkthroughs, built in the workbook's order.
  • Rehearsal ~ practice the challenge before it arrives, with your resources front and center.
  • Compulsive & Addictive ~ urge surfing and recovery tools. A compulsion is a solution ~ a costly one ~ not a character flaw.
  • Exercise Library ~ the workbook's exercises, condensed for use with the engine.
  • Session ~ if your clinician gives you a code, enter it there. Your engine follows theirs; volume and Stop stay yours.
Clinicians: switch to Clinician mode at the top right ~ passcode required ~ or arrive through your clinician access link.
Clinician mode

What the passcode adds

  • Memories & Phobias ~ the Modified Phase 4 sequence, the flashforward sequence for feared situations, and the stall decision tree that matches the intervention to the failing mental action.
  • Feeling-State · DeTUR · Rehearsal ~ the three-phase sequence for compulsive and addictive behaviors, plus the protocol matcher.
  • The Chapter 3, 6, and 7 interventions ~ dissociation-informed processing, attachment work, and the Gestalt experiments.
  • Lead a session ~ create a code, read it to your client over your telehealth call, and your engine changes drive their screen live. Their volume and their Stop remain theirs ~ by design.
Everything client mode shows is also here. What clients write stays on their device; nothing crosses a session connection except the code, engine settings, and start/stop.
Privacy

Stated plainly

  • No analytics, no tracking pixels, no cookies, no accounts. This app transmits nothing and reports to no one.
  • What you write stays on this device ~ never transmitted, and one tap clears it.
  • The ratings trail lives in this page only and is gone when the tab closes.
  • A remote session carries a random code, engine settings, and start and stop signals ~ no names, no notes, no clinical content, ever.
This is not a policy that could quietly change ~ it is the architecture. The app collects nothing, so there is nothing to lose.

Imaginal Resources

Twelve resources from EMDR Deconstructed™, Chapter 4, in the order they are meant to be built ~ containment and regulation first, relational and developmental resources after. Each walkthrough follows the RDI Installation Formula. Tap Short set ABLS wherever the script calls for it; the engine below runs your set and counts the passes.

First time here? Build in order:
New to imagery? Start here ~ the Lemon Exercise

Many people are unfamiliar with guided imagery and unsure what to expect. This brief exercise shows you something important before we build anything: the nervous system responds to what the mind creates. The point is not to impress you ~ it is to show you that internally created experience produces real physiological responses.

Settle
Feel your feet on the ground. Notice the chair beneath you. Let's take a breath and settle in. You don't need to move or say anything ~ just imagine along.
The kitchen
Picture yourself standing at the doorway of your kitchen. Look around ~ what do you see to your left? To your right? Notice the floor beneath your feet. Now imagine walking over to your refrigerator. You hear the sound as you open the door, and the light comes on. Inside, you see two bright yellow lemons on the top shelf. Take one in your hand. Feel its coolness. Notice its slightly bumpy texture under your fingers.
The bite
Place the lemon on a cutting surface and pick up a knife. Slowly slice the lemon in half. Notice the spray of juice and the tangy scent filling the air. Bring one half to your nose ~ the sharp, zesty scent of lemon. Now imagine taking a big bite. The sourness on your tongue. The saliva rising in your mouth.
Check in
Did you notice any changes in your body ~ the saliva, a wince, a pucker? That is your nervous system responding to what your mind created. If it believed the lemon was real, it can also believe in the positive images we build here.
No sensory reference for a lemon? Use something familiar ~ fresh bread, coffee, chocolate. The point is the link between imagery and bodily response, not the fruit.
If pictures don't come
Not everyone sees pictures, and nothing is wrong if you don't. A resource can arrive as a feeling, a sound, a warmth, a sense of presence ~ all of it counts. Start with whichever sense shows up first and let the others join, or not. The image is yours; there is no wrong answer.
Four things to hold onto
  • The nervous system responds to what the mind creates ~ happening now, remembered, or imagined. That means imagery can be used intentionally instead of only reactively.
  • If a flashback can create fear and activation, positive imagery can create comfort, strength, and regulation. The same system that responds to threat can respond to care.
  • These resources give you something to turn toward ~ when overwhelmed, before a challenge, or when you simply need ground under you.
  • Practice matters. Repetition strengthens your access. Recording an exercise on your phone and listening between sessions works.

How every resource is built ~ the RDI Installation Formula

Sensory Data → tap → elaborate → tap → Emotions → tap → elaborate → tap → Body Sensations → tap → elaborate → tap → The Gestalt → tap

In plain terms: bring up the imagery ~ all the sensory data, not just pictures. Imagery means using the imagination, and imagination runs on five senses: what you see, hear, smell, taste, feel on your skin. Tap. With the imagery up, what emotions come up? Tap on the positive emotions. With the imagery up and feeling those emotions, what body sensations do you notice? Tap on the positive. The Gestalt at the end means holding it all at once ~ imagery, emotion, body ~ and tapping. In this work you tap only on what is positive or neutral; if anything negative intrudes, stop, contain it, and come back fresh. Run as many short sets as you want ~ more elaboration, deeper anchor.

Behavioral Rehearsal

Resources are not just for self-soothing; they are for action. Rehearsal is the mental practice of a desired behavior while anchored in an imaginal resource ~ a simulation that strengthens the neural pathways for the response you want. Use standard RDI when the goal is stabilization; use rehearsal when a specific challenge is coming and you need to execute a new behavior, hold a boundary, or navigate a known trigger.

Processing Difficult Memories & Phobias

Two guided sequences built from Chapters 3 and 7. The memory sequence fractionates Phase 4 into its real mental actions ~ synthesis, personification, presentification ~ with a stall-diagnosis tool. The phobia sequence uses the flashforward structure for feared situations: medical procedures, therapy transitions, any anticipated threat.

Compulsive & Addictive Behaviors

A compulsion is not a character flaw. It is a solution ~ a costly one ~ to a problem that could not otherwise be solved. Treat it as the enemy and you side against yourself; treat it as information and you learn what the behavior has been holding at bay. These tools target the emotional payoff, the triggers, and the craving itself.

Exercise Library

Remote Session

One person leads, one follows. The leader's engine settings ~ speed, sound, set length, start and stop ~ drive the follower's screen live. Volume stays in the follower's hands; it is their ears. Nothing else crosses the connection: a random code, engine parameters, and start/stop signals ~ no names, no notes, no clinical content.

Clinician

Lead a session

Create a code, read it to your client over your telehealth call, and run the engine ~ every change you make reaches their device as you make it.

Client

Join a session

Enter the code your clinician gives you. Your engine follows theirs ~ you keep your own volume, and Stop always works on your side.

passes 0 0 sets · 0 total
Headphones recommended ~ the sound alternates ear to ear. No sound? Raise the volume buttons and check this app's Vol slider. For eye movements, hold the phone or tablet horizontal; follow the light with your eyes only ~ crossing the midline ~ head still.
Written notes save on this device only ~ nothing leaves it.