The Discovery process works like a centrifuge. A burdened & blended internal system led by a protector is a solution, both in the sense of solving a problem and in that it is like a mixture containing dissolved components. A centrifuge unblends the solution into its separate components. In a blended internal system, these components are Self, Protector, and Exile. Bilateral stimulation and attuned, informed curiosity, along with opportunistic and spontaneous Self-resourcing results in increasingly clearer differentiation of these components until a critical mass of Self-Energy flips the system into healing.At this point, functional dual attention is obtained and sustainable, leading to rapid and powerful healing processes commonly observed in the most successful and effective EMDR or IFS sessions; desensitization/reprocessing, retrieval, unburdening, etc.Learn the details, observe the process being set up and carried through into healing with live volunteer demos, and practice the skills you will bring into your sessions with clients.Discovery is a term taken from Coherence Therapy (Unlocking the Emotional Brain [2012], Ecker, et al). It means uncovering the emotional truth behind a symptom derived from implicit memory. It will make sense given the original context. Implicit memories are unconscious and reflexive, and they are at the heart of most of the symptomatic behavior and reactions we see in our clinical practices.Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy guides us to understand that in healing work, we are almost certainly going to encounter protectors. These parts are responsible for what might otherwise be seen as resistance, acting out, etc., but they always have underlying positive intentions. They are embedded within an entire protective system of parts.When we select a trauma target in EMDR, we necessarily activate this protective system, which can very often be complex and vigorous. Often, pushing forward with processing our selected target makes things worse. But backing up and doing intensive resourcing delays productive processing, sometimes indefinitely. This is the dilemma EMDR therapists routinely face.These ideas from Coherence Therapy and IFS intersect at one point in the EMDR process, on the verge of the Assessment Phase. It is here that we can utilize sets of alternating bilateral stimulation in a new way to process protectors. A way that is in-between resource installation and desensitization, and has advantages of both.The Discovery process is a bridge from the Preparation Phase of EMDR to the Assessment Phase and BEYOND. It will clarify the protector's positive intention, uncover the original problems the symptom is designed to solve, and stimulate emerging Self-Presence. All this clears the way for a conventional Assessment Phase and Desensitization with Functional Dual Attention. This culminates at the point where continued bilateral stimulation and attuned, informed curiosity, along with opportunistic and spontaneous Self-resourcing results in increasingly clearer differentiation of these components until a critical mass of Self-Energy flips the system into healing, as described above.

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