DENVER - ColoradoDesk -- EMDR Center of Denver, a Denver-based therapy practice, offers EMDR intensives online to adults who live anywhere in Colorado. An EMDR intensive is an extended session, usually 90 minutes or two hours. The practice built its intensives on a consistent finding in trauma research: when therapy is delivered in a more concentrated format, people find relief and the results they are seeking sooner.

What the research shows

Researchers have compared concentrated trauma therapy with the traditional weekly schedule in randomized trials and large reviews. The findings point the same way.

• Similar recovery, in a fraction of the time. In a randomized trial of 121 adults with PTSD, trauma-focused therapy delivered in one intensive week produced a 73% recovery rate, compared with 77% for the same therapy delivered weekly over three months (Ehlers et al., 2014, American Journal of Psychiatry).
• EMDR-specific results that last. Veterans who received EMDR twice a day improved as much as veterans who received the same number of sessions weekly. Both groups held their gains at one year, and no one in the intensive group dropped out (Hurley, 2018, Frontiers in Psychology).
• More people finish treatment. An analysis of 160 randomized trials with more than 10,000 participants found that more frequent trauma therapy worked as well as weekly sessions while cutting dropout from about 19% to about 12% (Hoppen, Kip and Morina, 2023, Journal of Anxiety Disorders). In a trial of 370 service members, ten sessions over two weeks worked as well as ten sessions over eight weeks, and dropout fell from 24.8% to 13.6% (Foa et al., 2018, JAMA).
• Rapid change in severe cases. In a Dutch program that combined daily EMDR and exposure therapy for 347 people with severe PTSD, 83% showed a meaningful response after eight days and 55% no longer met criteria for PTSD (Van Woudenberg et al., 2018, European Journal of Psychotraumatology).

These studies examined multi-day programs for PTSD. The principle of the study is the one the practice's intensives are built on: the work continues while a memory is still open, instead of pausing and picking up again a week later. EMDR itself is recommended for PTSD by the World Health Organization. A full reference list is available in the practice's article, Why 90-Minute and Two-Hour EMDR Intensives Bring Relief Faster.

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Why the practice centers its work on intensives

Standard one-hour EMDR sessions work well and remain available. Even so, most of the practice's clients choose intensives for faster relief. A 90-minute session gives a client room to go further with a memory, as well as to also engage in talk therapy if and as preferred during a session. A two-hour intensive does roughly what two weekly sessions do in a single appointment, with time left for talk therapy and for checking in on the rest of life.

"Deep work takes time. In a longer session, people can keep going while the work is moving, and each session carries them further. The research says more therapy in less calendar time helps people find relief and the results they are seeking sooner, and that matches what we see with our clients." Jeanne Cross, LCSW, LAC, Co-Owner, EMDR Center of Denver

Who intensives fit

Intensives suit adults who want to make real progress quickly. That includes people with a demanding schedule who would rather set aside a morning than commit to weekly sessions for months, people who travel, and people preparing for a wedding, a deployment, a birth, or another fixed date or goal. Intensives are not a fit for everyone. For people newly sober or wanting to take sessions more slowly, the practice starts with standard hour sessions first.

Online, anywhere in Colorado

Every session takes place on a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform, so clients can meet from the comfort of their own space, from Denver and Boulder to Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and the mountain towns. Breaks are taken whenever a client asks for them. Three- and four-hour sessions are offered occasionally when strongly preferred by a client and clinically appropriate.

Every client starts with a free 15-minute phone consultation with Jeanne Cross, LCSW, LAC or Gessica Cross, LCSW where people can ask questions and there is no pressure and no obligation. New clients then have a first session to share their history and set goals before an intensive is scheduled. To book, visit emdrcenterofdenver.com/schedule or call or text 720-464-3444. More detail is on the practice's EMDR intensives page.

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About EMDR Center of Denver

EMDR Center of Denver is a Denver-based practice offering online EMDR therapy and talk therapy for adults who live in Colorado. Its co-owners, Jeanne Cross, LCSW, LAC, and Gessica Cross, LCSW, are licensed therapists who are EMDR-trained in utilizing EMDR for anger, relationship issues, grief and loss, and anxiety. All sessions are online on a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform. Learn more at emdrcenterofdenver.com.