Phase 7: Closure

The clock is the quiet third party in every EMDR session. Memories don't reprocess on a schedule, and sometimes the fifty-minute hour ends with a channel still open. Phase 7, closure, is the clinician's commitment that regardless of where processing landed, the client walks out the door regulated and safe.

Two kinds of closure

Complete sessions — where the target reached a SUD of 0, a VOC of 7, and a clean body scan — close with a brief acknowledgment of the work and a check that the client is grounded. Incomplete sessions — where processing is still active — need more deliberate care, because the client is leaving with a network partly open.

Closing an incomplete session

You stop adding stimulation, tell the client plainly that stopping here is fine and the work will continue, and guide them to contain what's unfinished — the Container exercise from Phase 2 earns its keep here. Then you re-establish the Calm Place and check their state before they stand up. The goal is a client who is present, oriented, and steady, not one still mid-abreaction reaching for their car keys.

Reprocessing can continue between sessions. Closure makes sure it continues safely, not chaotically.

Between-session expectations

You let the client know that new material — dreams, memories, emotions, insights — may surface before next time, and that this is normal and often useful. You ask them to keep a brief log of what comes up. This does two things: it normalizes the after-effects so they don't alarm the client, and it feeds directly into Phase 8.

The handoff forward

Good closure sets up good Phase 8: Reevaluation — you'll open next session by checking what the log and the week revealed. And it draws directly on the resources installed in Phase 2. Closure is where preparation and re-evaluation shake hands.