The EMDR Script Library

EMDR's effectiveness depends on protocol fidelity. The standard scripts aren't filler — the exact wording of "What do you get when you think of that image and those words…?" is calibrated to elicit the body-state and emotional data that drives reprocessing. Paraphrasing in early sessions almost always means missed assessment data and slower processing.

Even ten-year EMDR clinicians keep scripts at hand for less-frequent protocols: light stream, recent traumatic event protocol, restricted processing, the constricted affect interweave script. The script isn't a crutch — it's a clinical safety net.

Every script we ship as a printable PDF, grouped by protocol phase. All free, all clinician-built. Click any tile for the full page (with usage notes, contraindications, and the download).

Looking for one specific EMDR script? Each of these has its own page with the verbatim wording, clinical notes, and a free printable PDF:

• Safe / Calm Place EMDR script — Shapiro's Phase 2 Safe/Calm Place induction, verbatim, with a kids adaptation.
• Container EMDR script — Container exercise script for closing incomplete sessions and between-session disturbance.
• RDI (Resource Development & Installation) script — Korn & Leeds mastery, relational and symbolic resource installation script, verbatim.
• Light stream EMDR script — Body-based light stream closure script for residual somatic disturbance.
• Four Elements exercise script — Earth, air, water, fire — the one-minute stress reduction sequence for Phase 2 and homework.
• EMDR closure script (complete & incomplete) — Phase 7 close-down wording for both complete sessions and incomplete targets.
• Phase 3 assessment script — NC/PC, VOC, emotion, SUD and body-location prompts in Shapiro's order.
• Float-back & affect bridge script — History-taking bridge from present disturbance to the earliest touchstone memory.
• Cognitive interweave scripts — Responsibility, safety and choice interweaves for blocked processing.
• Future template script — Third-prong script for rehearsing an anticipated trigger with the positive cognition, plus when to run it.
• EMDR resourcing scripts collection (PDF) — Phase 2 resourcing scripts gathered into one printable PDF.
• EMDR 8-phase protocol script (PDF) — The full standard protocol script as a printable PDF.

The core preparation scripts every EMDR clinician needs:

• Safe/Calm Place — Shapiro's full induction with cue word and BLS to strengthen
• Resource Development & Installation (RDI) — Korn & Leeds protocol for mastery, relational, and symbolic resources
• Container — for closing incomplete sessions and managing between-session disturbance
• Light Stream — body-based affect-regulation for somatic activation
• Protective Figures — for complex trauma and attachment work

EMDR Assist includes free AI-generated phase 2 scripts tailored to each client's presentation, plus the standard verbatim versions.

The phase 3 sequence Francine Shapiro standardized:

1. "What picture represents the worst part of the incident?"
2. "What words go with that picture that express your negative belief about yourself now?" (NC)
3. "When you bring up that picture and those words, what would you like to believe about yourself now?" (PC)
4. "When you think of the incident, how true do those words [PC] feel to you now on a scale of 1 to 7?" (VOC)
5. "When you bring up that picture and those words [NC], what emotions do you feel now?"
6. "On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is no disturbance or neutral and 10 is the highest disturbance you can imagine, how disturbing does it feel now?" (SUD)
7. "Where do you feel it in your body?"

Skipping any of these costs reprocessing time. The full assessment is logged automatically by EMDR Assist's session notes module.

The standard set sequence:

• Set: "I'd like you to bring up that picture, those negative words [NC], notice where you're feeling it in your body — and follow my fingers."
• Between sets: "Take a breath. Let it go. What do you get now?" / "What are you noticing?"
• Return to target: "When you bring up that original incident, what do you get now?" / "On a scale of 0 to 10, how disturbing does it feel now?"
• Cognitive interweaves: when processing stalls — responsibility, safety, choice, time orientation, perspective-taking

See our cognitive interweaves cheat sheet for the full menu.

For completed sessions (SUD 0, VOC 7, clear body scan): brief affirmation, log activities, schedule next session.

For incomplete sessions: the full Shapiro closure protocol — acknowledging the work, reminding the client that processing continues between sessions, container exercise, calm place reactivation, log instruction, and emergency contact reminder.

EMDR Assist auto-detects incomplete sessions (ending SUD > 0) and surfaces the right closure script at session end.

• Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
• Korn, D. L., & Leeds, A. M. (2002). Preliminary evidence of efficacy for EMDR resource development and installation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(12), 1465–1487.
• EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). About EMDR Therapy. Accessed 2026.