EMDR in Action: Targeting Cravings, Feeling States, and Trauma in Addiction Treatment

Addiction is rarely just about the substance or behavior—it’s rooted in pain, trauma, and the search for relief. This dynamic 6-hour training explores how EMDR therapy can be leveraged to address the complex factors of addiction through evidence-based EMDR protocols that target cravings, positive feeling states, and which lead to identifying unresolved trauma.

Participants will gain a deep understanding of how maladaptive feeling states are created and impact memory networks that fuel addictive cycles. Through an integration of the DeTUR Protocol, the Feeling State Addiction Protocol (FSAP), and standard EMDR phases, clinicians will learn to desensitize urges, interrupt the craving-reward loop, and uncover the trauma beneath the behavior.

This course offers hands-on strategies, clinical demonstrations, and case examples to bring EMDR addiction treatment to life. Attendees will leave with practical tools for helping clients break the positive reward association linked to their addictive behaviors, reprocess core wounds, restore agency, and build a sustainable path toward recovery.