This chapter conceptualizes the preparation phase in three parts for teaching and learning purposes. The preparation phase of the four-phase model is not a one-and-done event. It is visited and revisited often during the therapeutic journey. The first part of preparation is stabilization, sometimes referred to as case management. It is the sine qua non for the remaining parts. The goal here is to make sure that the client is externally safe, as well as internally stable. A second part of the preparation phase is developing skills and resources. Among these are skills that involve changing internal states (self-soothing) and containment of disturbing affect. The third aspect of the preparation phase focuses on short-term successes in which the client gains mastery and confidence in dealing with changeable life circumstances, something of a personal trainer approach.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is an integrative, client-centered psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro, PhD, in 1987. EMDR engages the natural information processing systems in the brain to process disturbing life experiences that are, according to Shapiro, the bases of pathological behaviors. The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model was developed by Francine Shapiro to explain the effects of EMDR therapy; guide case conceptualization, treatment planning, and interventions; and predict treatment outcomes. The AIP model assumes that both pathology and health are the development of early life experiences that are stored in neurobiological memory networks. Early life experiences, therefore, are the building blocks of perception, attitudes, and behaviors. Neurobiologically speaking, our life experiences get translated into physically stored memories on which we rely to guide us in life choices and interpretations.