About this episode

Kambria Evans discusses the complexities of target selection in EMDR therapy, contrasting memory-based and systems-based approaches.

In this episode of the Beneath the Protocol series, Kambria Evans explores one of the most common points of confusion for EMDR therapists: target selection. While EMDR training teaches clinicians to identify target memories across the past, present, and future, real clinical work often looks very different. Clients don't always present with clear memories. Sometimes they bring body sensations, emotional states, relational patterns, identity beliefs, protective parts, or a vague sense that "it's everything." So what happens when the system doesn't organize around a single memory? Kambria introduces the distinction between memory-based targeting and a systems-based approach through the Zero Disturbance Systems Method. You'll learn why experienced therapists often expand beyond traditional target selection, how system-wide activation changes the way we conceptualize EMDR treatment, and why tracking where disturbance is organized may be more clinically useful than searching for the "right" memory. This conversation is especially valuable for EMDR therapists, Brainspotting practitioners, ART therapists, and trauma clinicians interested in brain-based therapy, nervous system…

People in this episode

Host: Kambria Evans

Topics covered

• EMDR therapy
• target selection
• memory-based targeting
• systems-based approach
• trauma treatment
• nervous system regulation

Keywords

• EMDR
• target selection
• memory
• systems approach
• trauma
• therapy
• nervous system

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: EMDR, Brainspotting, ART, Zero Disturbance Systems Method

More episodes of Zero Disturbance

• 132: When EMDR Targets Stop Making Sense [Beneath The Protocol Series] · July 8, 2026 · 20 min
• 131: Beyond EMDR: The System Beneath It [Beneath The Protocol Series] · July 1, 2026 · 20 min
• 130: EMDR Feels Harder Than It Should—Here’s Why [Beneath The Protocol Series] · June 24, 2026 · 16 min
• 129: What EMDR Training Didn’t Teach You [Beneath the Protocol Series] · June 17, 2026 · 21 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Zero Disturbance podcast page.