How True Does This Feel?

This is a resource I sometimes use when doing EMDR (Eye Movement Desensetization Reprocessing) Therapy with kids. It’s a simple scale that helps kids determine and communicate how much they agree with a certain feeling. So if they say they are a dummy because they didn’t get an answer right in class, I might ask how true that feels? Most of us recognize that in the moment it might feel the maximum amount of true (in this case, 7 thumbs up) but an hour, day, or week later that number may have gone down significantly. In EMDR this helps us know when reprocessing an experience is helping to decrease a negative cognition, or in real life it helps us know when we might be feeling better, even if incrementally so.