Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) can work powerfully together when integration is thoughtful rather than forced. Both approaches aim to reduce psychological rigidity, albeit through different mechanisms. EMDR facilitates adaptive information processing of traumatic memories, while ACT helps people respond more flexibly to difficult internal experiences.
One area where this integration can be particularly useful is in the use of cognitive interweaves.
What are cognitive interweaves?
In EMDR, cognitive interweaves are typically used when reprocessing becomes blocked. This may look like looping material, dissociation, persistent avoidance, entrenched beliefs, or difficulty accessing adaptive information needed for processing to continue.
At these moments, the therapist may briefly intervene to help processing move forward. This might involve introducing perspective, information, compassion, orientation to present safety, or access to previously unavailable adaptive material.
The goal is not to lead the client toward a predetermined conclusion. It is to help the processing system resume movement when it appears stuck.
This is where ACT can offer something useful.
Where ACT fits
From an ACT perspective, processing blocks can sometimes reflect understandable attempts to move away from difficult internal experiences.
A client may become fused with thoughts such as:
- “I can’t handle this”
- “It was my fault”
- “I should have done something differently”
- “If I feel this fully, I’ll fall apart”
Or they may begin intellectualising, shutting down emotionally, or trying to escape what is emerging in the memory network.
These responses make sense, and they are / were often protective. However, they can also interrupt processing.
ACT offers a useful lens here by helping therapists notice whether they are inadvertently doing the same thing through their interweaves, arguing with thoughts, over-reassuring, rescuing, or moving clients away from painful material too quickly.
An ACT-informed interweave often asks:
- Does this help the client stay present with what is emerging?
- Does this increase psychological flexibility?
- Does this support adaptive information processing without bypassing emotion?
- Am I helping processing move—or trying to make discomfort disappear?
Refining interweaves: examples
This does not mean replacing standard EMDR interweaves with mindfulness language. Sometimes direct reality orientation, cognitive challenge, or protective perspective-taking is exactly what is needed.
However, subtle shifts in language can sometimes make interweaves more consistent with ACT principles of defusion, willingness, present-moment awareness and self-as-context.
Shame / unmet needs
- Traditional:
“What did that child need?” - ACT-informed:
“What seems needed here?”
This keeps the client connected to the memory while reducing pressure to produce the “right” answer.
Self-blame
- Traditional:
“Was it really your fault?” - ACT-informed:
“What is your mind telling you right now?” or “What do you know now that you didn’t know then?”
These prompts can create distance from rigid self-blame fusion while allowing adaptive information to emerge.
Avoidance of emotion
Client says: “I can’t do this.”
ACT-informed:
“Can you make room for this feeling?”
This introduces willingness without pulling the client away from processing.
Over-intellectualising
When clients move into analysis rather than processing:
ACT-informed:
“If you step out of the story, what do you notice?”
This gently redirects attention back toward emotional and somatic experience.
Self-as-context / observer perspective
- Traditional:
“What would you say to your younger self?” - ACT-informed:
“As you watch that younger you, what do you notice now?”
This can help clients access perspective and compassion without forcing a scripted response.
These examples are not intended as scripts. Effective interweaves are always guided by formulation, client presentation, and where processing appears to be stuck.
Trust processing first
ACT-informed interweaves should not be inserted too early.
EMDR clinicians are trained to trust the client’s processing system. Not every pause, emotional spike, or moment of uncertainty requires intervention.
Sometimes the most helpful response is simply:
“What do you notice now?”
Importantly, interweaves should be used when clinically indicated and not as a way to prematurely reduce distress.
The broader opportunity: refining, not reinventing
It’s important to remember that creating ACT-consistent cognitive interweaves doesn’t require a complete overhaul of the EMDR process. The purpose and goals remain the same: to help unblock processing and aid in perspective shifts. What we’re adjusting is the precision of our language, ensuring that it aligns with ACT principles of awareness, acceptance, and psychological flexibility.
EMDR helps traumatic memories become integrated.
ACT helps clients build flexibility in how they respond to painful thoughts, emotions, memories and sensations.
When integrated thoughtfully, ACT-informed interweaves can help therapists avoid rescuing clients from discomfort while still supporting movement when processing becomes stuck.
The question is not:
“How do I make EMDR more like ACT?”
It is:
“How do I ensure my interventions support processing while remaining consistent with flexibility, willingness and present-moment awareness?”
Importantly, this refinement helps practitioners integrate EMDR within a broader ACT framework. For those working with trauma clients where ACT serves as the foundation of their therapeutic work, tweaking interweaves to match ACT concepts ensures that the therapeutic process flows cohesively.
Integrating ACT and EMDR opens up exciting opportunities to deepen the therapeutic impact for clients. By refining cognitive interweaves to align with ACT principles, practitioners can enhance the cohesiveness of their work, supporting clients in building flexibility, awareness, and connection.
Learn more about integrating ACT and EMDR in a theoretical coherent way in our upcoming workshop – Integrating ACT and EMDR with Tammy Walker and Kristy Potter. This session will help you to use them in a fluid and flexible way, tailoring your interventions to meet your clients where they are.This workshop is ideal for both EMDR-trained clinicians looking to incorporate ACT principles and ACT practitioners who want to explore how EMDR can help clients process core trauma-related content and overcome barriers.