EMDR Container Exercise: Design, Fill and Lock Your Container

Design a strong container, drag what's bothering you inside without writing details, then close and lock it until you work on it with your therapist.

AdultsKidsTrauma & EMDREMDR
5–10 minutesIn person and on video
Free interactive tool
Designed by Michael Thompson, MSc

Link copied – paste it to your client

If someone is hurting you or you don’t feel safe, tell a teacher, a doctor or another grown-up you trust. Childhelp (US and Canada): call or text 1-800-422-4453. In danger, call 911 or your local emergency number. Outside the US and Canada, a grown-up can help you find a helpline in your country. Teens and adults in crisis: call or text 988 (US and Canada) or your local crisis line.
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Frame it as 'until we work on it together', not as permanent avoidance.

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Don't use it to stop a client talking about something urgent or about safety.

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How to play

  1. Choose a container, color, lock, size and where it's kept.
  2. Open it. Drag a shape inside for each thing on your mind: no details needed.
  3. Close and lock it. Only the count is shown.
  4. Rate how much is on your mind before and after.
  5. Take things out only with your therapist.

About the technique

The container exercise asks the client to imagine a sturdy container and to place disturbing material inside it, to be opened again with the therapist at a planned time. It is taught widely in the preparation phase of EMDR therapy, alongside calm place imagery, as a way to close an incomplete session and manage distress between sessions (Shapiro, 2018). Similar containment imagery is used in stabilization work for complex trauma more broadly.

The idea is controlled distance, not avoidance. A client who knows how to set material aside can approach trauma processing with more confidence, because they have a way to step back when a session ends. That fits the phase-based approach favored by experts in complex PTSD: in an International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies survey, 84% of experts endorsed phase-based or sequenced treatment, with emotion regulation among the first-line interventions (Cloitre et al., 2011). Sequencing remains debated, and the container itself has no direct trials, so it is a widely used, practice-based tool.

It suits adults, teens and children who are preparing for or are in trauma-focused work. Frame it as holding things until we work on them together, not as a way to bury memories for good. Never use it to stop a client talking about something urgent, including current safety, abuse or suicidal thoughts. With highly dissociative clients, go slowly and check that the image feels safe. Doing the exercise is not EMDR therapy, which needs a trained clinician and the full protocol.

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For therapists: how to run it

Goal

Close down unfinished material at the end of a session; less on the client's mind after locking.

In session

  1. Near the end of the session, share your screen or send the link.
  2. Let the client design the container; ask what makes it strong enough.
  3. Have them drag a shape in for each thing still active, without naming details.
  4. Close and lock it together. Agree that you'll open it together next time.
  5. Copy for clinical notes records the exercise without any content.

As homework

  1. Open the link when something from therapy pops up between sessions.
  2. Put it in your container, close it and lock it. Then do something calming. If it's about your safety right now – thoughts of hurting yourself, or someone hurting you – don't contain it: tell your therapist or a trusted adult today.
  3. Tap Copy for my therapist, then paste it into your therapist's secure messaging (client portal) or bring it to your next session. Nothing you type is saved, so copy before closing.
Mandated reporting

Exercises like this can lead to disclosures of abuse, neglect or risk. Know your reporting duties before you start, and pause if one comes up.

Good to know

Containment is taught throughout EMDR and complex-trauma stabilization. It sets material aside until the next session; it is not about pushing things away forever. Nothing typed here is kept: code words disappear into the container and the summary shows only a count. With children, any activity can lead to a disclosure of abuse or neglect. Know your mandated-reporting duty before you start, and pause the activity if one comes up.

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Coping Skills Log Worksheet

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Conquering Avoidant Tendencies Worksheet

Map each avoided situation against its short-term relief and long-term cost, then plan around it.Adults and teensAnxietyTrauma and PTSDCBTExposure and ERP+2Free PDF 2 pages

Sources & credibility

Method
Container (containment) imagery
Developed by
No single originator; containment imagery from hypnotherapy, widely taught in EMDR preparation and complex-trauma stabilization (Shapiro, 2018)
First described
1990s
Approach
EMDR
Evidence
Practice-based (limited trials)Used almost universally in EMDR and complex-trauma stabilization to close incomplete sessions, with no direct trials of the exercise on its own.

References

  1. Shapiro F. (2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures (3rd ed.). Guilford Press (Phase 2 preparation: calm/safe place, containment).
  2. Cloitre, M., Courtois, C. A., Charuvastra, A., Carapezza, R., Stolbach, B. C., & Green, B. L. (2011). Treatment of complex PTSD: Results of the ISTSS expert clinician survey on best practices. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 24(6), 615-627. Source

How it was made

Built by the Mentalyc team from the original method and the published sources listed here. Nothing you enter is stored.

Questions people ask

What is the EMDR container exercise?

The container exercise is a resourcing skill used in EMDR and other trauma therapies: you imagine a strong container and put distressing material inside to set it aside until you can work on it safely in session.

Is the container exercise used in DBT?

Container imagery is not a core DBT skill, but it fits alongside distress tolerance skills and is used in many trauma-informed approaches. It helps with containment between sessions.

Does putting things in a container mean ignoring them?

No. The container holds material until a planned time to work on it with your therapist. It is a way to manage overwhelm, not to avoid problems forever.

When do you use the container exercise in EMDR?

It is taught during preparation and used to close sessions where processing is incomplete, so distressing material can be set aside until the next session. It is a containment skill, not avoidance: the material is opened again in therapy.

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Your game designer
Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson, MSc

Michael's background combines doctoral training in clinical psychology with research on motivation, learning, and emotional regulation.

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Table Of Contents
  1. About the technique
  2. For therapists: how to run it
  3. Worksheets that pair with this tool
  4. Sources & credibility
  5. Questions people ask
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Children should use this with a parent, therapist or teacher, not on their own.

Educational practice aid, not a medical device. Not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis or emergency care.