EMDR TICES log: meaning, form, privacy, and clinical limits

EMDRIA defines TICES as trigger, image, cognitions, emotions, and sensations. The log helps a client notice and record experiences between sessions, usually in a chart. It is a clinical aid associated with closure and later reevaluation, not another phase, a diagnostic test, a symptom score, or a complete EMDR protocol.

A useful entry can remain brief and use the minimum information needed for the agreed purpose. The therapist still decides how any observation fits history taking, formulation, readiness, target planning, closure, or referral; the acronym does not make that decision.

Shapiro's third-edition manual lists a recommended weekly TICES report in Appendix A. EMDRIA also describes logging thoughts, situations, dreams, and memories during phase-seven closure so they can be reviewed later.

In the indexed and official sources reviewed through 28 August 2026, no controlled trial was identified that isolates the TICES log as an independent treatment. Evidence for trained EMDR therapy or PTSD guidelines cannot be relabeled as evidence that a worksheet itself improves outcomes.

Agree where the log is kept, whether it travels by email, who can see a shared device, what happens if risk or ongoing abuse is recorded, and when the therapist actually monitors it. Do not imply continuous review, emergency response, or confidentiality that the channel cannot provide.

Avoid unnecessary trauma narratives, names of third parties, legal allegations, passwords, or identifiers. A log can increase attention to distress for some people; use collaborative pacing, clear contact limits, crisis routes, and an option to stop or use another method.

EMDRSuite keeps therapist notes in the professional workspace and gives the patient a focused session link. It does not provide a patient TICES journal, automatically interpret entries, choose targets, monitor risk between sessions, or send alerts.

A therapist can document clinically necessary observations under local policy, but should not claim that EMDRSuite supplies the protected manual form or that entering five fields constitutes EMDR treatment, training, consent, or outcome measurement.