EMDR
Overview and
General Description
EMDR
is an acronym for Eye Movement Desensitization and
Reprocessing. It is an innovative clinical treatment
that has successfully helped over a million
individuals who have survived trauma, including sexual
abuse, domestic violence, combat, crime, and those
suffering from a number of other complaints including
depressions, addictions, phobias and a variety of
self-esteem issues.
EMDR is a complex
method of psychotherapy that integrates many of the
successful elements of a range of therapeutic
approaches in combination with eye movements or other
forms of rhythmical stimulation in ways that stimulate
the brain’s information processing system. With EMDR
therapy it is unnecessary to delve into decades-old
psychological material, but rather, by activating the
information-processing system of the brain, people can
achieve their therapeutic goals at a rapid rate, with
recognizable changes that don’t disappear over time.
Fourteen controlled
studies support the efficacy of EMDR, making it the
most thoroughly researched method ever used in the
treatment of trauma. The most recent 5 studies with
individuals suffering from events such as rape,
combat, loss of a loved one, accidents, natural
disasters, etc. have found that 84-90% no longer had
post-traumatic stress disorder after only three
treatment sessions. A recent study financed by Kaiser
Permanente revealed that EMDR was twice as effective
in half the amount of time compared to the standard
traditional care. However, clients and clinicians
should note that EMDR is not a race. While many people
show dramatic responses in a short amount of time,
there are also those who will progress more slowly and
that the slower progression is not abnormal. Just as
in any therapy, we all progress at the rate
appropriate to the individual and the clinical
situation.
The major significance
of EMDR is that it allows the brain to heal its
psychological problems at the same rate as the rest of
the body is healing its physical ailments. Because
EMDR allows minds and body to heal at the same rate,
it is effectively making time irrelevant in therapy.
Given its wide application, EMDR promises to be the
therapy of the future.
Dr. Francine Shapiro is
the creator of EMDR. She is a licensed psychologist
and a senior research fellow at the Mental Research
Institute in Palo Alto. She is the Executive Director
of the EMDR Institute, which trains clinicians in the
EMDR method. She is the recipient of the 1994
Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award presented
by the California Psychological Association.
Take a look at the EMDR
Institute web site at >EMDR |
