Re:Maxfield & Hyer meta-analysis: A few questions

This is sooo important in EMDR - this free association piece. What we see often ---and what is so fascinating ---- is that people with PTSD with an onset following a car accident, for example, free associate to earlier experiences in the middle of their EMDR. It happens spontaneously. Say, the bicycle accident in 3rd grade comes to mind. And the affective themes are the same, -- say, terror and shame, -- and the client is typically struck with this parallel, and the meaning of the current event shifts. To the EMDR practitioner, what we see is that it is as if the related experiences all got filed in the same thematic file folder, and only with the car accident did the folder spill over - with resultant nightmares and flashbacks. So the car accident isn't the only cause of the PTSD (though it's the "but-for" cause, meaning, if it weren't for the car accident, the folder wouldn't have overflowed).

In EMDR then we allow the processing to work through whatever it needs to and then, when the processing fizzles out, we go back to target and get SUDS to determine if its done. With Louise, I sure hope someone does studies that compare this free association piece to exposure's process.

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