Re:How long before EMDR is effective?

From an article by Stephen Barrett, MD:

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is promoted for the treatment of post-traumatic stress, phobias, learning disorders, and many other mental and
emotional problems. The method involves asking the client to recall the traumatic event as vividly as possible and rate certain
feelings before and after visually tracking the therapist's finger as it is moved back and forth in front of the client's eyes [6].
EMDR's developer and leading proponent, Francine Shapiro, Ph.D., received her nonaccredited doctoral degree in 1988 and
established the EMDR Institute to train mental health professionals. She and her associates have trained more than 22,000
clinicians worldwide in workshops that in 1997 cost $385 [7]. EMDR resembles various traditional behavioral therapies for
reducing fears in that it requires clients to imagine traumatic events in a gradual fashion in the presence of a supportive therapist.
However, controlled research has shown that EMDR's most distinctive feature (visual tracking) is unnecessary and is irrelevant
to whatever benefits the patient may receive [8]. Recent reviews have concluded that the data claimed to support EMDR
derive mostly from uncontrolled case reports and poorly designed controlled experiments and that the theory of EMDR clashes
with scientific knowledge of the role of eye movements [9,10].

Replies:

There are no replies to this message.

| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |

Copyright © 1996-2004 Behavior OnLine, Inc. All rights reserved.