Re:EMDR for anxiety and phobias

It seems to me that your argument implies that for EMDR for phobias to "work" you need to adhere to a strict "formula". Now, as you know, few clinicians follow strict protocols or formulas. I think that your argument is baseless and one more reason devised by EMDR proponents so that they can continue to ignore the data.

Nevertheless, let us accept your argument hypothetically. It would imply that only those who follow strict guidelines will be successful using EMDR. This may help us to delineate EMDR's *efficacy* but it implies that EMDR's *effectiveness* in real world settings is deficient (based on the technical research definitions of these terms). Now are you really willing to imply that EMDR is not effective if Francine's special formulas are adhered to?

[However, we can find examples of how this statement is only cited when convenient. When it is not convenient, it is ignored. For example, when sounds were substituted for eye movements and the same results were found, EMDR proponents pronounced that this was evidence of how robust and effective the EMDR procedure was. Of course, the more parsimonious interpretation is that the so-called "bilateral stimulation" is not responsible for the treatment's benefits, esp. when further information showed that no bilateral stiumation produced the same results.]

More importantly, we have some data to help guide us even here so that we can move from the hypothetical to the empirical. The recent meta-analysis in JCCP concluded:

"Do therapists trained by the EMDR Institute produce different results? The evidence gathered does not show that including only therapist trained by the EMDR Institute changed the conclusions about the effect of EMDR" (p. 313).

This implies that the frequently cited "treatment fidelity" issue that Francine esp. likes to raise is really nothing more than rhetoric that conveniently allows EMDR proponents to try to dodge the research facts.

Davidson & Parker (2001). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): A meta-analysis. Journal of Counsulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 305-316. [see previous thread on this topic]

Replies:

Re:EMDR for anxiety and phobias, by a forum reader and emdr client, 10/08/01 Re:EMDR for anxiety and phobias, by Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD, 10/08/01

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