Alphabet Confusion

• Science and Progress by Francine Shapiro, 7/19/97
  • Hundreds Read, Few Speak by Gil Levin, 7/25/97
    • The Alphabet Therapies by Dan Opdyke, Ph.D., 7/24/97
      
      

Anything useful to clients is welcome. Some of the therapies have been around for many more years than EMDR. Videos sold through magazines like Psychology Today have instructed people in home-use of TFT as a self-control technique. However, diagnosed clients and the *worried well* are two different populations. My primary concern regarding clients is the unrestricted dissemination of the techniques without rigorous evaluation. I have heard a number of stories of people getting worse, not better. Unfortunately, I have been told that there are currently no standards of practice for clinical application, or training. Both need to be developed. Further, there is a great deal of confusion caused by misinformation. Terms like *alphabet therapies* and *power therapies* have lumped EMDR in with the others where it does not belong.

EMDR is a comprehensive approach that should only be used by a licensed clinician. It brings together aspects of all the major orientations and stimulates a reprocessing of information which manifests as cognitive and physiological changes, insights, associations, ecologically valid emotions, and learning that guides a person in the future. It is also used to teach the client new skills and behaviors. The other therapies use an acupuncture-based model which is said to primarily effect emotional changes.

Over the next few years I look forward to controlled research on the other methods with diagnosed populations. However, none presently exist. Even the little evaluation that has been reported, such as in Florida, was not standardized, nor was it done with clinically diagnosed subjects. If the techniques do help clinical populations by reducing disturbing emotions, they should be a welcome addition to the therapist arsenal. However, for clinical populations, they will figure as only one component of an overall treatment plan.

• TFT/EFT and Cognitive Reprocessing by Robert Yourell, 8/4/97
  • TFT, NLP, TM, Hypnosis, Focusing, etc. by Francine Shapiro, 8/4/97