TFT, NLP, TM, Hypnosis, Focusing, etc.

• Science and Progress by Francine Shapiro, 7/19/97
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    • TFT/EFT and Cognitive Reprocessing by Robert Yourell, 8/4/97
      
      

As I mentioned earlier, research and clinical standards are necessary before any realistic judgments can be made. Nevertheless, there are many methods that can allow cognitive processing to occur by altering *present state* emotional disturbance. Every new addition is welcome. The more tools people have to deal with their emotions, the better. Nevertheless, it is vital to make sure that methods are not equated with each other simply because some similarities exist.

As an approach, EMDR is an integration of a variety of clinical orientations. It offers therapists a new way to view pathology, and is structurally delineated, with a number of protocols for specific clinical complaints. However, the EMDR clinician is able to incorporate a variety of different techniques into the overall approach. The choice to use the EMDR method is based upon desired outcome. In terms of cognitive processing, insights, emotional changes etc., the hallmarks of EMDR effects include a generalization and cognitive processing that go beyond the range of the earlier identified target. For instance, within a given session, the woman who came to deal with intrusions regarding the abandonment by her husband, goes far beyond symptom reduction and achieves a new sense of self and self-efficacy as she comes to terms with her own terminal diagnosis from cancer and her impending death. She gains awareness of her own ability to make a contribution to the world, and ends up doubling her life expectancy. It is the difference between such a full accelerated processing through the related associative network versus a lowering of emotional arousal that might allow additional cognitive changes to occur in real time. Thus, it is the specific therapeutic goal that dictates the method to be used in any given case. In a different instance it might have been more appropriate simply to reduce a target symptom.

Each method has strengths and weaknesses. It is simply vital not to confuse them. Other methods are more suited to be self-help techniques. EMDR is not advocated as a self-help technique because of the amount of material it stimulates. This characteristic is responsible for its comprehensive treatment effects. There is no knowing from the initial target where the client will end up because EMDR delves very deeply into the underlying problems. Therefore, it should always be conducted by a trained clinician in appropriate settings. There are applications to non-clinical populations, but they are based on the ability of EMDR to be used to accelerate learning. The incorporation of *positive templates* is always part of the final stage of the EMDR protocols. That is, what skill or behavior does the client need to learn for the future? Therefore, EMDR has been expanded into the range of *peak performance* for business and sports psychology because it can orchestrate an enhanced learning. Positive imagery, positive cognitions, positive affects become more vivid and valid and do so in a structured manner.

It is EMDRs ability to achieve the incorporation of *positive templates* that has led me to challenge psychodynamic therapists to identify in a more structured manner the way in which transference is used. Specifically, for those clients with severe childhood trauma, there needs to be a way to teach object constancy, ability to trust self-perception, ability to bond, love, etc. By using EMDR, clients are taught new skills and behaviors to help them in the future. I would like to see a more structured way to open the developmental windows that would allow the more severe clients to lead happy and fruitful lives, not just ones without pronounced pathology.

I would love to hear from any clinicians who feel they can articulate what specific experiences they attempt to orchestrate clinically to allow clients to gain these important abilities. Specifically, transference experiences could be deliberately elicited by the clinician and EMDR applied in order to enhance it, help its integration, and to allow the positive effects to be generalized to real life. Therefore, what specific types of experiences would have to be orchestrated in order to counterbalance the pronounced childhood deficits generally encountered as part of the clinical picture?

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