More on eye movements

    EMDR (Shapiro)

    More on eye movements
    by Francine Shapiro, 11/14/97

    As stated in numerous articles (e.g., Shapiro, 1989a, b, 1991, 1994), the use of eye movements in EMDR was based upon an accidental discovery. While walking one day, I noted that disturbing thoughts appeared to be disappearing in association with multiple saccadic eye movement. When retrieved, these thoughts were less disturbing. Deliberate instigation of the eye movements seemed to cause the same effect and became the springboard for the EMDR method. It appears, however, that these same kinds of eye movements were the subject of controlled investigation many years before.

    It is interesting to note that in 1964, Antrobus posited a model which stated that *the frequency of eye movements was positively related to the rate of change of cognitive content* (Antrobus , Antrobus & Singer, 1964, p. 245). In carefully designed studies the degree of eye motility was found to correspond significantly with certain cognitive responses (Antrobus, 1973; Antrobus et al., 1964). It was noted that *The attempt to break up a thought sequence when it is unpleasant or anxiety provoking may very well lead to a series of almost desperate rapid shifts in cognitive activity with consequent ocular motility* (Antrobus et al., 1964, p. 251). Antrobus reports interrupting a subject to question the nature of the cognitive content after observing a series of three saccades which took 1.5 seconds. He was informed that it had been elicited by a highly unpleasant thought and speculated that the series of saccades was associated with an automatic attempt at thought dispersal. I reported a similar experience (Shapiro, 1989a, b) from the subjective, internal point of view, and then experimented with induced saccades of equivalent speed (i.e., *one back and forth movement per second*). This indicates that I had naturalistically stumbled upon a previously reported phenomena.

    It also seems to underscore the need for paying attention to phenomena in our everyday lives in order potentially to maximize the effects of natural physiological processes.

      • Study Why EMDR Works by Gil Levin, 11/15/97
        • New Sensibility in Science by Francine Shapiro, 11/17/97
      • An observation on EMDR mechanism by Ed Tryk, Ph. D., 1/3/98
        • Various types of stimulation by Francine Shapiro, 1/5/98
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