research into EMDR

EMDR:

Online videos about EMDR – observation of subjects in therapy – talking about personal trauma- re-entering memory trauma – in silence – being guided by breathing into a safe space.

Look at training and literature for EDMR – what would I need to train – where etc: EMDR has been an established therapy since 1990, first discovered in 1987 by Francine Shapiro, 39 year old psychology grad student in california. She discovered it by accident when walking through a park thinking about her trauma, noticed her eyes moved and then the trauma seemed to have less of an effect on her. She started to test this on her friends, but they seemed to struggle just using their eyes and so this introduced the hand movement so that subjects could follow their fingertips, making the exercise easier.

It was discovered through further testing, that this therapy was very effective on veterans, out of 200, 80% improved. Later these results continued when Dr.Lipke got a selection of EMDR trained clinicians, who had treated over 10,000 patience, that showed 74% had improved (1994)

Theories on how the therapy works are based on the observed clinical effects pre and post therapy, and it has been discussed that this is effective due to the stimulation of brain hemispheres. It is said that patterned eye movement along with psychotherapy techniques results in a ‘clearing’ effect towards emotional/cognitive/physical blockages.

The therapy is almost exclusively used to treat PTSD, but is constantly being researched and therefore, gaining more grounds to expand on its uses in other areas. The most important aspects of the therapy to date are the eye movement and the intimacy/vulnerability/closeness between the client and the trained physician.