EMDR:  Warts and all

After my first training with Francine in 1989, in Israel, I was excited by this promising method and infected with her enthusiasm. I went on to use EMDR whenever I could in my work at the Nazareth Ilite Educational Psychological Service and in my private practice, as well as during my present sabbatical leave in London. I often incorporated EMDR into my work and felt comfortable and confident with a wide range of clients, ages, and difficulties and was ready to explore further with the method. Since my Level II training in November of 1992, I have learned to be more discerning, perhaps even overcautious for the time being, in applying EMDR. Reflecting over my earlier years of bolder and freer uses of EMDR, I did not encounter any negative effects. The worst that happened was that nothing much happened, and this occurred in a minority of cases (perhaps in less than 20%). Even with those cases, I had noticed that there may have been a tendency to underestimate positive effects. One of the subtle difficulties I observed assessing outcomes was that the cognitive changes that occurred were sometimes so spontaneous and "naturally" that the client took them for granted. I first notice this phenomenon clearly in two cases.

Newsletter

English

Elan Shapiro

Shapiro, E. (1993, Fall/Winter). EMDR: Warts and all. EMDR Network Newsletter, 3(2), 4-5