Exposure/EMDR:  Diagnostic use of feedback

One of the tasks of psychotherapists is to attempt to reduce anxiety in their patients. They determine the level of this anxiety through patient reports, observations of body language, intuition, or results of projective and objective tests. They then gauge therapeutic effectiveness by the amount of anxiety reduction as indicated by these relatively subjective measures. Even behaviorists, who make much use of numbers in their evaluations, are not measuring anxiety but its effect on the client's behavior. It is my contention that subjective measures of anxiety are not appropriate scientific tools and, if we are to progress in the development of more effective techniques for removing or reducing anxiety, we must devise more objective and accurate techniques for measuring this state which we describe ourselves as "treating."

Newsletter

English

Frank J. Schlosser

Schlosser, F. J. (1993, Fall/Winter). Exposure/EMDR: Diagnostic use of feedback. EMDR Network Newsletter, 3(2), 7-10