Integration and EMDR

EMDR is a psychotherapy phenomenon that has been confronted with multiple paradoxes. Its title explicitly invokes “eye movements,” but the extant research now suggests that eye movements are not the only means of invoking the central mechanism of therapeutic action (see Shapiro, 1995, 2001). The early EMDR training was criticized as closed and unduly restrictive, yet the formal training course has now been completed by more than 30,000 mental health professionals. The EMDR procedure emerged from personal observations outside the scientific academy, yet EMDR is currently the most extensively researched treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Maxfield & Hyer, 2002; Van Etten & Taylor, 1998). And EMDR originated from a rather narrow behavioral orientation but has evolved into a leading integrative treatment.

Book Section

English

John C. Norcross
Francine Shapiro

Norcross, J. C., & Shapiro, F. (2002). Integration and EMDR. In F. Shapiro (Ed.), EMDR as an integrative psychotherapy approach: Experts of diverse orientations explore the paradigm prism (pp. 341-356). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association