EMDR enters the legal system
Description
I am a recovering victim of the Family Law "injustice" system. I am an EMDR Senior Trainer. These two worlds will be forever intertwined in my life, as I could not have survived these last five years of "legal violence and abuse" perpetrated on me by the legal system without EMDR treatment. The flagrant loss of my civil, constitutional, and most of all, HUMAN RIGHTS, has been a combat and prisoner-of-war situation that I never dreamed possible in this United States of America.
This presentation will focus on the identification and treatment of "cascading" and ongoing trauma, both personally and with several other victims. All clients happen to be women, although there surely are some men being abused and "treated like women" in the courts. Even though there is ample research documenting the constant "gender bias" in the courts, this only becomes a gender issue because it is primarily happening to women. Treatment implications for the children who are being abducted by the courts and given to documented abusing fathers will also be presented. Lastly, attention to the extended family trauma will be addressed.
The most disheartening and disgraceful aspect of my experience has been learning that there is not one known entity that exists today that is scrutinizing this renegade and totally out-of-control system. This lawlessness is either denied or accepted as too awful to face. In the meantime, this insidious threat to our democracy is destroying the fabric of our society, THE FAMILY.
Because the entire organized system that is supposed to cope with the divorce and custody issues is unwilling or unable to do so, the task of bringing about the necessary reforms is left to the exhausted victims. Thus the best known tool leading to the kind of empowerment that is desperately needed is EMDR.
This presentation will focus on the identification and treatment of "cascading" and ongoing trauma, both personally and with several other victims. All clients happen to be women, although there surely are some men being abused and "treated like women" in the courts. Even though there is ample research documenting the constant "gender bias" in the courts, this only becomes a gender issue because it is primarily happening to women. Treatment implications for the children who are being abducted by the courts and given to documented abusing fathers will also be presented. Lastly, attention to the extended family trauma will be addressed.
The most disheartening and disgraceful aspect of my experience has been learning that there is not one known entity that exists today that is scrutinizing this renegade and totally out-of-control system. This lawlessness is either denied or accepted as too awful to face. In the meantime, this insidious threat to our democracy is destroying the fabric of our society, THE FAMILY.
Because the entire organized system that is supposed to cope with the divorce and custody issues is unwilling or unable to do so, the task of bringing about the necessary reforms is left to the exhausted victims. Thus the best known tool leading to the kind of empowerment that is desperately needed is EMDR.
Format
Conference
Language
English
Original Work Citation
Parrett, B. A. (1997, July). EMDR enters the legal system. Presentation at the 2nd EMDR International Association Conference, San Francisco, CA
Collection
Citation
“EMDR enters the legal system,” Francine Shapiro Legacy Library, accessed February 9, 2026, https://francineshapirolibrary.omeka.net/items/show/18919.