EMDR history in Asia: Past, present and future

To know the present status of EMDR in Asian countries: Method: Inquiries by e-mail to the representatives of Asian countries and related US or European people were sent. Replies were received from countries like Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand. Questions were on the origin of EMDR, the first training, the number of trainings so far, the number of trained practitioners, credentials, academic organization, acceptance from government, media, and professional world, future possibilities, and difficulties expected. Results: Some countries like Australia, Japan and Korea have already reached the moderate stage, but still they have problems to be solved. In Australia, their first training was in 1993 and many therapists have received training, but, organization started very recently and network is not strong. In Japan, Japan EMDR Association has more than 800 members and started publishing their own academic journal in 2009. However sceptical statements about EMDR can be seen in some books on trauma. In Korea, they have health insurance system for EMDR but practitioners are few. The other countries are in the early stage to grow the EMDR community or support the EMDR therapists. Most of them began the history after a big natural disaster like Tsunami or earthquake. HAP from Europe and/or US supports their beginning. The first Asian conference could be a good opportunity to start mutual understanding and cooperation in Asia.

Conference

English

Masaya Ichii

Ichii, M. (2010, July). EMDR history in Asia: Past, present and future. Keynote presented at the 1st EMDR Asia Conference, Bali, Indonesia