EMDR therapy: Adaptive information processing, clinical applications and research recommendations

I want to begin by thanking the Division for honoring me with the 2009 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Practice in Trauma Psychology. I was very touched to have received the award in the 20th year since the publication of my first article in the Journal of Traumatic Stress in 1989. I also appreciate this invitation to provide an update on some of the recent advances in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) practice that are relevant to the Division, along with a clarification of its current procedures and theoretical underpinnings. For instance, due in part to my first publication, which described “EMD” solely in terms of desensitization with repeated return to the target memory, many in the field are unaware that, as EMDR, it is no longer simply an exposure treatment. In fact, with the accent on “reprocessing,” EMDR pays only occasional attention to the initial target and, importantly, includes the facilitation of an association process that actually contradicts most of the tenets of current exposure therapies. Therefore, I will also take this opportunity to explain some of the differences between these treatment orientations, since this distinction points the way to additional clinical applications and research opportunities. [Excerpt]

Newsletter

English

Francine Shapiro

Shapiro, F. (2010, Spring/Summer). EMDR therapy: Adaptive information processing, clinical applications and research recommendations. Trauma Psychology Newsletter, 12-18