EMDR for the treatment of children in the child welfare system who have been traumatized by abuse and neglect

Children who have experienced abuse and neglect can be challenging for even the seasoned child therapist. This chapter describes an empirically supported treatment approach for such children: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), based on the EMDR psychotherapy treatment methodology created by Shapiro (1989a, 1989b). EMDR provides a treatment protocol that allows the therapist to work with developing resources in the child with attachment trauma while also reprocessing traumatic events that can lead to chronic and severe mental health and physical symptoms. Within the EMDR protocol there is the opportunity to provide reparative work even without a healthy attachment figure and to provide the child with a clinical intervention to address current symptoms while also creating a positive template for the future. When using EMDR with children, the therapist is in a unique role of having the opportunity to intervene at a time when neurodevelopment is most rapid and malleable and treatment can have its greatest impact. This chapter provides a brief overview of EMDR applied to the specific issues of children in the child welfare system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Book Section

English

Robbie Adler-Tapia

Adler-Tapia, R. (2012). EMDR for the treatment of children in the child welfare system who have been traumatized by abuse and neglect. In A. Rubin, (Ed.), Programs and interventions for maltreated children and families at risk, The clinician's guide to evidence-based practice series (pp. 141-160). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc