EMDR and addiction: Essential skills beyond basic training

Research has shown that EMDR may be utilized to assist with recovery from chemical and process addictions. The challenges with this population can be daunting, and for many years EMDR therapists were encouraged to wait to do any trauma work until the client had months of recovery. This perspective has been found to be untenable in that the unprocessed material often fuels relapse, demonstrating the need for concurrent treatment of addiction and trauma. In this workshop we will identify the origins of addiction from the AIP perspective and challenges specific to addiction clients; learn and practice creating a treatment plan from the AIP perspective for addiction clients; identify several resourcing options to prepare addiction clients for reprocessing, specifically addressing alexithymia, affect phobia, and difficulty with affect regulation; identify three protocols specifically for use with chemical and/or process addictions; and determine when to use a specific protocol with an addiction client.

Conference

English

Julie Miller

Miller, J. (2014, September). EMDR and addiction: Essential skills beyond basic training. Presentation at the 20th EMDR International Association Conference, Denver, CO