Exploring the intersection of EMDR and play therapy

American psychologist, educator, and founder of EMDR, Francine Shapiro’s adaptive information processing (AIP) model proposes that the integration of both positive and negative experiences into our nervous system is the healthy process by which we grow. When an acutely negative or traumatic event occurs, our own neurobiological effort to cope with the trauma sabotages this information processing by isolating the related associations, images, feelings, etc. (Shapiro, 2017).

EMDR’s potency in entering this isolated memory network and enabling the client to begin the adaptive process of integration is well established. In the field, professionals are now looking into the intriguing question of how EMDR does its work and, often the more complicated question, how can EMDR professionals best get each client to do it?

Magazine

English

Ann Beckley-Forest

Beckley-Forest, A. (2019). Exploring the intersection of EMDR and play therapy. Go With That, 24(1), 7-12