Walking myself back home:  How the body walks through traums

Shapiro published the first of many controlled studies investigating the effectiveness of EMDR in 1989. She studied 22 subjects who were suffering from trauma and experiencing “intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, sleep disturbances, low self-esteem, and relationship problems,” which she described as the “presenting complaints.” She analyzed three different variables — anxiety level, the validity of a positive statement of the traumatic incident, and these complaints. She measured these variables at three different moments before she implemented EMDR therapy, and at 1-month and 3-month follow-ups. A single session had dramatic positive results on all three variables. Larger scale studies soon followed, confirming these results. EMDR is strikingly effective when dealing with one-time adult-onset trauma, and might need more treatment time or may not be as effective for people who experienced trauma as children or those who have endured multiple traumas. In 2013, the World Health Organization recognized the effectiveness of this treatment, suggesting that EMDR be used instead of anti-anxiety drugs for those suffering from PTSD.

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Jennifer Tennant

Tennant, J. (2019, March 7). Walking myself back home:  How the body walks through trauma. The Smart Set. Retrieved from https://thesmartset.com/walking-myself-home/ on 3/9/2019