An update on the progress and future of EMDR therapy

As a neurologically grounded methodology, EMDR Therapy has been successfully applied in diverse cultural settings. As a rapidly evolving form of psychotherapy, EMDR Therapy has faced and will continue to face major challenges. Some of these issues were highlighted in an invited plenary Dr. Leeds gave in Hamburg for EMDR Europe in 2010. In this update on the progress and future of EMDR therapy, we will explore a range of current challenges and consider further predictions about the next decade in EMDR therapy.

One set of current challenges involves inconsistent fidelity standards for accreditation by various national EMDR professional associations as well as non-affiliated EMDR training and accreditation programs. Standards for what has been called basic training in EMDR therapy are also being reexamined in light of progress in EMDR research and the existence of stronger training standards in other schools of psychotherapy.

While EMDR researchers readily agreed on research priorities for the next decade, clinical practice, accreditation, and training standards remain poorly linked to research. Despite more than three decades of professional EMDR training, little is known about which of the various EMDR training models are superior or lead to better clinical fidelity, retention, and advanced accreditation.

Other challenges involve emerging schisms in the international EMDR community regarding theories of mechanism, and even basic procedural elements due to divergent understandings of the neurobiological effects of bilateral eye movements.

Will EMDR therapy continue to be viewed in the international treatment guidelines as solely an individual treatment for PTSD or will group EMDR interventions and treatment of other diagnoses be recognized.

Two primary challenges identified in my 2010 Plenary in Hamburg remain unresolved. Despite metanalyses and neurobiological evidence to the contrary, EMDR therapy continues to be viewed in much of the academic world as a minor variant on exposure therapy where bilateral stimulation adds nothing of significance. In this talk we will consider what will be the areas of greatest progress and innovation in EMDR therapy in the coming decade?

Conference

English

Andrew Leeds

Leeds, A. (2023, May). An update on the progress and future of EMDR therapy. Virtual keynote presented at the EMDRAA Conference, Melbourne Victoria, Australia