Since its inception in 1989, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has evolved from a simple technique to treat posttraumatic stress disorder comprehensive psychotherapy approach that treats broad range of clinical problems variety contexts with diverse populations. This position paper is the result two-year project by Council Scholars’ “What EMDR?” workgroup was tasked p...

This study was conducted in the United Kingdom at two major conferences to examine how therapists (N = 83) integrated eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR) into their clinical practice. Data from a mixed methodology suggests that up to 40% of the sample experienced difficulties post-EMDR training. Results indicated that analytically trained and humanistic therapists experienced signi...

Ten years ago Shapiro (1989) modified Wolpe’s (1958) systematic desensitization therapy by re­ placing progressive muscle relaxation with induced eye movements as the “reciprocal inhibitor” of distress. Designed originally as a treatment for traumatic memories, it was called Eye Movement Desensitization (EMD). Its essence was as follows. After identifying a traumatic target memory, the therapis...

Background: We performed the first meta-analysis of clinical studies by investigating the effects of eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy on the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and subjective distress in PTSD patients treated during the past 2 decades. Methods: We performed a quantitative meta-analysis on the findings of 26 randomiz...

Background: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapeutic approach that has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) through several randomized controlled trials (RCT). Solid evidence shows that traumatic events can contribute to the onset of severe mental disorders and can worsen their prognosis. The aim of this systematic re...

the present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (cbt) and eye movement desensiti­zation and reprocessing (emdr) in reducing ptsd symptoms severity among iranian children 20 months after the 2008 qeshm earthquake. this study follows an experimental design with randomized pre-test post-test to control the internal and external validity of the study. in this st...

Background: Substance use disorders (SUD) are patterns of substance use leading to severe impairment on social, working and economic levels. In vivo and clinical findings have enhanced the role of the brain's stress-related system in maintaining SUD behaviors. Several studies have also revealed a high prevalence of post-traumatic symptoms among SUD patients, suggesting that a trauma-informed tr...

BACKGROUND Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a recognized first-line treatment for psychological trauma. However its neurobiological bases have yet to be fully disclosed. METHODS Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to fully monitor neuronal activation throughout EMDR sessions including the autobiographical script. Ten patients with major psychological trauma were inves...

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an efficacious and efficient treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This article provides a brief overview of the findings of 20 controlled-outcome studies and describes Shapiro's Adaptive Information Processing model. This model posits that pathology results when distressing experiences are processed inadequately and hypothes...

BACKGROUND Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based treatment for PTSD. However, it is unclear whether EMDR shows the same effectiveness in patients with substance use disorders (SUD) and comorbid PTSD. In this trial, we examine the effectiveness of EMDR in reducing PTSD symptoms in patients with SUD and PTSD. METHODS/DESIGN We conduct a single-blinded RCT amo...