Comments on: Does EMDR Work for PTSD in Just 5 Sessions?

By: JLH

JLH — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:45:50 +0000

I like PsychCentral and have referred clients here, but I have to say that I’d be more impressed with EMDR and this article if EMDR were studied against anxiety treatments other than SSRIs and placebo.

This seems a bit of a rehash that EMDR is better than Prozac (an antidepressant) or doing nothing.

By: tiredofitall

tiredofitall — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:51:30 +0000

I know someone who is doing EMDR. Does it help? I haven’t decided that yet. I can say that this person feels that unless their entire family goes to therapy there is no hope for this person to get better. That in some way they are being denied their reality because their entire family isn’t in therapy. The family feels that if this is what this particular person needs to feel better, being in therapy, then so be it and by all means go. But they also feel that it is unfair for the one person to demand that the entire family be in therapy when they absolutely don’t feel that they are the ones who need it. This is like saying if you all don’t go to therapy then it is all your fault that I don’t get better. What say all of you.

By: RG

RG — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:37:37 +0000

These posts begin in 2007 and there are now a lot more people who have been significantly helped with long term stable results using EMDR. The research is now substantial and the people who have been helped don’t care about sceptics who have never witnessed therapeutic transformations from what was a living hell. Placebos don’t transform, only temporarily placate. It is not possible for the recipient of life saving therapy to be a sceptic. The fact that some who receive EMDR for a time get worse, more nightmares etc – and I have heard this before – is a concern and raises questions as to how it works. I do not employ EMDR in my practice but I know therapists who successfully do. I use TIR (Traumatic Incident Reduction) and note that I have never seen this happen. TIR addresses an incident and stays with it till it resolves. This occasionally makes for a longer session but the pain trapped in the event releases and has never come back in my experience. My understanding of the mechanism of traumatic events (as explained in TIR literature) makes this logical. With the “charge” no longer in the memory, there is no longer anything there to trigger and being truly resolved (always signified in the session) it cannot create itself again. People have said in earlier posts that these therapies don’t get rid of the memory but the pain goes. No therapy would claim to get rid of a memory except perhaps lobotomy. Memories are not the enemy, only the unbearable emotional pain in them.

By: Irene

Irene — Mon, 23 May 2011 22:51:40 +0000

I would tend to remain skeptical myself at this point. Too new and generally nothing comes quick and easy. Maybe, as was mentioned, the effect is more placebo than anything. I won’t rule it out, but I would remain skeptical.

By: NYEMDR

NYEMDR — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:59:08 +0000

Hmmmm.

I really think it is an unfair question. After being an EMDR therapist for over 12 years, the answer there is no set time.

There are way too many variables. My approach is extremely direct, I talk during the eye movements and I challenge alot of the myths to accelerate the process. For some people this is great, they get quick results. For other people this is a poor approach and they need to go slower.

Then there is the variable of how many threads are there are to the trauma. Have they done any work on it before. Is there a trauma they blocked that now is coming up.

In my experience I have seen results in just one EMDR session, usually unresolved grief. 6 EMDR sessions for a Viet Nam Vet. 3 for a rape survivor, and 10 for a different survivor of Rape.

So my answer is there is no answer.

By: barb

barb — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:00:56 +0000

Like any therapy, the practice of EMDR is effective, especially when incorporated into an overall integrated therapy approach. Nothing is going to work the same for everyone. EMDR has been proven to work in scientific studies. Go to EMDRIA’s website for more details.

By: Psychologist Jerry Solfanelli

Psychologist Jerry Solfanelli — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:38:25 +0000

Here’s a GREAT collection of links about EMDR & Mindfulness from psychologist and former PESI speaker who was trained in EMDR in 1995 under the direction of Dr. Francine Shapiro, EMDR’s originator:

http://www.ThePsychologist.com/pesi.htm

By: lfshadow

lfshadow — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:54:09 +0000

To “been_there_done_that” and other skeptics of EMDR or any other treatments: Whether you think it is legitimate or not is not important. What matters is that it works for a lot of people (even if it is a placebo – it still WORKS). So, please don’t discourage people from trying something that could ultimately change their lives for the better.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:53:39 +0000

I too have been undergoing EMDR and I have to say after YEARS of working with the typical treatments and practices that are out there I have seen a dramatic reduction in my PTSD from on the job experiences. It really does work!

By: Miriam

Miriam — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:30:26 +0000

I am a recipient of EMDR and I am amazed at how quickly it gets me in touch with the gut pain of the trauma, but just as quickly leads to resolution in the session. It doesn’t remove the memories of my childhood abuse, but it removes the ongoing anxiety, fear, paralysis that I feel as an adult. That pain belongs to the young child, and I experience it as such in the emdr, so that I no longer have to be haunted by it as an adult. It really does work!!

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:36:43 +0000

Samuel

You say that the “body of research is growing.” Can you please provide me with links to an independently funded study addressing EMDR’s effectiveness when compared to other treatment modalities and placebo? How about some studies that show that the Eye Movement portion works as intended (e.g. EMDR w/ and without Eye movements)? Please, have these studies be published in reputable journals and with significant treatment sizes. I’ve read the “case studies” on EMDR and they are just that – case studies.

My sense is that the CBT portion of EMDR and suggestibility of the treatment milieu are the most important here. I also suspect that, there is very little to no difference when comparing EMDR to other treatment modalities. Comparing them to a control group (untreated) is pointless.

By: Mia Taylor

Mia Taylor — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:50:04 +0000

My husband has gone to an exhaustive number of cognitive behavioural counselling sessions for his PTSD. My husband did not improve and actually got a bit worse.

With our marriage on the brink of destruction, I asked him to try EMDR with a different therapist. I read about EMDR and was intrigued. I have seen more change in him from the EMDR sessions he has gone to, than anything else. He also reports feeling 100% better.

After seeing the results in my husband, I have actually gone myself for EMDR, to treat my panic attacks caused by my husband’s affairs (stemming from his childhood PTSD). I am feeling much better. The memories are still there, but not nearly as painful as they were. I can actually function now.

I am not a scientist, a skeptic, or a hopeful looking for a miracle. But I can say that as a patient, EMDR is helping us.

By: Samuel Lopez De Victoria, Ph.D.

Samuel Lopez De Victoria, Ph.D. — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 03:32:16 +0000

“been_there_done_that” should talk to all the patients I constantly see that over year later, still have no residual trauma effects having been treated via EMDR or other similar modalities. I work with the former Director of the National Pain Society and also another former director of a large rehabilitation dept. Both went on to start their own clinic. Both believe and apply EMDR in treating psychological trauma from incapacitating injuries. Like them there are many.

The Shapiro argument is a poor one. YOu are correct on her Ph.D., however, you ignore the vast legitimate Ph.D.’s that use it. The body of literature is growing. I rather choose the healing I constantly see that holds over the long haul than this gentleman’s implied alternatives that typically take years if at all there is healing.

By: been_there_done_that

been_there_done_that — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 01:50:28 +0000

Facts are facts. Shapiro, the so-called inventor of EMDR received a PhD from an unaccredited school, so its essentially worthless. There is not a single controlled study accepted by the medical community that EMDR has any benefit whatsoever. If you still want to beleive it is a legitimate treatment despite the truth, then I wonder just how far out of touch you are with reality.
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/mentserv.html#EMDR

By: Samuel Lopez De Victoria, Ph.D.

Samuel Lopez De Victoria, Ph.D. — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:38:55 +0000

Oh, please… I’ve been in the field of helping people for many years and I have constant eyewitness of many folks (around 95% of my patients) experience trauma, phobia, etc. disolution. I suspect that folks that are down on EMDR and NLP are probably not trained in it and therefore are speaking from “internet reports” and possibly out of touch with their own emotions and live in the cranial world only. Just my take. No offense intended.