EMDR Research Paper

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Recommended: Cognitive and Intellectual Consequences of child abuse

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
With an average of more than three million instances of child abuse reported annually in the United States, social workers face an overwhelming client list of children and adults who are or have been victims of cruelty and negligence. Left untreated, the chances that these individuals may lead lives fraught with future psychological conditions are increased exponentially. Since many children and some adults are incapable of verbalizing disturbing experiences, a treatment called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can often provide the resolution that more traditional therapies can’t. Overall EMDR therapy is important because it helps to process distressing memories, reducing their lingering effects which allow patients to develop more adaptive coping mechanisms and lead normal lives.
EMDR was developed in the late 1970’s by Francine Shapiro and was chiefly used on veterans of the Vietnam War. However it is now commonly used beyond the military population and is considered very effective in dealing with anxiety and depression. EMDR is used for individuals who have experienced severe trauma that continues to remain unresolved. The main objective of EMDR therapy is to desensitize patients to their stressful memories, reducing their persistent effects and allowing clients to develop more adaptive coping mechanisms. This is done in an eight-step procedure that includes having patients recall distressing images while being administered one of several types of dual sensory input, this including side to side eye movements, taping, or auditory tones. Bilateral stimulation is stimuli which are presented in left to right patterns. These can be in the form of auditory tones, hand...

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...ces, accidents or the abrupt death of a loved one, and physical or sexual assault. EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma. Generally EMDR has proven to be a very successful therapy, but one that many do not completely understand. While this lack of understanding creates some of the controversy surrounding EMDR most of the controversy is centered on whether the eye movement part of the treatment is essential to helping patients diagnosed with PTSD. So far researchers cannot yet be sure that the eye movement part of the treatment is essential to helping patients diagnosed with PTSD. Overall EMDR therapy is important because it helps to process distressing memories, reducing their lingering effects which allow patients to develop more adaptive coping mechanisms and lead ordinary lives.

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