Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was devised by Francine Shapiro in 1987.
EMDR involves talking about traumatic memories while engaging in side-to-side eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation. It is also used for some other psychological conditions.
EMDR is recommended for the treatment of PTSD by various government and medical bodies citing varying levels of evidence, including the World Health Organization, the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, and the US Departments of Veteran Affairs and Defense. The American Psychological Association does not endorse EMDR as a first-line treatment, but indicates that it is probably effective for treating adult PTSD.
Systematic analyses published since 2013 generally indicate that EMDR treatment efficacy for adults with PTSD is equivalent to trauma-focused cognitive and behavioral therapies (TF-CBT), such as Prolonged exposure therapy (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). However, bilateral stimulation does not contribute substantially, if at all, to treatment effectiveness. The predominant therapeutic factors in EMDR and TF-CBT are exposure and various components of cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Because eye movements and other bilateral stimulation techniques do not uniquely contribute to EMDR treatment efficacy, EMDR has been characterized as a purple hat therapy, i.e., its effectiveness is due to the same therapeutic methods found in other evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD, namely exposure therapy and CBT techniques, without any contribution from its distinctive add-ons.
EMDR was invented by Francine Shapiro in 1987.
In a workshop, Shapiro related how the idea of the therapy came to her while she was taking a walk in the woods, and discerned she had been able to cope better with disturbing thoughts when also experiencing saccadic eye movements. [1] Psychologist Gerald Rosen has expressed doubt about this description, saying that people are normally not aware of this type of eye movement. [1] Gerald Rosen and Bruce Grimley suggest that it is more likely that she developed EMDR out of her experience with neuro-linguistic programming . [2] [3] [4]
EMDR is typically undertaken in a series of sessions with a trained therapist. [5] The number of sessions can vary depending on the progress made. A typical EMDR therapy session lasts from 60 to 90 minutes. [6]
The person being treated is asked to recall an image, phrase, and emotion that represent a level of distress related to a trigger while generating one of several types of bilateral sensory input, such as side-to-side eye movements or hand tapping. [7] The 2013 World Health Organization practice guideline says that "Like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with a trauma focus, EMDR aims to reduce subjective distress and strengthen adaptive beliefs related to the traumatic event. Unlike CBT with a trauma focus, EMDR does not involve (a) detailed descriptions of the event, (b) direct challenging of beliefs, (c) extended exposure or (d) homework." [8]
Many proposals of EMDR efficacy share an assumption that, as Shapiro posited, when a traumatic or very negative event occurs, information processing of the experience in memory may be incomplete. The trauma causes a disruption of normal adaptive information processing, which results in unprocessed information being dysfunctionally held in memory networks. [9] According to the 2013 World Health Organization practice guideline: "This therapy [EMDR] is based on the idea that negative thoughts, feelings and behaviours are the result of unprocessed memories." [8] This proposed mechanism has no known scientific basis. [10]
Several other possible mechanisms have been proposed:
Bilateral stimulation is a generalization of the left and right repetitive eye movement technique first used by Shapiro. Alternative stimuli include auditory stimuli that alternate between left and right speakers or headphones and physical stimuli such as tapping of the therapist's hands or tapping devices. [16]
Most meta-analyses have found that the inclusion of bilateral eye-movements within EMDR makes little or no difference to its effect. [17] [18] [19] Meta-analyses have also described a high risk of allegiance bias in EMDR studies. [20] One 2013 meta-analysis with fewer exclusion criteria found a moderate effect. [21]
Systematic reviews in 2013, including a Cochrane study comparing EMDR with other psychotherapies in the treatment of chronic PTSD found EMDR to be as effective as TF-CBT (trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapies). [22] [23] A 2018 systematic review found moderate strength of evidence supporting the effectiveness of EMDR in reducing symptoms of PTSD and depression, as well as increasing the likelihood of patients losing their PTSD diagnosis. [24] A 2020 systematic review concluded: "A recent increase in RCTs [randomized controlled trials] of psychological therapies for PTSD, results in a more confident recommendation of CBT-T and EMDR as the first-line treatments." [25] A 2023 Cochrane systematic review analyzed psychosocial interventions for survivors of rape and sexual assault experienced during adulthood and concluded that EMDR is a "first-line treatment" for PTSD along with other trauma-focused psychotherapies, such as Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure. [26]
In a 2021 systematic review of 13 studies, clients had mixed perceptions of the effectiveness of EMDR therapy. [27]
EMDR has been tested on a variety of other mental health conditions with mixed results. [28]
EMDR is controversial among some scholars in the psychological community. [45] [46] [47] It is used by some practitioners for trauma therapy and in the treatment of complex post-traumatic stress disorder. [48] [49]
EMDR has been called a purple hat therapy because any effectiveness is provided by the underlying therapy (or the standard treatment), not from EMDR's distinctive features. [50] [51]
Some scholars have criticized Francine Shapiro for repeatedly increasing the length and expense of training and certification, allegedly in response to the results of controlled trials that cast doubt on EMDR's efficacy. [52] [53] This included requiring the completion of an EMDR training program in order to be qualified to administer EMDR properly after researchers using the initial written instructions found no difference between no-eye-movement control groups and EMDR-as-written experimental groups. Further changes in training requirements and/or the definition of EMDR included requiring level II training when researchers with level I training still found no difference between eye-movement experimental groups and no-eye-movement controls and deeming "alternate forms of bilateral stimulation" (such as finger-tapping) as variants of EMDR by the time a study found no difference between EMDR and a finger-tapping control group. [52] Such changes in definition and training for EMDR have been described as "ad hoc moves [made] when confronted by embarrassing data". [54]
EMDR adds a number of techniques that do not appear to contribute to therapeutic effectiveness, e.g., bilateral stimulation. [10] EMDR is classified as one of the "power therapies" alongside thought field therapy, Emotional Freedom Techniques and others –so called because these therapies are marketed as being superior to established therapies which preceded them. [55]
EMDR has been characterized as pseudoscience, because the underlying theory and primary therapeutic mechanism are unfalsifiable and non-scientific. EMDR's founder and other practitioners have used untestable hypotheses to explain studies which show no effect. [56] The results of the therapy are non-specific, especially if directed eye movements are irrelevant to the results. When these movements are removed, what remains is a broadly therapeutic interaction and deceptive marketing. [53] [57] According to neurologist Steven Novella:
[T]he false specificity of these treatments is a massive clinical distraction. Time and effort are wasted clinically in studying, perfecting, and using these methods, rather than focusing on the components of the interaction that actually work. [58]
Furthermore, Novella argues that investigation into EMDR has been characterised by poor-quality studies, rather than tightly-controlled trials that could justify or falsify the mechanisms that have been proposed to support it. Novella writes that the research quantity nevertheless means that EMDR has claimed a place among accepted treatments and is "not likely going away anytime soon, even though it is a house of cards built on nothing". [59]
EMDR has been characterised as a modern-day mesmerism, as the therapies have striking resemblances, from the sole inventor who devises the system while out walking, to the large business empire built on exaggerated claims. In the case of EMDR, these have included the suggestions that EMDR could drain violence from society and be useful in treating cancer and HIV/AIDS. [60] Psychology historian Luis Cordón has compared the popularity of EMDR to that of other cult-like pseudosciences, facilitated communication and thought field therapy. [61]
A parody website advertising "sudotherapy" created by a fictional "Fatima Shekel" appeared on the internet in the 1990s. [62] [63] [64] Proponents of EMDR described the website as libelous, since the website contained an image of a pair of shifting eyes following a cat named "Sudo", and "Fatima Shekel" has the same initials as EMDR's founder, Francine Shapiro. [64] However, no legal action took place against the website or its founders. [64]
1.6.20 EMDR for adults should: be based on a validated manual; typically be provided over 8 to 12 sessions, but more if clinically indicated, for example if they have experienced multiple traumas; be delivered by trained practitioners with ongoing supervision; be delivered in a phased manner and include psychoeducation about reactions to trauma, managing distressing memories and situations, identifying and treating target memories (often visual images), and promoting alternative positive beliefs about the self; use repeated in-session bilateral stimulation (normally with eye movements) for specific target memories until the memories are no longer distressing; include the teaching of self-calming techniques and techniques for managing flashbacks, for use within and between sessions.
...eye movements and other bilateral stimulation techniques appear to be unnecessary and do not uniquely contribute to clinical outcomes. The characteristic procedural feature of EMDR appears therapeutically inert, and the other aspects of this treatment (e.g., imaginal exposure, cognitive reappraisal, in vivo exposure) overlap substantially with those of exposure-based treatments for PTSD...EMDR offers few, if any, demonstrable advantages over competing evidence-based psychological treatments. Moreover, its theoretical model and purported primary active therapeutic ingredient are not scientifically supported.
Results indicate efficacy of EMDR when effect sizes are based on comparisons between the EMDR and the non-established trauma treatment or the no-treatment control groups, and the incremental efficacy when effect sizes are based on comparisons between the EMDR and the established (CBT) trauma treatment.
EMDR was found to be significantly more effective than other therapies in the treatment of PTSD. However, these results are not convincing for a number of reasons. First, there were few studies with low risk of bias. Furthermore, studies with low risk of bias did not point at a significant difference between EMDR and other therapies. The difference between studies with low risk of bias and those with at least some risk of bias was significant and we found considerable indications for researcher allegiance. Because studies with low risk of bias found no difference between EMDR and other therapies, we conclude that there is not enough evidence to decide about the comparative effects of EMDR.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Nevertheless, to date, given that there is no evidence that anything unique to EMDR is responsible for the positive outcomes in comparing it to no treatment and the florid manner in which it has been marketed, we are including it in this book... Another way in which EMDR qualifies as a pseudoscience is the manner in which it was developed and marketed... EMDR proponents have come up with ad hoc hypotheses to explain away unfavorable results that do not support its theory, which is one of the hallmark indicators of a pseudoscience... This type of post hoc explanation renders her theory unfalsifiable and thus places it outside the realm of science, because to qualify as scientific, a theory must be falsifiable.