What do you think of EMDR treatment for PTSD?

Answer 1

EMDR is highly effective provided that treatment protocols are followed, i.e. that a level of stabilization has already been achieved. A person needs to be safe (out of any abusive situation) and have enough ability to self-soothe such that they are no longer engaging in any self-destructive behavior. Further, they need to have access to and have demonstrated an ability to tolerate their emotions without regressing to substance abuse or self-mutilation or other destructive behaviors. If these conditions haven't been met, they are not at a stage in treatment where EMDR is appropriate and it could potentially lead to decompensation. I've used it with mild trauma cases as well as DID, and I find it effective in moving things along when therapy is stuck, but there is still a lot of other work aside from EMDR that needs to take place both prior, during and after EMDR, so it isn't a quick fix, especially for complex versus simple trauma. Most of the time I haven't found it to be necessary as a great deal of the work occurs in the stabilization phase.
Good Luck!

Answer 2

I work with veterans that have PTSD and we use EMDR treatment. There are signicant studies that prove the effectiveness of this type of treatment. This treatment does help some people but is not a cure all, does not fix everything and does not work on everyone. I consider it one of the many tools we use to try and help veterans with PTSD.

EMDR is the most researched psychotherapeutic treatment for PTSD. Twenty controlled outcome studies have investigated the efficacy of EMDR in PTSD treatment.

Sixteen of these have been published, and the preliminary findings of four have been presented at conferences. Studies using waitlist controls found EMDR superior; six studies compared EMDR to treatments such as biofeedback relaxation (Carlson et al., 1998), active listening (Scheck et al., 1998), standard care (group therapy) in a VA hospital (Boudewyns & Hyer, 1996), and standard care (various forms of individual therapy) in a Kaiser HMO facility (Marcus, Marquis, & Sakai, 1997). These studies all found EMDR superior to the control condition on measures of posttraumatic stress.

Answer 3

Mixed reviews. If it were me I would make sure the practioner is certifed and ask if he/she had basic or advanced training. Of course advanced is preferable, they should be listed on the EMDR website.