THE EMDR REVOLUTION

A debut guide to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), a psychotherapy method that has helped patients with post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments.

Therapist Croitoru sets out to explain and examine EMDR’s benefits and its place in modern psychotherapy, and to reveal and counteract misconceptions about psychotherapy in general. This isn’t a book for doctors, but for people who may be unaware of or apprehensive about the EMDR method. Introduced in the late 1980s, EMDR is a process of revisiting and re-experiencing memories, and creating new thoughts to help correct old ruts, fears and anxieties. Originally used to treat PTSD patients who served during the Vietnam War, EMDR uses sounds and eye movements to stimulate each hemisphere of the brain, in order to help desensitize the patient to a traumatic memory; then, the practitioner asks the client to revisit the memory and process trauma that the brain didn’t appropriately organize the first time around. Instead of confronting negative feelings directly, the author explains, EMDR focuses on quickly finding and breaking the link between negative events and the feelings they cause. The book provides examples of EMDR sessions, and provides testimonials from patients who successfully used this process. Readers will find a wide range of stories of people who used EMDR to overcome traumatizing events—from domestic and relationship crises to emergency situations and abuse. Croitoru also does a thorough job of comparing the method with other psychological tactics, which see negative emotions as the problem rather than a symptom. Overall, this book will ably equip any reader who may be thinking of undergoing EMDR therapy.

An accessible explanation of a complex psychotherapy method.