RUNNING HEAD: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

EMDR

Jose Martinez

Northern Arizona University

AHB495

Professor Dr. Nate Velez

April 18, 2021

Assignment: Annotated Bibliography

Pre-Discussion

I chose to do my paper on EMDR. I work in a trauma agency alongside of 4 clinicians

who all have EMDR training and are certified. I took this time to fully understand what EMDR

is. I would like know when it’s appropriate to use, what it’s used for, if it is indeed a great way to

focus on a traumatic event and the origins of EMDR. I would also like to know how EMDR

affects kids.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing or EMDR therapy is a phased, focused

approach to treating traumatic and other symptoms by reconnecting the client in a safe and

measured way to the images, self-thoughts, emotions, and body sensations associated with the

trauma. EMDR therapy involves attention to three time periods:  the past, present, and future. 

Focus is given to past disturbing memories and related events.  Also, it is given to current

situations that cause distress, and to developing the skills and attitudes needed for positive future

actions. In our agency the approximate time they take for client to do EMDR is at least 2 hours.
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Bibliography

Valiente-Gómez, A., Moreno-Alcázar, A., Treen, D., Cedrón, C., Colom, F., Pérez, V., &
Amann, B. L. (2017). EMDR beyond PTSD: A systematic literature review. Frontiers in
Psychology, 8. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01668

In this article, the author introduces you to who came up with EMDR and what it

is used for. Where does EMDR come from? Eye Movement Desensitization and

Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapeutic approach developed in the late 1980s by

Francine Shapiro. The goal of eye movement desensitization reprocessing is to treat

traumatic memories and their associated stress symptoms. In this article they also

highlight the fact that EMDR is not only restricted to PTSD, it is currently expanding to

the treatment of other conditions and comorbid disorders to PTSD.

Softic, R., Becirovic, E., & Mirkovic Hajdukov, M. (2017). Why do i have to die twice? Emdr
treatment after experience of clinical death. European Psychiatry, 41(S1).
doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.1491

In this article, the writer gives a case of Male patient 55 y/o with no prior history

of psychiatric difficulties, who experienced clinical death after cardiac infarction. The

goal is for the therapist to help the client relive the moment. As hard as that may seem,

the therapist helped the patient to re-process the traumatic event, in this case it was the

moment when he was told, “he was dead”. The therapist had achieved complete

desensitization and reprocessing were accomplished. The client had reached pre-morbid

level of psychosocial functioning, doing his demanding job, and enjoying his social life.
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EMDR is thought to be effective because recalling distressing events is often less

emotionally upsetting when your attention is diverted. This allows you to be exposed to

the memories or thoughts without having a strong psychological response. 

Matthijssen, S. J., & Van den Hout, M. (2016). The use of EMDR in positive verbal
MATERIAL: Results from a patient study. European Journal of Psychotraumatology,
7(1), 30119. doi:10.3402/ejpt.v7.30119

This article did a research on the positive verbal and positive closure which was practice

in the Dutch version of EMDR. In the Dutch version of the standard EMDR protocol, a

procedure Positive Closure is performed, which uses verbal imagery under dual task

condition. The value of Eye Movement in this procedure has not been established and

according to the WM account would be counterproductive. The research was on Thirty-six

patients rated the belief in possessing two positive personality traits and emotionality of

the traits. After they then had an EMDR session focusing on a negative memory and

recalled and re-rated the belief and emotionality of the traits afterward. At the end, the

results where that Eye Movement are not effective in enhancing the belief in possessing a

personality trait or the emotionality.

.
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Preparation phase. (2016). EMDR and the Art of Psychotherapy With Children.
doi:10.1891/9780826138040.0002

In this book, they explain the process on how treat a child, teen with EMDR. Studies

show that at least two thirds of children will experience at least one traumatic event by the

time they are 16 years old. Trauma can result from one event, or many different events as

well. These events can cause children to see the world as being scary and dangerous.

Traumatic events can also cause phobias. The author explains that there should be a special

emphasis on assessing the child or teen’s age, developmental level, and understanding of

the context of the child or teen’s life experiences in order to guide the treatment. The

therapist should also consider attending the child or teens non verbal communication,

change in breathing, mannerism, and skin tone. If the parents are in the office and the

target identification process begins, the therapist needs to ask either the child or teen to

wait in the waiting room or the parent. It’s important because the parent may have their

own issue affected by the particular incident.

Taylor, A., & McLachlan, N. H. (2019). Treating a 16 year old with a history of Severe Bullying:
Supplementing cognitive behavioural therapy with Emdr within the context of a case
Formulation approach. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 12(4), 561-570.
doi:10.1007/s40653-019-00258-0

As the title suggests, this article was about a case study involving a 16-year-old name Enid. Enid

was first referred in 2014 due to a medication overdose. The overdose was a triggered by her

boyfriends break up. She then was given some tools to help her with problem solving skills and

was discharged. The issue was when she first started to attend college, she began having panic
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attacks and was worried she would be a victim of being bullied again. Enid reported that she felt

responsible for preventing the separation of her parents, and further held the belief that she

always had to look her best in order to be accepted within a social context. The article

then goes and gives details of the progress of Enid. She starts to use CBT and is more

intact with her feelings. The importance of this article was to show the formulation-based

approach. A formula-based approach is a theoretically-based explanation or

conceptualization of the information obtained from a clinical assessment. It offers a

hypothesis about the cause and nature of the presenting problems and is considered an

adjunct or alternative approach to the more categorical approach of psychiatric diagnosis.

Post Discussion

After completing my research on EMDR, I realize how much a clinician has to do. Its

amazing tool to have. The progression that you see the clients go through is like magic. The

client relives a traumatic moment and a positive cognition replaces the belief of the negative. I

read a lot of different articles with different case studies and it really puts you into prospective

of the clinician and the client. I do believe a great therapist should seek some EMDR on

themselves and learn about it.

So, is EMDR important and helpful? I believe it is. It is my goal to go on and seek help

before completing my Masters. There is a lot of therapist who for whatever reason will not seek

help, either because they run from it, don’t want to talk about it or will try and help themselves

through helping others. The dangerous part about a therapist needing help but not seeking it,

may miss certain things on their clients. We are just humans and we have feelings, and

depending on our up bringing, culture or religion, we may have issues that are unresolved, that

may just need to be addressed.

In conclusion, EMDR therapy can allow a therapist/clinician to determine what

degree and to which distressing experiences are a providing factor and to effectively

solve or point out the problem through memory processing that can help facilitate both

psychological and physical resolution. Just as effective as it is in an adult, EMDR on

young adults or children are as well. I never thought about EMDR in a child or teen

before but thanks to this research, I learned more. As you can imagine you must be very

aware of the child body language.