Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

Louise Maxfield

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy approach used to process distressing memories that are the basis of a wide range of clinical complaints. Comprehensive treatment includes attention to past, present, and future not only to address overt symptoms but also to increase attributes associated with a positive quality of life. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is an integrative approach originally developed to resolve symptoms resulting from exposure to a traumatic event. Its clinical applications are directed by a theoretical model that emphasizes the brain's information processing system and that views symptoms as arising when memories are inadequately processed. In addition to the efficacious treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), EMDR is also now used to process all kinds of negative life experiences, such as rejection, failure, loss, stress, and conflict, and to bring these to an adaptive resolution. EMDR uses an eight-phase approach to directly address the ...

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