Colin Rigley is mistaken in his statement (“Eye see you,” March 26) that the R in EMDR relates to “Repositioning.” The acronym stands for “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.” He stated that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recognized EMDR “only in recent years.” This is also not true: They’ve placed EMDR in the highest category of empirically validated treatment of trauma, “recommended for all trauma populations at all times,” and most facilities have been using the technique to great effect for over a decade.
As an EMDR practitioner I’ve received lots of marketing copy for David Grand’s “brainspotting.” In one advertisement, a trauma specialist states the technique is “based on the profound atunement of the therapist with the patient … ” In my own 30 years of practice as a trauma and addiction therapist I have never known “profound atunement” to be possible after one or two sessions. I’m dubious that even what my colleague refers to as “the bomb” can fast-track genuine healing so quickly.
This article appears in Apr 2-9, 2009.