What does EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) treat best?

EMDR is an approach developed to resolve symptoms resulting from exposure to a traumatic or distressing event, such as rape. Clinical trials have demonstrated EMDR’s efficacy in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It has shown to be more effective than some alternative treatments and equivalent to cognitive behavioral and exposure therapies. Although some clinicians may use EMDR for various problems, its research support is primarily for disorders stemming from distressing life experiences.

Over the last 18 years evidence has accumulated that supports EMDR as an effective treatment for a range of problems associated with distressing memories.

Although controlled research has concentrated on the application of EMDR to PTSD, a number of studies have investigated EMDR’s efficacy with other anxiety disorders as well as numerous reports of diverse clinical applications. EMDR can work on a multitude of problems that are less complex than PTSD. One of these, documented in several case studies, is uncomplicated depression.

Case reports have been published on the application of EMDR to the treatment of

� personality disorders
� dissociative disorders
� a variety of anxiety disorders
� Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

To date EMDR has only been compared directly to medication in one study. This study found that EMDR could be seen to be more effective than fluoxetine, an SSRI in treating trauma, especially six months post-treatment.