As an accredited EMDR Consultant I know how effective Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing can be in helping individuals recognise and cope with trauma.

Like many things in psychotherapy, there’s a divide between those who describe the work scientifically and those who justify it philosophically. Both approaches are understandable given that although millions of people experience psychotherapy every day and can describe how it has helped them, explaining how this happens remains difficult. Evidence is hard to come by – which isn’t to say that nothing happens. That EMDR works is no longer a question: extensive research and numerous randomized controlled trials have empirically validated it. How it works is less certain, although my colleagues in Italy at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies in Rome have advanced a compelling neurobiological account of this.

The best things, I would suggest, appear to be better started without an explanation and known gradually through their effects. EMDR, like all psychotherapy, seems to work differently from person to person, from time to time, from place to place. Every case of psychotherapy seems to be a new case and general principles do not seem to hold true beyond a very basic level. We are, however many people try to insist we are not, individuals. We cannot read each others’ minds … and that, for me, is good enough proof of the individual.

I aim to work with individuals.

And I can say with confidence that:

• EMDR appears to have greatly helped many people who have suffered traumatic experiences, addictions, and compulsive behaviours. There is an enormous amount of scientific research and evidence to support this. If you’d like to know more visit the EMDR Europe web site: https://emdr-europe.org/.

• After many years of EMDR clinical practice, we have found that it seems not to harm people when basic procedural guidelines are followed.

• Accredited EMDR therapists are well-trained and supervised in using the same basic methods that have yielded positive results around the world.

• While engaging with these methods individual therapists bring to bear approaches to psychotherapy that they developed in their work before training in EMDR (always at least a second training). Degrees of specialisation are inevitable.