Anyone listen to the NPR story on Iraq contractors and EMDR treament?

[BeyondThePale]

It was quite disturbing. A "psychotherapist" was trumpeting the miraculous benefits of EMDR for treating posttraumatic stress disorder. Beware, EMDR is just the latest junk treatment trotted out by my colleagues in the mental health field. See below for a sample:

A new candidate for the science hall of ill-fame is EMDR: "Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing." (For our purposes it is enough to know that it is supposed to cure trauma by the "therapist" causing rapid back and forth eye movements.) To those who track the currents of junk science EMDR is not unknown, having already been debunked: Lilienfeld, "EMDR Treatment: Less Than Meets the Eye," (Jan./Feb. 1996) Vol. 20 Skeptical Inquirer, pp. 25 - 31. But it has been kept alive by an American-based organization whose members believe in it and train therapists to do it (surprise: for a fee), and by therapists who use it on customers (sorry, clients) (again, surprise: for a fee). The intellectually masochistic can visit the web-site of all this incredible intellectual activity at <http://www.emdr.com>. There are level one EMDR therapists and also apparently level two therapists (who have taken more courses? for more fees?) and therefore can "help" clients better (for larger fees?).

http://criminallawyers.ca/newslett/oct96/08GOLD.HTM

Now, I realize that there will be people who claim that EMDR worked for them or their family member. However, anecdotal cases are no substitute for science -- and they provide no opportunity to rule out placebo effects, spontaneous remission, or other more parsimonious causal factors. The fact is that there is not scientific support for EMDR.

The mental health field has the potential to provide an essential service for individuals and society. However, it has also foisted numerous supposed treatments and assessments that range from nontherapeutic (but benign) to blatantly harmful. Examples included recovered memories of trauma, facilitated communication, rebirthing techniques, psychoanalysis, and so on...

It is important for mental health consumers and their families to be educated about what is effective and what is not

[SmokingJacket]

1. I didn't hear it. My head would have exploded.

I don't know why so many smart people get sucked into junk science.

My therapist got into this and recommended it so I did some research. Argh!!! It's never been independently proven to work. It's junk. So depressing. Needless to say, I extricated myself from that situation.

[BeyondThePale]

2. as someone in the field, it is horrifying to me the...

bad science, poor care, and neglect we have caused for patients in their families. Some of it comes from poor training and lack of critical thinking; some of it arises from a strong desire to help that blinds care providers; and some of it seems to arrive from arrogance of care providers who narcissistically are convinced that they know what is right and best for the patient.

Uggh.

[conscious evolution]

3. EMRD is Junk Science.?

It sure helped me.
Granted it was not a total cure,which the therapist pointed out beforehand,but it definetly helped with the nightmares and sleeplessness that derived from them.
Maybe there was a placebo effect going on?

[BeyondThePale]

4. I am very glad that you feel better...

but both the conceptual and empirical science suggests that EMDR does not provide relief for PTSD symptoms.

Again, I am glad that you have found at least partial relief, but the scientific question is what was the mechanism that provided that relief?
-EMDR advocates claim it is the procedure
However, data does not support this and more parsimonious explanations include:
-passage of time
-placebo (expectation)
-motivation
-therapeutic care and attention (not related to EMDR)

Again, I am not lessening your relief. The issue is as a scientific and applied discipline, should psychology advocate treatments that are not effective? Like copper bracelets for arthritis, it may not hurt; but, many psychological treatments and assessments have not only not helped, but have had catastrophic and even fatal consequences.

Again, best of luck to you.

[whistle]

5. Isn't EMDR also used to cure homosexuals

...<on edit to clarrify> I don't agree with the concept that homosexuality is an illness which needs to be cured which only supports the fact that EMDR is very likely junk science

<snip>
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, also known by its abbreviation EMDR, claims to relieve the symptoms of Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems using (in its original form) only movements of the eyes similar to those which occur naturally in REM sleep.

It was invented by American Francine Shapiro in 1987 after she observed the way she had been able to banish disturbing thoughts from her own mind while walking in a park. She developed and refined these observations and published a paper in 1989 describing beneficial results in a number of case studies.

The therapy originally consisted of the patient being guided by the therapist in moving their eyes in a random way whilst thinking about their ‘problem’. In the relatively short time of a few minutes the feelings may begin to shift and resolve themselves. <MORE>

http://mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8141&cn=91


Also, this link is to a 62 page PDF report titled "Homosexuality" which has a piece on the use of EMDR under Theropy Treatments beginning on page 42.

<LINK> http://diggy.ruc.dk:8080/bitstream/1800/1445/1/Homosexuality.pdf