“Real” Stories about the Magic of EMDR

The book opened with some potential but it quickly turned into bad marketing material. The “real” stories of the people and their treatment would in on Reddit’s r/thathappened. After the first few stories, I couldn’t help but cringe at each composite (at best) or fabrication (more likely) of a patient’s trauma or mental health problem and magical EMDR solution. Sure, all the things mentioned in this book do happened to people. But the jigsaw puzzle precision of they all fit together was simply insulting to the reader/listener.

As a therapist, I started this book with some curiosity and excitement because I know several professionals who speak highly of EMDR. Prior to this book, I even considered going through EMDR certification to do this work. But when its founder’s big book on the topic turned into a timeshare condo presentation a few minutes in, that was off the table for me.

If EMDR interests you, save yourself some time and money. Here’s what you do. Read the Wikipedia page on EMDR. Then make a list of 10-15 traumatic events. Then imagine waving a magic wand over each one and everything is fixed. That’s the book.

22 people found this helpful

Great book despite shameless turf-oriented dogma.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book except for the turf oriented comments . . . I can only imagine the uphill battle Shapiro had to fight to get acceptance from the treatment community, and this is reflected in some of her comments that seemed highly reactionary, if not protective of marketing opportunities for an extremely expensive course of study to become certified as an EMDR practitioner. I have no skepticism about the effectiveness of EMDR. It is a valuable approach with a unique method of targeting what it does, and the protocol is useful in the hands of the right therapy, employing it with the right client. The only suspect thing in the book is more related to claims of plenary uniqueness and avoidance or alienation of other eye movement oriented techniques, without any acknowledgement of related benefits from those techniques. Perhaps this arises more from the era in which the protocol initially evolved. Practitioners with something unique to offer dealt with information barriers, presumably, along with rather high distribution costs, as well as a skeptical CBT whooped profession, and I'm sure many practitioners were struggling for recognition of new approaches and fiercely guarding their turf so their stuff wouldn't just get disseminated by others and developed under the name of other people.

Protection of intellectual property, and the benefits of that still exists in an evolving Information Age, but when it comes to the increasingly noticeable problem with trauma and complex trauma, there needs to be a massive distribution of valid understanding and technique. What Shapiro has developed in connection with an academic Community built around EMDR is remarkable, as well as the charitable organization connected to it, but I truly do not appreciate the turf oriented deficit space thinking surrounding some of the statements made near the beginning of the book, nor do I believe that the utilization of EMDR by a person who paid the $2,000 to $4,000 to become fully certified in it is necessary to get analogous results on a consistent basis - practitioners who have become adept at trauma treatment methods the reach to midbrain and brainstem processes will be validated by the results of EMDR even if they may be a touch of offended by the turfism, deficit- space thinking and dogma that shows up in a few places at the beginning of the book. Luckily it doesn't seem to stick around in a constant way through the end of the book, and to a certain extent it may even seem to be contradicted by case studies involving elegant variations on the initial protocol, where the authors laud the creative expansive incorporation of other methods. The reality that is seen in clinical situations involving complex trauma or textbook PTSD conflated with deep set attachment issues would be that a rigid protocolized approach of any sort rather than a carefully tailored utilisation of some method with adjunctive methods befitting the situation is calculated to fail. The authors seem to recognize that quite well and to show how EMDR can be incorporated into a broader framework for treatment . . . which begs the question of why they felt they had to so fiercely protect and say who could and could not utilize an approach involving bilateral stimulation and adaptive information processing in the beginning of the book. I kind of wonder if the contributions of the disparate authors is indicative of the spirit feelings on the turf oriented bit. if there is another addition that comes out, I would say drop the turf ism and say what's so great about spending $2,000 to $4,000 to get fully certified when only a small subset of the population it's going to benefit from a rigid protocolized approach. make sure it's clearly marked as advertising or marketing and you've won the trust of those who are more concerned about making sure that what they do rapidly increases their ability to save lives and restore functionality to those who have suffered through repeated episodes of treatment with marginal results. . . regardless of whether they can Market a certification they will be allowed to put in their own treatment advertising. EMDR is a great adjective approach to do just that when it is used by somebody that understands enough about where the Neuroscience meets trauma healing, and can adjust the approach according to the risks that they observe with the particular client they are looking at.

The case studies were inspiring and excellent, and I appreciated Shapiro's exploration of theory related to the efficacy of EMDR. this is a great read and I can definitely recommend the book the practitioners of the healing arts, even if I'd invite them to not inhale too deeply when they read about the complete and total uniqueness of the approach and who should never practice it or how very different it is from other approaches and how it works. It is absolutely unique in a lot of ways, and brings a unique contribution, but the results are accessible through other good quality, neurologically sound trauma treatment that adequately accounts for bodily responses and is tempered by the evolving body of knowledge surrounding interpersonal neurobiology, or affective neuroscience, and a bit of recognition of that in the book might engender a little less resistance from other practitioners that are trying to bring this reality to the Treatment Community, who has been laboring far too long with tools that lack the elegance and impact EMDR and other Neuroscience based approaches can bring.

14 people found this helpful

Discredited in the final act

I have never read or listen to an author discredit their own work in the final chapter of a book as hard as this. I find the belief that pedophiles would honestly report their own good behavior truthfully to be so laughably discusting I can't stand it.

The fact that one of the pedophiles goes on to work to help "parents and law enforcement prevent children from being victims" so narrowly minded. Are they there to help...or to find new prey? I challenge the notion of putting a fox in with the chickens. The author's data points are suspect to say the least.

4 people found this helpful

Highly informative and intriguing.

Up to date information which helps those familiar with, or looking to seek, EMDR treatment. Absolutely loved this book.

1 person found this helpful

Excellent book

Awesome way to redemption. There is hope for that have seriously traumatized. Read it again.

1 person found this helpful

Wow, Incredible information!

This book explains the versatility of EMDR, I thought it was just for PTSD but no, it covers a lot more issues. This book covers many issues that can be addressed by EMDR, including substance abuse! Written by the woman who discovered it, it is a great overview of what to expect when getting treatment as a patient. Very informative with many touching stories. Definitely worth listening to!

Excellent book explaining EMDR

If you’re wondering about EMDR this is definitely a book to read or listen to.
It explains how it was developed and how it affects the brain so people can process traumatic events in their life. It has examples of real world people and how they used EMDR to help them.
If you’re wondering what EMDR is or looking into learning more about it, then this would be the first book you should read.

Amazing book!

This book describes well how EMDR works for people who struggle with trauma. I truly enjoyed it.

Life changing

This book opened up my eyes to a whole new type of therapy. As I was listening to both of her books I kept thinking why is EMD our therapy not more common? With an 85% success rate. Shapiro should be a household name as what she discovered and created is literally saving lives and giving us hope for a higher quality of life. I highly recommend this book to everybody I know.

Just an ad for EMDR

Minimal factual information is presented. Reads more as an ad for EMDR and EMDRIA. Would be cool if we could get concise information and less arguments and conjecture.