Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Recalling a past trauma often means reliving the actual experience to many people. It conjures images, sounds, smells, and feelings that can have long-lasting negative effects. It can also interfere with the way one sees the world and the way one relates to other people.

Fortunately, Mark Dworkin offers groundbreaking work and explores the subtle nuances of the therapeutic relationship and the vital role it plays in using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with traumatized clients. He provides tools for mental health professionals to effectively apply, treat, and form stronger and healthier relationships with their clients.

Along with a forward written by the originator and developer of EMDR, Francine Shapiro, this text offers detailed cases and transcripts that lead clinicians through complete treatment approaches. It reveals practical applications of relational psychology and the creative uses for EMDR. In addition, material in this book reviews EMDR within an eight-phase approach and shows how relational issues play a key role in each phase of EMDR treatment.

Topic listed in EMDR and the Relational Imperative include:
• how to develop an atmosphere of trust
• ways to improve body awareness and reduce tension
• how to use EMDR with more than one member of the family
• the pitfalls and best practices of procedural steps for EMDR
• ways of working with transferential and countertransferential issues

The section on the three-pronged EMDR approach discusses the overall treatment of a client. It includes the client’s past experiences that set the groundwork for the pathology, the present situations or triggers that currently stimulate the disturbance, and the templates necessary for future action.

This text touches on the importance of clinician self-centering and self-awareness. It also offers appendixes with self-care exercises and a clinician awareness questionnaire.

Intended as a standard reference for all practitioners working to heal the wounds of trauma, this book is an essential resource for the effective application of EMDR.