Transforming Trauma: Emdr: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Freeing the Mind, Clearing the Body, and Opening the Heart

by Laurel Parnell PhD

Overview

The revolutionary new therapy for freeing the mind, clearing the body, and opening the heart.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR®) has helped thousands of clients haunted by abuse histories or recent traumatic events. It also benefits patients who have not found relief with other therapies and those with chronic conditions or blocked personal and professional performance.

EMDR® therapy incorporates eye movements into a comprehensive approach that processes and releases information trapped in the body-mind, freeing people from disturbing images and body sensations, debilitating emotions, and restrictive beliefs. Not only does healing occur much more rapidly than in traditional therapy, but clients also experience a sense of joy, openness, and deep connection with others. EMDR® seems to be a quantum leap in the human ability to heal trauma and maladaptive beliefs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393317572
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/1998
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Laurel Parnell, PhD, is one of the world’s leading experts on EMDR. A clinical psychologist, she has trained thousands in EMDR in her international workshops. Dr. Parnell is the author of several books on EMDR, including Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma, A Therapist's Guide to EMDR, and Rewiring the Addicted Brain with EMDR-Based Treatment.

Editorial Reviews

"EMDR® . . . is one of the most helpful innovations in psychotherapy. . . . Parnell has done an outstanding job of describing the method and its possible benefits. . . . [T]his book will encourage and inform the recovery of many people who have experienced trauma."

Stephen Gilligan

While recalling a traumatic incident, a patient in EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy is led through a series of patterned eye movements in order to gain permanent relief from severe symptoms. According to Parnell, a clinical psychologist and senior EMDR Institute facilitator, theories abound as to how EMDR works. Both consumers and professionals will relish Parnell's enthusiasm, vivid case histories and personal revelations. Clinical reports by EMDR practitioners suggest the therapy is most useful in the eradication of single traumas, often in only one session, although "weeks, months or years may [first] elapse" before the client trusts the therapist enough to allow this. Parnell includes an excellent description of the symptoms in adults of childhood sexual abuse. She follows this with a protocol almost identical to a common procedure of hypnotherapists, so she is unconvincing in her casual dismissal of the similarity of EMDR to hypnotherapy. Parnell's emphasis on authorized training in, and on personal experience with EMDR by therapists wishing to practice this modality, seems too insistent and, also, ironic, given that Francine Shapiro, who developed EMDR, initially tested the technique on friends without a qualm. Scientific evaluation of EMDR remains inconclusive, but those wishing to learn about it will benefit from this book, which complements Shapiro's own EMDR (Lifestyle Forecasts, Mar. 3). (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a controversial method of psychotherapy used for treating posttraumatic stress syndrome and anxiety disorders. These two books provide an overview of EMDR for the general reader. Supporters claim that EMDR releases traumatic memories locked in the brain, accelerates recovery, and reduces stress; opponents point out that a neurological basis for this theory has yet to be established. These two new books on EMRR chiefly contain case histories and descriptions of the therapy; both warn against unauthorized use by therapists not trained by the EMDR Institute. Parnell, a clinical psychologist and senior EMDR Institute facilitator, claims a transcendent focus for EMDR, leading to "objective forgiveness" of oneself and the perpetrator of the trauma. Shapiro, who developed EMDR in 1989, documents research supporting EMDR, citing both controlled and uncontrolled studies and listing 12 populations where EMDR has been effectively used as a form of treatment. Both books are recommended for popular psychology collections, though Shapiro's book is the preferred choice for readers who may wish to follow up on EMDR research.Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L. Cal.

Library Journal