It seems that no matter how many organizations come out in support of EMDR or how many research studies support EMDR’s efficacy, EMDR is still incorrectly considered as non-evidence based by some members of the psychological community.
A recent article in Newsweek lumps EMDR with non-evidence based therapies such as dolphin-assisted therapy, and was described as a therapy that few therapists learned to use. This article obviously ignores that EMDR is not only evidence based, but that tens of thousands of therapists have been trained in EMDR worldwide.
The incorrect information in this articles was provided to the author by Timothy B. Baker of the University of Wisconsin who is the leader for the publication, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, which is being published next month.
Another article, entitled “The Sorry State of Psychotherapy” and published on the Medical Network, in which Timothy Baker is also interviewed, states that CBT is the most effective therapy for PTSD and criticizes the fact that it is not used by more clinicians. This statement ignores the fact that the American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (2004) has given EMDR the same status as Cognitive Behavior Therapy as an effective treatment for ameliorating symptoms of PTSD.
EMDRIA has contacted the authors of these articles to make them aware of the incorrect information published in their articles and has requested that they publish corrected information.
Please join the fight to make the psychological community aware of EMDR’s evidence-based status by contacting anyone who speaks incorrectly about EMDR. You can use this bibliography to support your claim if you chose to do so.
