Psychology Today Misinformation on EMDR
- Feb 12
- 2 min read
Psychology today recently published a highly inaccurate and inflammatory description of EMDR, which they call a description, and it can be found here (please note the tone, and how it cites no evidence):
The response of the EMDR International Association (which actually contains references to scientific research) can be found here:
The article is filled with misinformation, and goes far beyond description to the realm of the insane. Here's a quote:
"Many contend that the technique is too akin to voodoo. Waving a finger back and forth for a patient’s eyes to follow not only resembles the distraction of a magic trick maneuver but seems to defy the seriousness of memories so intrusive they plague people for years, often distort their lives, and drive many to suicide."
No evidence is cited to back up this attack, which is telling. Does this sound like a description from an informational psychology website? Or of the second-most researched trauma therapy in existence?
Have you ever read a news article that seems informative at first, but then you find has been biased by excluding information or twisting the facts? I'm sure. But even that sort of thing is superior to this. I'm sure you have found news articles that are so clearly uninformed opinion pieces by an openly biased author that you simply laugh and disregard it. This fits the latter description--it doesn't cite evidence or even pretend to be informative.
Furthermore, on a more personal note, if EMDR did not work with dissociative disorders, I wouldn't have a job. The inpatient EMDR facility PSYTREC in the Netherlands has 10 years of university research demonstrating a 79% cure rate in four days for PTSD comorbid with the most complex and difficult diagnoses--borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, dissociative disorders. I don't even need to link to that, simply google it. Find me three million dollars and I'll build one here--I know the professor in charge.
There are certain therapy communities biased against EMDR, which I will not name, as in our community we do not "down" other therapies. Some are powerful, and appear to be resentful of the success of EMDR, and how we steal their "business" because EMDR is humanistic and client-focused. Some are simply EMDR rip-offs with no research backing them, trying to make a buck.
In Europe, this animosity is not present, and there is cooperation between research-validated therapy communities. If fact, there is usually overlap. This is indicative of the direction America has moved toward, as is also seen in politics. It is good to have strong opinions. But it is not good to attack with malicious intent, without evidence, and with misinformation, however much you disagree.
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