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Reactive Attachment Disorder: Resources: EMDR Books

EMDR : The Breakthrough Therapy for Overcoming Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma, by Francine Shapiro and Margot Silk Forrest

Hailed as the most important method to emerge in psychotherapy in decades, EMDR has successfully treated psychological problems and illnesses – from depression, phobias, and recurrent nightmares to post-traumatic stress disorders and grief – in more than one million sufferers worldwide, and with a rapidity that almost defies belief. In this remarkable book, Dr. Francine Shapiro, the originator and developer of EMDR, explains how she created Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), how it works, and how it can help those who suffer from debilitating behaviors, anxiety, and stress. 304 pages.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Second Edition: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures, by Francine Shapiro

EMDR is a psychotherapeutic method developed to treat posttraumatic stress disorder. This book covers all the basics of the method as well as new neurobiological data and findings from recent controlled studies. Shapiro (Mental Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA) outlines the eight-phase treatment that helps patients reprocess trauma and disturbing thoughts, incorporating aspects of psychodynamic, experiential, behavioral, cognitive, and body-based therapies. She also offers protocols for working with special situations such as people with phobias, and explains some of the theory, research, and clinical implications for EMDR. 472 pages.

EMDR as an Integrative Psychotherapy Approach: Experts of Diverse Orientations Explore the Paradigm Prism, by Francine, Ph.D. Shapiro.

Written for clinicians, each chapter contains insights on EMDR from leaders from a variety of paradigms. Offers guidelines and techniques and is illustrated across a range of problems and disorders, including depression, attachment disorder, social phobia, anxiety disorders, and more. 520 pages.

EMDR Solutions: Pathways to Healing, by Robin Shapiro.

Chapter by chapter, readers are introduced to key techniques based in the powerful standard protocol of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). The inventor of each technique explains and illustrates his or her method using a variety of case examples. Mixing a how-to approach with ample clinical wisdom, this book will help clinicians excel when using EMDR to treat clients. 320 pages.

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

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. 287 pages.

EMDR in the Treatment of Adults Abused As Children, by Laurel Parnell.

Teaches clinicians how to use EMDR with clients who were abused as children. Treatment of abuse survivors is extremely challenging. This book shows how to integrate EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) into the treatment so that these clients clear their trauma more rapidly, escape falling into the victim mentality, and proceed to lead full, productive lives. Cases and diagrams guide clinicians in working with intense abreactions and blocked processing. 222 pages.

EMDR Casebook: Expanded Second Edition, by Philip Manfield

Discusses several case histories in which EMDR has been helpful, including:

• Recovery from the Vietnam War.
• A firefighter with PTSD after the World Trade Center disaster.
• Snakes in the grass; a rapid resolution to a simple phobia.
• Resolving the effects of childhood abuse and neglect.
• Treating narcissistic vulnerability

And more . 300 pages.

Extending EMDR: A Casebook of Innovative Applications, by Philip Manfield.

Clear clinical examples of creative, successful applications of EMDR in complex situations. Picking up where EMDR training leaves off, this book shows how EMDR can be used by therapists with different orienta-tions, such as psychodynamic, Jungian, and cognitive. Their patients have various diagnoses, including major depression, attachment disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and various personality disorders; all are helped immensely by the incorporation of EMDR into their treatment, as readers can see from the detailed cases. 292 pages.

Finding the Energy to Heal: How EMDR, Hypnosis, TFT, Imagery, and Body-Focused Therapy Can Help Resolve Health Problems (Norton Professional Books), by Maggie Phillips.

A groundbreaking book that applies the principles of energy psychology and medicine to mind/body healing. Eastern healing focuses on correcting imbalance so that QI (life force energy) can flow freely again. This book proposes that various therapies can similarly address energies in mind/body systems and restore health. These tools can open inner, healing pathways that have been frozen by stress, trauma, and unresolved developmental issues. 272 pages.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, by Ricky Greenwald.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a recently developed psychotherapy method for working through traumatic memories and related psychological problems. Recent literature reviews find strong support for EMDR’s superiority to traditional approaches to trauma therapy. The first studies using EMDR with children and adolescents yield similar findings. EMDR appears to be a promising new resource for helping children and adolescents recover from trauma and loss. Greenwald has written a useful guide to practitioners trained in EMDR to work effectively with children & adolescents suffering from childhood trauma, including reactive attachment disorder. 316 pages.

Small Wonders: Healing Childhood Trauma with EMDR, by Joan Lovett.

Dr. Lovett has integrated a powerful and innovative therapeutic method (EMDR) into child therapy to help free children from traumatic and highly stressful events. This book is useful for child therapists and psychiatrists, pediatricians, and parents interested in these issues. The author engages us in tales of childhood trauma, in a text that will captivate parents and professionals alike. “Small Wonders” can help parents to see the difference between a child who is temporarily upset by a difficult experience and one who is suffering in a way that calls out for help. Dr. Lovett explains how parents and professionals can help traumatized children through EMDR, a new approach that is radical but effective. Her clear, compassionate explanations will open the possibility of this therapy to many more families. 256 pages. Personal Note: While EMDR is a technique often employed by attachment professionals in the field, Small Wonders will help the parent understand the process and its possible benefits to the child with RAD.

Through the Eyes of a Child: EMDR With Children (Norton Professional Books), by Robert H. Tinker and Sandra A. Wilson.

The first book to explore the use of this revolutionary new therapy with children and adolescents. EMDR has helped thousands of adults haunted by traumatic events. But what about children? This comprehensive book demystifies eye movement desensitization reprocessing with children, from the first session with the parents to later sessions with children at all developmental stages. Myriad cases illustrate the use of EMDR with various traumas, symptoms, and diagnoses. With its compelling, frank style, this book will appeal to all who are curious about this exciting new therapy. 284 pages.

Integrating Play Therapy and EMDR With Children, by Victoria McGuinness.

This book has international appeal and information on therapeutic techniques combining experiential play therapy and EMDR with children in a simple, comprehensive format. This workbook provides safe, creative and effective training for clinicians working with children and their families. 132 pages.

Emotional Healing at Warp Speed: The Power of EMDR, by David Grand.

Crediting Francine Shapiro with originating the technique just 13 years ago, Long Island psychotherapist Grand explains eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for a popular audience. With 40,000 trained practitioners, this recent addition to the therapeutic arsenal has tremendous potential, he argues, for healing the effects of trauma, relieving depression, enhancing creativity and performance and improving studying and test taking. Focusing on a “target image” associated with a traumatic memory, the patient is led through a step-by-step process of recalling scenes, emotions and physical sensations while receiving “bilateral stimulation” through guided eye movements, alternating sounds in headphones or alternately receiving squeezes, massaging rubs or taps on the left and right sides of the body. According to Grand, one-time traumas (car accidents, bombings, hurricanes) can be released in one session, even in a few minutes, while deeper disturbances (repeated child abuse, war experiences) may take longer and may involve additional methods of therapy. He provides compelling anecdotal evidence of EMDR’s effectiveness with train engineers traumatized by suicides and accidents on the tracks; survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing and Florida’s Hurricane Andrew; mothers of slain children in Brooklyn; residents of Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Israel and the occupied territories; survivors of child abuse; and professional actors and athletes. While many readers may still find it doubtful that any one therapy could work on all patients, especially in such rapid time, Grand presents an intriguing case for his approach. 288 pages.

A Therapist’s Guide to EMDR: Tools and Techniques for Successful Treatment, by Laurel Parnell.

Crafted by a seasoned clinician, whose examples are helpful and thought provoking. Interested practitioners will benefit from an encounter with this approach to helping patients recover from trauma. Hardcover. 288 pages.

As EMDR is becoming increasingly more common as a supplemental treatment in attachment therapy, it is likely that you will encounter it during therapy. Your child?s therapist may recommend it, or you?ll hear of it in a support group, so I offer these books as suggestions to you, as parents, so that you might better understand the procedures and techniques undertaken by the therapist on your child?s behalf. For the parent, ?Small Wonders? might be the best choice, although the therapist might do well with either of these texts.

Note: When available, and when money is an object, please consider purchasing a used book rather than a new one. While I don’t earn nearly as much of a commission on the sale of used books, the difference in cost to you is worth considering. With the money you’ve saved, go out and buy yourself something. — ken

Last Modified on: Saturday, August 08, 2009