All Things EMDR | Insights from the EMDR Europe Conference

One thing I love about EMDR is… you will hear many of my sentences start this way because there really is so much that I love! This week what I love is the way EMDR is intercultural. I was at the EMDR Europe conference at which nearly 2,000 people were in attendance and represented 26 countries worldwide. The foundation for all training in EMDR is the Standard Protocol as put forth in Francine Shapiro’s text Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures. From here protocols for populations have been developed from clinicians all over. In a profession that has tended to be Western-focused, EMDR is a truly integrative and inclusive approach to the therapy process. 

The conference the year was in Dublin, Ireland, and had a topic of Pathways to Peace. For three days I read about up-and-coming research from clinicians worldwide. These consisted of the integration of VR into EMDR processing, use for the military, use for people in ongoing stress and political crisis, and expansion of established protocols to populations such as chronic medical conditions and the caretakers for these individuals. The use of working memory exhaustion techniques is even being looked at for aiding the treatment of difficult-to-treat trauma cases. These researchers are working with the same protocols developed by Francine Shapiro and those who have continued to develop EMDR therapy. New protocols are also continuing to be developed for specific populations while adhering to the 8-phase, 3-pronged approach which is the hallmark of EMDR therapy. 

Presentations I attended focused on the need for attachment and attunement in the EMDR process (I will have a whole post on this at a later date!), the use of EMDR and Jim Knipe’s concepts of defenses in treatment of love addiction, and EMDR protocols to treat moral injury. Others were on the use of EMDR in highly dissociative populations, working with bipolar individuals, and how to adjust protocols for use with personality-disordered individuals. Again, these presentations take place from clinicians worldwide who are continuing to engage in learning, work, and research. Isn’t this exciting????

As I spoke with clinicians from Italy, Ireland, France, Israel, Ukraine, Netherlands, Sweden and so many other places I found a passion for the work and a desire to continue to learn more about how they can be a change agent for people experiencing pain. Jodan says “We are all neural networks interacting with other neural networks.” These interactions happen no matter where we are in the world. When we engage with our clients using the AIP lens and question “when or how could this have first started” we are engaging in work that started over 30 years ago with a walk in the park and continues worldwide. What a fantastic legacy to be a part of! 

Here at CompassionWorks, we want to continue to teach EMDR Basic protocols and advanced trainings, to continue our part to spread the amazing work that is EMDR therapy. As always, let us know how we can support you in your work as you take a seat in front of your client for your next healing neural interaction.