Global Applications for EMDR: When Crisis and Care Intersect

The Day Everything Changed

February 24, 2022 was a date I (Amber) will not forget. While not an event that happened on American soil, the events of this day impacted many people who were or would become friends. This is the day Russia engaged in a large-scale invasion in Ukraine—an invasion, you might even call it a war, that is still going on three years later.

While this battle for Ukrainian land had been ongoing since 2014, the majority of the country had been on the fringes of the events. When Russia attacked the major cities, hospitals, schools, cultural centers, and utility infrastructure, no one was safe from the crisis.

Clinicians on the Front Lines of Mental Health

As an outsider, I have sat with clinicians over the past three years as they step up into fighting the war in their own way—as they work to maintain the mental and emotional health of those who continue to live in and fight in a country at war. These professionals volunteered to participate in research for those of us on the outside to better understand how they can support their fellow countrymen.

Global Gathering: EMDR Europe Conference in Prague

At the EMDR Europe conference this year in Prague, Czechia, researchers and clinicians joined together from all over the world to discuss the work they have been doing and the lives they have been impacting.

EMDR in Action: Protocols Used in Ukraine

In Ukraine, the EMDR Standard Protocol is taught to students and is being used on the front lines, in refugee centers, and for the civilian populations. Group protocols such as Group Traumatic Episode Protocol and EMDR-Integrative Group Treatment Protocol (EMDR-IGTP) are taught to EMDR-trained clinicians to impact larger numbers of individuals in a concentrated timeframe.

The EMDR-IGTP protocol training is provided with Ukrainian translations in an on-demand setting to create accessibility to this education—even in the midst of rolling blackouts and intermittent disruption of online technologies. The Immediate Stabilization Procedure (ISP) protocol has been used by professionals and paraprofessionals almost since the dust cleared—from the front lines, directly impacted cities, and even in refugee cities outside of Ukraine.

Beyond Ukraine: EMDR Around the World

The ISP protocol is also used in Israel by trained clinicians and other medically affiliated professionals to provide stabilization throughout their current geopolitical conflict. In Egypt, research is being conducted to better understand the impact of specialized OCD protocols on clients who have been previously treatment-resistant.

Colleagues around the world are expanding our understanding in the use of EMDR with medical disorders such as cancer and functional neurological disorders, in addition to dissociative disorders and complex PTSD.

A truly international team is working to create a portable and accessible VR process for exposure and processing of war-time events—be watching for more on this over the next year as they develop their programs!

Why EMDR Works Across Borders

So many exciting things are happening. One thing I love about EMDR is that it is not culture bound. Because it opens the nervous system to do the processing through taxing the working memory — there is not a language barrier or culture barrier for its use. The Standard Protocol is the Standard Protocol across the world, and researchers and clinicians are continuing to grow in understanding just how far it can be used.

Research in Ukraine: Empowering Local Clinicians

In the research I was blessed to lead in Ukraine, we found that the use of the EMDR-IGTP group protocol for ongoing traumatic stress—delivered remotely—allowed mental health professionals to experience a reduction of trauma symptomatology, even while they continue to live and work in an active war zone.

These professionals show the power of these protocols to create change that continues even in follow-up assessments. This research then allowed for the protocol to be translated and made accessible to these clinicians for them to use in their own work.

This provides support for clinicians in the country to have additional tools to provide evidence-based trauma treatment in an efficient and effective manner. It’s not about going into a humanitarian crisis to solve the problem—this allows for the empowerment of amazing professionals to continue to serve their clients.

Keep Exploring

Want to dive deeper into the data and outcomes? Read the full research paper here.

For more on adapting EMDR to complex clinical realities, don’t miss our related post:
Working with Serious Mental Illness in EMDR: A Trauma-Informed Approach