EMDR Therapy Quarterly

I first met the authors at a national EMDR conference where they were displaying a poster board about research into using EMDR with psychedelics. For the past 18 years, I have practised EMDR and continue to feel enthusiastic about the way it can transform people’s lives.

In addition to undertaking a mushroom retreat, over the years, I have read about psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), listened to podcasts and watched documentaries. I therefore read the book from the perspective of someone who already had an understanding of psychedelics, and to me, it makes a lot of sense. However, I am unsure how it might be to read it purely out of curiosity.

The authors propose a psychedelic-assisted EMDR (Psych-A EMDR) protocol, which is used in the buildup, occasionally during and following (integration) a psychedelic experience. They contrast traditional PAT involving person-centred therapy, CBT and psychodynamic psychotherapy with Psych-A EMDR, which aims to process information in memory networks that correspond with the psychedelic experience. From an adaptive information processing perspective, psychedelic experiences allow trauma material to emerge and then be processed with EMDR.

The way the book lays out the eight-phase EMDR protocol and weaves information about different psychedelics into the chapters flows in a logical way. For anyone trained in EMDR, it is easy to understand how a case for Psych-A EMDR can be made.

Each chapter is introduced with an overview of a different psychedelic, which is a clever way of explaining it to those who are not familiar with psychedelics. Also, the use of case examples helps the reader to make a link between EMDR and psychedelics, and to understand the Psych-A EMDR protocol.

Throughout the book, there is an emphasis on safety first and the need for the client to be able to regulate their affect sufficiently. This calls for trauma-informed harm reduction, robust screening and psycho-education – the opposite of the unlicensed and unregulated approach, which is usually the case with underground psychedelic experiences.

Whilst for many people, a psychedelic trip is a positive experience, the authors highlight the limitations and shortcomings of psychedelics, particularly if not well facilitated. Sometimes trauma memories are triggered, and in situations such as this, one of the issues that regularly crops up is Hallucinogen-Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD), which the authors state often stems from a client’s pre-existing inability to self-regulate. The suggestion is for attachment-informed EMDR to be offered with its emphasis on stabilisation and grounding. Treating Hallucinogen-Persisting Perception Disorder can typically be done using EMDR in a traditional way. Having said this, some insight or experience of psychedelics would be beneficial. 

With a renaissance in psychedelics and research, the book is a timely addition and an innovative way to use EMDR. Psych-A EMDR adheres to the standard eight-phase protocol and makes so much sense, which fills me with enthusiasm. However, in the UK the use of the majority of psychedelics within PAT is illegal and, at present, largely restricted to official research projects.