EMDR Therapy Quarterly

Authors: Anthea Sutton (Academic and Research Liaison) & Jonathan Hutchins (Chair of the Scientific and Research Committee)

Systematic review of EMDR for the treatment and prevention of PTSD

We start this update from the Scientific and Research Committee (SRC) with some good news, that the systematic review of EMDR for the treatment and prevention of PTSD in adults has now been published in the British Journal of Psychology. Funded by EMDR UK and conducted by a team at the School of Medicine and Population Health at the University of Sheffield, this work is available open access, so everyone has the opportunity to read it – and we encourage you to share it with your networks.

Image © Anthea Sutton

EMDR Europe – Research & Practice Conference 2025

As part of the effort to disseminate the systematic review findings, Anthea Sutton (project lead) presented at the EMDR Europe conference in May. In a session expertly chaired by Kerstin Stellermann-Strehlow (Charité Berlin – Kst-traumahilfe), Anthea delivered a 45-minute talk summarising the results of the review, which was an update of evidence reviews independently conducted for the NICE 2018 guidelines for PTSD. A total of 25 studies met the eligibility criteria (16 RCTs in adults, 7 RCTs in children and adolescents, and 2 cost-effectiveness studies). Meta-analyses were conducted where possible, and the quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. For further information, be sure to read the full publications. The review focusing on adults is published in the British Journal of Psychology, and the review on EMDR for PTSD in children and adolescents is currently under peer review.

EMDR Research Publications Database

Members of the University of Sheffield team who conducted the systematic review also provide a database of EMDR research for EMDR UK members. Populated by systematic searches on a wide range of bibliographic sources, the database provides references to all the research evidence on EMDR, and thanks to open access, much of that evidence is available to members full text. Anthea used the database to identify any new RCTs published since the systematic review was conducted and gave details of these in her conference presentation at EMDR Europe. You can read more about the latest database update here, and if you don’t yet have access to this valuable resource, please email the database team at: emdrdatabase@sheffield.ac.uk

NICE guidelines in development

As regular readers may know, EMDR UK is registered as a stakeholder on many NICE guidelines relating to mental health and other conditions that EMDR can treat. The guideline for assessment and management of obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder is currently in development. As stakeholders, the SRC responded to the consultation on the draft scope on behalf of the association. We watch the development of this guideline with interest and plan to contribute to the next stages of consultation.

If you are interested in opportunities to work with NICE, committee vacancies are posted here: https://www.nice.org.uk/get-involved/our-committees

Call for posters

Looking ahead to our annual conference in Bristol (20–21 March 2026), we invite members to submit poster abstracts for consideration by the SRC. Whether you’re early in your research career or more experienced, we want to hear from you!

Please send your abstract (maximum 300 words) to:
 📧 Anthea Sutton – a.sutton@emdrassociation.org.uk
 🗓 Deadline: 30 September 2025

🔔 New for 2026: Successful poster authors will be invited to deliver a “lightning talk” – a 60-second summary of their research – on Day 2 of the conference (21 March). Be sure to save the date!