EMDR Therapy Quarterly

Anthea Sutton (Academic and Research Liaison)

Jonathan Hutchins (Chair of the Scientific and Research Committee)

Annual Conference 2026

As we move into the last quarter of 2025, we start looking ahead to 2026 and the annual conference, taking place in Bristol on March 20-21, please save the date.  The Scientific and Research Committee will be in attendance and will provide an update over the course of the two days, there will be a research keynote speaker, and *new for 2026* “lightning talks” from the poster presenters – 60 seconds to summarise their research.  We received a high number of poster abstracts and are currently assessing these. If you submitted a poster, you will hear a decision from us in due course, but in the meantime, please get in touch if you have any queries: researchofficer@emdrassociation.org.uk

Conference registration will open on 10 November, so please look out for further announcements, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Veterans Network

Now moving back to 2025, and our current activities, the Scientific and Research Committee has recently been forming a veterans collaborative network with stakeholders in academic institutions, clinical settings, charities, and people with lived experience.  The Veterans Research Network has been established to address the significant evidence gap regarding the use of EMDR for military-related trauma, by building a coordinated research community specifically focused on EMDR for veterans’ health and wellbeing.  If you are interested in the current research available in veteran populations, please see the EMDR Publications Database.  You can read all about the latest update here.

Randomised Controlled Trial in progress

A randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing EMDR with treatment as usual for adults with depression in primary care has been funded by the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research).  Led by Professor Nicola Wiles (University of Bristol), the trial started in March 2025 and is due to complete in April 2029, further details are on the NIHR website here. 

NICE Guidelines

The Rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders including acquired brain injury guideline has now been published, see: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng252 The guidance states:

“If the person has low mood or anxiety, or is distressed by, or having difficulties adjusting to, the impact of their neurological condition, consider cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based talking therapy or acceptance-based interventions.” (Section 1.17.12 p145)

“If the person has difficulty engaging in talking therapy because of cognitive or communication problems, or if speaking is not the person’s preferred way of communicating, consider creative therapy (for example, music, art or drama therapy).” (Section 1.17.15 p145)

EMDR UK is a registered stakeholder in the guideline, and the association responded to the guideline consultation.  You can read the comments and the NICE response here: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng252/documents/consultation-comments-and-responses-2

Of note, on page 57, in response to our comment:

“Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing/EMDR was not included in the intervention search terms, therefore there is a risk that potential studies to include have not been retrieved. For example, the MODIFI trial protocol may not have been retrieved: Cope et al. (2023). MODIFI: protocol for randomised feasibility study of eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) for functional neurological disorder (FND). BMJ open, 13(6), e073727. Although an ongoing study and therefore may not be included (although this is not totally clear from the eligibility criteria), it suggests the search is not as comprehensive as it could be.”

NICE responded:

“Thank you for your comment. The list of interventions under adjustment and engagement in the protocol wasn’t an exhaustive list, although EMDR wasn’t listed as an intervention to improve adjustment and engagement, if it was designed to improve adjustment and engagement the study would have been captured in the search strategy and included in the review. In relation to Cope et al 2023, as this is an ongoing study it would have not been included in our current evidence review, however given the current research on the use of EMDR in FND this is something that would be taken into consideration in any future updates of this guideline.”

The SRC continue to engage with NICE.  If this is an area you are interested in, particularly regarding to responding to consultations and/or applying to join a NICE committee, please get in touch: researchofficer@emdrassociation.org.uk