EMDR Therapy Quarterly

A note from the Editor

The Paris Olympics 2024 is well under way and there are tales of heartbreak as athletes miss out on medals and such joyful scenes as they achieve. Gold for Tom Pidcock in the men’s mountain bike event, silver for Tom Daley and Noah Williams in the synchronised diving and a bronze for Emma Wilson in windsurfing, and they will surely be followed by many more from Team GB.

Kudrna et al. (2016) found that “how achievement makes athletes feel depends upon counterfactual thoughts about what could have been.” By using observer ratings of Olympians’ happiness in excerpts of the medal ceremonies from the 2012 Olympics, they propose that silver medallists are less happy than bronze medallists, possibly because the former view their achievement through a loss frame and the latter through a gain frame. My husband is a silver medallist from the Sydney (2000) Olympics, and he would be an outlier in this research. He says that not a day goes by when he thinks he could have done better or sailed the race differently, he is perfectly delighted with coming second, one point off the gold!  

Along the same lines, I worked with a young person who had secured a place on a prestigious DPhil programme at Cambridge University but who could not get over the fact that they had, in their words, “only” achieved an upper second class undergraduate degree, one mark off a first. They came to me for help with depression and lack of motivation and were not expecting EMDR. I targeted the negative cognition “I’m useless” and watched with satisfaction as it adapted to “I’m clever enough (and I can continue to learn).” We all know the point of these stories. It’s the dysfunctional thinking that drives an individual’s distress, not necessarily the event itself.

Both stories speak to articles in this edition of ETQ, where dysfunctional thoughts are targeted and not distressing events. Joyce Blake provides three case reports of individuals with OCD whose obsessive thoughts were causing life limiting distress.  In Part 2 of her article on using EMDR for processing racial and other socially inflicted traumas, Amal Wartalska shows through two case reports how culturally based negative cognitions can be targeted for adaptation. The report by Claire van den Bosch on Cornil and Van Limbergen’s presentation at the annual conference neatly highlights how it is not the events that need to be targeted for processing in CPTSD, rather it is the deeply held belief of powerlessness and aloneness that open themselves up for the EMDR work.

The idea of targeting thoughts and not events is likely to become important when dealing with eco-anxiety caused by the climate crisis.  I am delighted to share the results of a survey conducted by the climate crisis SIG which provides a snapshot of the views and experiences of EMDR therapists on the topic, alongside a commentary which asks what is the cost of therapist silence in the face of the often-overwhelming scientific facts about the crisis. The authors link this silence to the “collusive silence on topics such as childhood sexual abuse” and ask for history not to be repeated. I was shocked that the survey found that a small percentage of respondents (all EMDR therapists) believe in the face of overwhelming evidence, that the climate crisis is a hoax. As scientist practitioners, can this be possible?

Heena Chudasama has provided a comprehensive, though not exhaustive guide to conducting research through an EEDI framework. She hopes that it will prompt more self learning from us all. I have learned much from reading this and can only feel ashamed that in my own qualitative research that was completed around ten years ago, none of the issues that Heena raises were mentioned at all.  In my conversations with Heena, I told her that my 23-year-old anthropologist daughter had read her piece and could not believe how far behind the discipline of psychology is when it comes to decolonising research. It is good that we are taking steps as an Association to remedy some of these issues.

In a brief piece on the science of memory I report on the presentation by Pamela Radcliffe at the annual conference. I have worked with her to put across in more detail the facts around the non-existence of scientific evidence for the notion of unconscious repression. It is possibly challenging for some of us, but again, as scientist practitioners we have a duty to be open to the facts, even when they contradict our personal beliefs.

I do hope that you enjoy this Summer ETQ and that you find it as thought provoking as I have. The deadline for copy for the Autumn 2024 edition of ETQ is 10^th October. I look forward to receiving your suggestions for articles.