EMDR and the Power, Threat, Meaning Framework

By Susannah Colbert

Introduction

EMDR delivered from a medical model has been criticised for locating the problem within the person. There is a focus on the internal world of ‘victims,’ and the oppression they may have experienced is neglected (e.g., Afuape, 2022). EMDR research literature usually employs medicalised language to describe people; for example, “subjects who were suffering from posttraumatic stress disorders” (Shapiro, 1996, p. 209). Participants are regarded to hold ‘symptoms’ within them; for example, “Participants demonstrated statistically significant improvement in levels of anxiety, depression, overall functioning and PTSD” (Schwarz et al., 2020, p. 9). The use of medicalised language and focus on diagnosis and symptoms can overshadow the experiences the participants had that led to their being distressed, with the type of traumatic events experienced sometimes not being mentioned at all (e.g., Wood et al., 2018). This can serve to decontextualise the trauma-related distress, and so the person is regarded to hold the problem, rather than the problem being in the experiences they endured. This decontextualisation within the research literature is especially striking as one of the core functions of EMDR is to contextualise the trauma memory and create links with the individual’s autobiographical memories and other knowledge (Shapiro, 2018).

Also of concern is the tendency to export psychological therapies, including EMDR, developed in the West and assume they apply equally to different cultures around the world. Summerfield (2012) argued that the Western psychiatric model has a fundamental assumption that ‘mental illness’ can be regarded as outside of society and culture. Traditional cultural and community approaches to healing after trauma may be disregarded, with Western psychological models being privileged. This has been referred to as medical or psychological imperialism.

EMDR and the AIP Model

EMDR is a trauma-focused therapy involving processing unresolved trauma memory networks to enable people to leave these memories in the past and move forward into the present (Shapiro, 2018). EMDR started with a focus on posttraumatic stress – i.e. flashbacks, nightmares and hypervigilance. Now, EMDR is more widely applied to different forms of trauma-related distress; for example, depression (Wood et al., 2018), psychosis (Marlow et al., 2024), ongoing pain (Tesarz et al., 2014) and many more. Central to the ability of EMDR to be applied to these different experiences is adaptive information processing (Shapiro, 2007).

The AIP model describes humans as active meaning-makers, attempting to make sense of the world and events that occur. As such, this paper embraces a broad definition of trauma, incorporating the recurrent, adverse experiences embedded in people’s relationships, lives, and structures of the social world rather than merely referring to isolated and extreme events. Humans try to generate adaptive explanations of such experiences, which offer some form of control and ideas for the way forward and how to cope. However, the usual functioning of the AIP model can be overwhelmed by the threat of a traumatic event. Traumatic and adverse life experiences are, by their very nature, frightening and overwhelming. When a trauma occurs, the processing of that event differs from how usual everyday memories are formed. This gives rise to a trauma memory, or a trauma memory network if there have been multiple linked events.

Due to attentional and dissociative processes, the trauma memory may be decontextualised, lacking connections with autobiographical and other memories holding relevant information – i.e., they are not ‘time-stamped.’ Time-stamping of memories refers to the sense of how old a memory is from how old it feels when it is recalled. We have to ‘cast our minds back’ to retrieve older memories. As trauma memories are not time-stamped, they feel relevant now – i.e., memories in their unprocessed form are relived rather than remembered. This underlines why trauma survivors often say it feels like it happened yesterday.

According to the AIP model, another aspect of trauma memories being unresolved is the meaning the individual has made of what happened. This is the concern the individual has about what it might say about them as a person, that the trauma happened to them. For example, if someone has been assaulted, they may worry that they did not defend themselves, and conclude “I am weak”. Research has shown that women who are sexually assaulted may feel that “I’m to blame” or “I’m disgusting” (Colbert, 2024). This can be thought of as the trauma wound or, in EMDR terminology, the negative cognition. As the trauma memory is not time-stamped, this worry about the self continually feels relevant. The individual may carry this concern into each new situation in life.

It has been well established that some people experience life-threatening and other adverse events and do not go on to develop troubling forms of trauma-related distress (Bonanno, 2004). It may be that they were able to process the event at the time. For a child, perhaps they had a secure attachment figure who helped them make sense of what was happening. Maybe the event occurred in a community, and members of the community came together to work through what happened and make some sort of sense of it (Schultz et al., 2016). However, for others, dissociation, cutting off from the unbearable trauma memory (Dillon et al., 2014), or actively avoiding (Hayes et al., 1996) the painful memory may have interfered with processing. In EMDR therapy, the client and practitioner together attempt to create an environment for the mind to do the processing that was not able to occur at the time of the trauma. The trauma memory network is activated and brought into consciousness, and then the memory can be worked through and reprocessed. This involves connections being developed between the formerly decontextualised memory and other memories and information the individual holds. Through these connections, the memory takes its place in the individual’s life story. The memory becomes time-stamped and so feels like it belongs in the past. The trauma wound is updated with other relevant knowledge and memories; for example, I am safe now, I can protect myself, I am strong, I am good enough. In EMDR terminology, this is the positive cognition.

The PTMF

The Power, Threat, Meaning Framework (Johnstone & Boyle, 2018) argues that a narrative understanding, a story about what has happened to you, may replace ideas about what is wrong with you – i.e., it can replace psychiatric diagnosis. In the PTMF, it is proposed that emotional and psychological distress are understandable consequences of the experience of adverse life events. The PTMF focuses upon adverse life events arising from misuses of power, such as the misuse of power by force (e.g., assault, intimate partner violence), the misuse of economic power (resulting in, e.g., poverty, bankruptcy), and the misuse of ideological power (e.g., patriarchy, racism) leading to threats to the individual, family or community. As humans, we attempt to make sense of these events and form a narrative of what happened and what it means to, and about, us.

The PTMF reviews a wide range of evidence demonstrating that there is very little coherent, consistent evidence of any role of illness in emotional distress, suggesting that emotional and behavioural difficulties should be understood through frameworks other than bodily or brain dysfunction. Furthermore, positing an illness disrupts the link between the adverse events and the subsequent distress. For example, if someone is made redundant, they experience low mood. It is not necessary to claim that an illness commences at some point. The experience of redundancy itself, and what that means in the individual’s life, can account for the low mood. They do not also need to have an illness, a brain dysfunction or a genetic vulnerability. If they experience a traumatic event and have nightmares, these nightmares may be the mind’s attempt to process and integrate the unbearable traumatic material. This may represent an ‘ordered’ response to trauma, rather than a ‘disordered’ response – i.e. posttraumatic stress ‘disorder’.

The PTMF authors created a guided discussion tool that may help people apply these concepts to their own experiences, to move beyond diagnosis and develop a narrative understanding. The guided discussion poses six questions:

1. ‘What has happened to you?’ (How is Power operating in your life?)
2. ‘How did it affect you?’ (What kind of Threats does this pose?)
3. ‘What sense did you make of it?’ (What is the Meaning of these situations and experiences to you?)
4. ‘What did you have to do to survive?’ (What kinds of Threat Response are you using?)
5. ‘What are your strengths?’ (What access to Power resources do you have?)
6. ‘What is your story?’ (How does all this fit together?)
    

The misuse of power may take different forms. Widely understood might be the misuse of interpersonal power; for example, bullying, coercive control, overly critical parenting or neglect. There are known instances of the misuse of legal power, such as in some cases of stop-and-search (Bowling & Phillips, 2007), and lesbian mothers having children removed as late as the 1990s (Falk, 2021). The misuse of social or cultural capital may lead to some groups feeling like they do not fit in a professional workspace or being passed over for a promotion due to lacking social connections. The misuse of ideological power may be harder to notice. This is when powerful groups propose and promote ideas about less powerful groups in order to maintain the status quo and retain their power. Patriarchy, racism, homophobia and stigma against people with mental health concerns can be understood in this light.

The misuse of power leads to a wide range of threats to human safety, survival, and sense of self. Such threats may include the loss of loved ones or people one depends on. Being undermined or invalidated through criticism, hostility, humiliation, and having other people’s views or meanings imposed on you may threaten a person’s sense of self or safety. Intergenerational trauma may be passed down through parents and other relatives, which may be misinterpreted as a genetic influence. Poverty leads to a range of threats to the individual, including lack of housing, being unable to meet basic physical needs or accessing basic services.

The sense people make of these threats will be influenced by their context, their culture and community, and the narratives available for them to draw upon. One powerful example is the concept of the ‘symptom pool’ (Shorter, 1992), which shows how distress may be instantiated in different ‘symptoms’ at varying points in history. For example, hysteria in the 19th century or anorexia in the 1990s.

The PTMF proposes that threat responses are conscious or unconscious attempts to cope with the negative operations of power and what the individual needs to do to survive. This offers an alternative understanding of such experiences rather than merely symptoms of a mental illness. People may give up, exhibiting signs of ‘learned helplessness,’ apathy or low mood. Others may become hypervigilant, alert for future threats. They may cut off from unbearable psychic material through a process of dissociation and develop voices or unusual, unshared beliefs; for example, by becoming distrustful, suspicious or even paranoid (Colbert, 2024). Some may restrict their eating in an attempt to gain some form of control, while others might turn to alcohol, drugs or self-harm as ways to numb the pain.

In developing an understanding of how people respond to the misuse of power and the threat response they use to survive, the PTMF also considers strengths – the power resources someone might have access to. For example, an individual may be part of a community that offers a different understanding of their experiences, such as the Hearing Voices Network, or they may have financial resources, allowing them to pursue a legal response to the misuse of power by taking an employer to a tribunal.

Putting all these aspects of the PTMF together into a story (narrative), conveys the individual’s meaning-making and may offer opportunities for change, new ways to cope or new ideas to address the situation. Several studies have explored PTMF-informed narrative formation, including with psychosis (Ball et al., 2023), multiple complex needs, including homelessness, substance misuse, offending behaviour and emotional distress (Sapsford et al., 2023), climate-related distress (Barnwell et al., 2020), prison-based violence (Gallagher et al., 2023), school refusal (Devenney, 2021) and the experiences of mental health in caregivers (Paradiso & Quinlan, 2021).

According to the authors, a key purpose of the framework is to restore the links between threats and threat responses as an alternative to the diagnostic lens, which obscures them. This can also be thought of as ‘re-storying,’ reflecting the central role of the narrative. As already discussed, the medical model inserts an illness or disorder that obscures the links between what has happened to the individual and how they respond; for example, someone may come to believe that their low mood is due to clinical depression rather than being an understandable response to being made redundant and the threats to their status and lifestyle. Considering the elements of the PTMF may facilitate the reconnection of such meaning that has been lost.

At one level, this may be considered common sense. There are widely available narratives in the developed world that certain life experiences are challenging, and people may struggle. It is commonly accepted that people living in poverty are more likely to feel miserable, potentially leading to depression. Similarly, it is recognised that abuse and trauma make it more likely that people will dissociate, hear voices or experience low mood. This reflects the public belief that ‘bad things happen and can drive you crazy.’ (Haslam & Read, 2004).

There are, however, several factors that combine to conceal these links from the individual and from society more broadly. The threat or the operation of power may be less obvious because it takes a subtle, cumulative and/or socially acceptable form; for example, stop-and-search, social media influencers offering young girls different ways to lose weight and critical parenting. It may be hard to consider critical parenting. People may want to believe, “My childhood was happy; my parents did the best that they could,” when overly critical parenting can lead to overwhelming and humiliating experiences.

With childhood experiences in particular, the threat may be distant in time. It may be hard to recall, or people may not remember how they felt, even though the experience significantly impacted them. Threats may have been numerous, and the responses many and varied, causing the connections between them to become confused and obscured. Research has shown that people who have experienced one trauma are more likely to experience subsequent traumas (Benjet et al., 2016). There may be an accumulation of apparently minor threats and adversities over a very long period of time. An event such as being shouted at in the workplace may not seem terribly overwhelming as a one-off, but if this occurs on a daily basis, it can have a significant impact. These have been referred to as ‘micro’ traumas (Straussner & Calnan, 2014).

A threat response may take an unusual or extreme form that is less obviously linked to the threat, such as self-harm, self-starvation, experiencing voices or having unusual or unshared beliefs. Particularly in psychosis, the threat response may take a symbolic form, requiring decoding to link to the adverse experience. For example, one young man was forced by his mother to move out of home, as he no longer wanted to attend church. He developed beliefs about being monitored and spied upon, and the feeling of other people reading his thoughts. These threat responses might be difficult to initially understand until it comes to light that when he went home to see his mother, she would tell him where he had been and what he had been doing, as, unbeknownst to him, this information had been passed to her by church members who had seen him in the community.

The  person themselves may not be aware of the link between the threats and their responses to them. They may not remember what happened if they were too young or if they were so overwhelmed during the trauma that those memories were not laid down at the time. Forgetting or cutting off from unbearable psychic material – i.e., dissociative amnesia (Carlson & Putnam, 1993) – might be a part of people’s coping strategies, thus obscuring the link. The person in distress may overlook or ignore any possible links because acknowledging them felt dangerous, stigmatising or shaming. For example, during the recent trial in France, Gisèle Pelicot bravely fought against such stigma by insisting that shame must change sides (Harding, 2024). Victims may carry shame that more accurately belongs to perpetrators.

In societies in the developed world, a common way of understanding mental health can be described as the ‘brain or blame trap’ (Boyle, 2013). The logic is often framed as either:

‘You have a psychiatric condition, and therefore your distress is real, and no one is to blame for it’

Or,

‘Your difficulties are imaginary and/or your, or someone else’s fault, and you ought to pull yourself together.’

While understanding psychological distress in mental health/psychiatric terms might initially be seen as helpful by removing personal blame or fault, both sides of this dilemma require accepting something defective about you as a person. Either your brain is defective – you have ‘social anxiety disorder’ or ‘clinical depression’ – or your character is defective: it’s your fault for being weak or culpable; you cannot cope like others can. The use of diagnosis by professionals obscures the connection between threats and threat responses, imposing a narrative of individual defectiveness instead.

In addition to obscuring the link between adverse life experiences and distress, the medical model can give rise to a conceptual confusion, illustrated by the concept of ‘co-morbidity’. The response to traumatic or adverse life experiences can take many different forms, such as restricted eating and checking, or periods of elevated mood with a fear of going outside. These responses may not correspond neatly with diagnostic categories, and so an individual can acquire several diagnoses, such as anorexia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, or mania with agoraphobia. This can lead to an individual being prescribed a long list of medication in an attempt to address the different disorders. Psychotherapeutically, novice therapists may struggle to determine which model to use when working with a client, such as whether to use cognitive behavioural therapy for bipolar disorder or for panic disorder. In the EMDR field, they may also be uncertain whether to use the protocol for panic disorder (Horst & de Jongh, 2015) or for bipolar disorder (Amann et al., 2015). This conceptual confusion can give rise to a situation where some forms of distress are understood to arise from unprocessed trauma memories and are regarded as appropriate targets in EMDR, whereas other forms of distress are regarded to arise from a disorder or dysfunctional brain and are not targeted in EMDR.

For example, in a case study of EMDR addressing offence-related trauma, the client also had a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia (Clark et al., 2014). Trauma memory networks underlying distress associated with the offence were targeted in EMDR. During the reprocessing, a trauma memory associated with an assault the client experienced in prison came up and was also targeted. However, there did not seem to be any consideration of experiences the client may have had that could underlie his feelings of paranoia. Sadly, his experience of psychosis seemed not to be considered at all during the EMDR therapy, despite his success in reprocessing other trauma with EMDR. Moving beyond diagnostic categories to a narrative of events in his life may have elucidated other adverse experiences that were linked with his feelings of paranoia, which then could have been targeted in EMDR. 

Argument

This paper argues that the AIP model is more aligned with the concepts of the PTMF than the medical model, and practitioners can deliver EMDR from a PTMF perspective, rather than from a medical model perspective. There is substantial overlap between the AIP model and the PTMF. Considering the examples of the misuse of power given above (e.g., bullying, coercive control) and the threat responses employed (e.g., hypervigilance, dissociation), EMDR practitioners will be familiar with these experiences with their clients.

A recent qualitative study investigated participants’ accounts of undertaking EMDR for psychosis (Rainey et al., 2024). The misuse of power was evident in the narratives. For example, female participants, who had experienced intimate partner violence, described a combination of coercive and ideological power that maintained their oppression and feelings of powerlessness. One participant explained, “He would tell me about like witchcraft and demonization and things like that. So as soon as like, I got ill, I realized I had internalized all of that” (Rainey et al., 2024, p. 10). Another participant described the response of a community elder to the disclosure of abuse: “Our elder told us you have to be patient. You can’t just leave your marriage. Just, it’s like, in our communities, like it’s normal is [sic] known. If they abuse you that is normal” (Rainey et al., 2024, p. 10).

Both the AIP model and the PTMF regard humans as active meaning-makers, trying to make sense of their experiences. Both regard different forms of distress as the individual’s attempt to make sense of and cope with what is happening to them as adaptive responses. In EMDR, the negative cognition is established, reflecting what the client worries it might say about them as a person, that the trauma happened to them. This has resonances with meaning in the PTMF, the sense that the person made of their experiences and what they needed to do to survive. Consistent with the PTMF’s assertion that the meaning people make of their experiences influences the response they have to them, there was some suggestion that a combination of self-blame and feeling unsafe may leave participants feeling suspicious and vulnerable, whereas experiences of grandiosity may have been responses to themes of self-defectiveness (Rainey et al., 2024).

EMDR goes on to establish a positive cognition – what the individual would prefer to believe. This has resonances with re-storying, the narrative creation in the PTMF-guided discussion. As one woman who had engaged in EMDR for psychosis expressed, “Before I used to blame myself well yes, ‘you have the right to beat me up’. Well, no, it’s not my fault” (Rainey et al., 2024, p. 13).

In both approaches, an illness is not required to understand the link between adverse or traumatic experiences and distress. The concept of ‘comorbidity’ can be made redundant. The conceptual confusion that can arise from trying to fit people into diagnostic categories and then wondering what protocol to draw on can give way to attempts to link current distress to underlying memory networks developed from adverse life experiences. The answer to the question of why someone develops one response to trauma, such as flashbacks, rather than other responses to trauma, such as low mood or rumination, lies in this narrative understanding. Psychological formulation may be one such narrative, or in EMDR terms, case conceptualisation.

PTMF and EMDR share a focus on re-establishing the links between adverse experiences and distress. Given the many factors obscuring the link between adversity and distress, it is encouraging that participants described the role of EMDR as helping them to acknowledge and address distress arising from adversities associated with social or economic inequality (Rainey et al., 2024). Delivering EMDR from a PTMF perspective allows movement beyond the ‘brain or blame trap.’ When the links are re-established with adverse and traumatic life experiences, the problem is no longer located within the person. It is no longer required to accept some form of defectiveness. The response is not disordered; the mind is trying to do what it’s supposed to do: create meaning and generate an adaptive response aimed at facilitating survival and coping. People are also not regarded as being to blame for their difficulties. Struggling with psychological distress is not regarded as morally defective but rather an understandable response to life experiences. Consistent with this, a key transformative element of EMDR has been found to be the role in reducing personal responsibility and self-blame in relation to experiences of adversity (Hardwick et al., in preparation).

It may be important for EMDR practitioners to hold in mind that they are developing formulations, case conceptualisations, with clients within the broader societal ‘brain or blame trap’. There has been a long history of critique of psychiatric diagnosis (e.g., Szasz, 1960; Goffman, 1961; Laing, 1968). One response to such critiques is that some clients ask for a diagnosis or value their diagnosis. Social media and first-person accounts are replete with statements of how a diagnosis made everything make sense (e.g., Partridge, 2025) and meant that struggles were no longer regarded as their fault (e.g., Eads et al, 2021). This can be seen as moving from the ‘blame’ side to the ‘brain’ side of the trap.

Unfortunately, alternatives to diagnosis can sometimes be perceived as moving back to the ‘blame’ side. For example, the British Psychological Society’s Understanding Depression report argued that referring to depression as “an illness is only one way of thinking about it, with advantages and disadvantages” (British Psychological Society, 2020, p. 16), which appeared to some readers to suggest people should “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” (Hickox, 2021, p. 31). It may have been that the critique of the illness approach, the ‘brain’ side of the ‘trap’, was interpreted as reinforcing the ‘blame’ side of the ‘trap’, when that was clearly not the authors’ intention (Holttum et al., 2021).

Similarly, psychological formulations can be experienced as blaming when the psychological processes described are not clearly contextualised in the individual’s experiences, such as regarding maintenance cycles. “I never really thought about it being me maintaining the problems” (Spencer et al., 2023, p. 335). Developing a narrative that re-establishes the links between adverse life experiences and subsequent distress offers a viable exit from the trap. The PTMF focus on the misuse of power, and EMDR case conceptualisation’s emphasis on the links with unprocessed trauma memory networks may help clients feel the problem is not being located within them and they are not disordered.

With the focus on community and cultural understandings, the PTMF allows space for different forms of meaning-making of adverse life experiences. If EMDR is to be delivered in non-Western cultures, delivery from a PTMF perspective can embrace such alternative understandings and avoid imposing a Western medical model. At the 2024 EMDR UK Association Conference, Femke Bannink Mbazzi (2024) spoke on cultural adaptations in EMDR. One such adaptation was embracing a negative cognition referring to ‘we’ – the family – rather than ‘I’, e.g., ‘we are weak’, reflecting a collectivist rather than individualist society. The importance of this can be understood from the basis of meaning-making within a cultural context rather than from the medicalised perspective of an individual with a ‘mental illness.’ Furthermore, the PTMF aims to expand the narratives that are culturally available to people to include psychological explanations while also honouring spiritual and cultural understandings.   

One ancillary of delivering EMDR from a PTMF perspective would be replacing medicalised language, like ‘symptoms’, with psychological and experiential language, like ‘experiences.’ Throughout this paper, medicalised language has only been used when referring to the medical model and diagnostic labels. Psychological and experiential language has been employed when referring to people, our experiences and responses. This type of language facilitates a more accurate description of what has happened to someone and the psychological processes involved. This facilitates meaning-making and the creation of a comprehensible narrative rather than the obscuring function of medicalised language. There has been some evidence that using medicalised language may block a sense of curiosity about other perspectives (Hardwick et al., in preparation).

Conclusions and summary

It has been argued that there are many fruitful resonances between the PTMF and the AIP model, and delivering EMDR from a PTMF perspective may avoid some of the criticisms of the medical model. The PTMF’s focus on the misuse of power facilitates an overarching understanding of the consequences of adverse and traumatic experiences that can be addressed in EMDR. By focusing on the links between such experiences and subsequent forms of distress, an adaptive narrative can be created where the individual is no longer required to accept a view of themselves as defective. This process can also help identify useful targets for reprocessing.    

Author positionality statement

I am a white, heterosexual, middle-aged, lower-middle-class, dyslexic woman. These different aspects of my identity come to prominence in my mind at different times in response to situations and others I encounter. I have a long history of education, including a PhD in early intervention in psychosis and a doctorate in clinical psychology.

Being a psychosis psychologist for many years, I have been required to contend with iatrogenic harm arising from societal views of madness, the medical model and mental health practice. For me, the PTMF brought together a range of evidence and critiques I had drawn upon in my work over the years. Undertaking EMDR training, the AIP model resonated with my understanding of what it was to be human and gave me a powerful tool I could offer clients to consider for healing distress.

Hearing the criticisms that EMDR located the problem within the individual and neglected the trauma, injustice and oppression experienced, I was somewhat bewildered. This was not how I understood EMDR. I realised that the criticisms arose from the connection with the medical model, which I had long abandoned, and instead embraced ideas consistent with the PTMF. I wondered if this might resonate with others, hence the argument proposed in this paper.           

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Scientific and Research Committee update

By Anthea Sutton

EMDR UK Annual Conference

Upside Down House outside the conference venue, Liverpool; Image © Anthea Sutton, March 2025

As we write this, Anthea has recently returned from the annual conference in Liverpool. It was a pleasure to meet so many of you there, and we’d like to extend our thanks to everyone who presented a poster. There was a real buzz in our poster corner during the refreshment breaks, and it was fantastic to see the level of interest and engagement. You can read more about the research posters in Anthea’s report “Poster Presentations: EMDR UK Annual Conference 2025”, including details of the best poster award winner, as voted by the SRC.

SRC member Susannah Colbert and Anthea also presented an update on the committee’s activities during the lunch break on Day 1. Many thanks to all those who gave up their place in the lunch queue to join us! If you missed it, a recording is available via the conference app.

Looking ahead to the 2026 conference, we welcome early expressions of interest in submitting a poster abstract. Please email Anthea at a.sutton@emdrassociation.org.uk with your proposed topic, and we’ll be sure to alert you when the official call for abstracts opens.

We will also have a designated research slot on the programme. If there are topics or speakers you’d like to suggest for this, do get in touch at a.sutton@emdrassociation.org.uk.

Research skills webinars

Now the conference is over for 2025, we can all turn our attention to other forms of CPD. Following our successful webinar on critical appraisal in January, we’re planning a series of sessions on introductory research skills. Please look out for further details. If there are specific topics you’d like to see covered, please let us know at a.sutton@emdrassociation.org.uk.

Engaging with NICE

One of the SRC’s key aims is to contribute to relevant NICE guidelines as stakeholders. A new guideline on the assessment and management of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders is currently under development.

EMDR UK was represented at the recent scoping workshop held on 1st April, and we’ll continue to keep members updated as this process unfolds. If you’re interested in joining a consultation group to support our feedback at key stages, please contact us at a.sutton@emdrassociation.org.uk.

The guideline committee is now recruiting for lay members with lived experience of OCD and/or BDD, with a deadline of 6^th June 2025 for applications.  Please see the NICE website for further details and do circulate to your networks where the opportunity may be of interest.

A systematic review of EMDR for the treatment and prevention of PTSD

An open-access journal article reporting on a systematic review of adults, conducted by the School of Medicine and Population Health at the University of Sheffield, is currently in press. A second article, focusing on children and adolescents, has also been submitted. Both will be publicised as soon as they’re available. Anthea will also be presenting this work at the EMDR Europe Research & Practice Conference at the end of May.

Supervisors and research projects for Doctorate in Clinical Psychology trainees

We’ll soon be reaching out to members seeking volunteers to externally supervise DClinPsy trainees and to suggest research project ideas. Thank you to those who have already been in touch following the conference – we’re looking forward to hearing more of your ideas.

And finally…

A reminder that all members have access to the EMDR Publications Database, a valuable resource compiling peer-reviewed research on EMDR. If you don’t yet have access, please email emdrdatabase@sheffield.ac.uk. The database is updated quarterly. You can find a report on the most recent updates in this Spring 2025 edition of the ETQ, it is called “EMDR Publications Database”.

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Group supervision

By Robin Logie

I am sitting in front of my computer and see six boxes on my Zoom call, each containing another EMDR therapist, one of whom is our supervisor, Gordon. We have just logged in and are doing the usual formalities: “How are you?” and “You’re muted!”

Once we’ve settled in, our supervisor calls us to order and goes round the group, asking each of us what we have brought to supervision today. I did have an idea before the group about a client I am feeling stuck with, but I am wondering whether to discuss this client and thinking about the potential feelings of shame when I reveal how ignorant I am about the standard protocol. But I feel reassured by Gordon, who, I remember, has told us about some of the times that he has ‘messed up’ in EMDR therapy, and I feel that it might be worth taking the risk. So, when it comes to my turn, I ask the following supervision question:

“My client doesn’t seem to be processing, and I am wondering whether I’ve got the right target. Can you help me with my case conceptualisation?”

Then I start to worry about something else: What if the other people in the group have something more pressing and urgent to discuss, and I will be hogging the session with my little problem? But then I remember that Gordon is usually good at making sure that everyone has a fair share of the time and that others can contribute to the discussion about my case and will thus feel involved.

Welcome to the world of EMDR group supervision, where some things aren’t quite the same as they are in individual supervision.

Why group supervision?

Firstly, what is the point of doing supervision in a group? Well, the most obvious reason for providing supervision in a group setting is that of economies of both time and money. Where there exists an insufficient number of EMDR consultants, as is currently the case in the UK, group supervision rather than individual supervision is a better use of their time. In addition, the costs are less for the organisation or for the individual if they are funding the supervision themselves.

However, there are many other advantages to group supervision, and I have summarised the points made by Bernard and Goodyear (2019) below:

• Through group supervision, each supervisee has access to a wider range of practice and will learn about the utilisation of EMDR with many more clients than their own.
• The group format provides a much greater variety of learning experiences, for example, reflecting on the practice of colleagues.
• Each group member will benefit from a greater diversity of perspectives on their clinical work.
• The group format enables the supervisor to obtain a more comprehensive picture of their supervisee as they observe how they interact with other members of the group.
• The supervisee will learn more about how they are seen by others, which can be valuable information.
• The supervisee gains the opportunity to learn supervision skills, especially relevant for supervisees who are training to become consultants themselves.
• Supervisees’ experiences are normalised, finding, for example, that other EMDR therapists have the same doubts and anxieties as their own.

Bernard and Goodyear also outline some disadvantages of group supervision:

• Particular individuals may not get what they need from supervision and the supervisee may have particular issues that the supervisor can only manage in an individual setting.
• There may be concerns about confidentiality relating to both client information and the supervisees’ own issues.
• The form and structure of group supervision does not mirror the practice being supervised, namely individual one-to-one therapy, which is how EMDR is usually delivered.
• Certain group phenomena, such as competitiveness and insensitivity to cultural differences, can impede learning.

On balance, group supervision is generally found to be as effective as individual supervision (Ögren, Boëthius, & Sundin, 2014) and the advantages tend to outweigh the limitations (Bernard & Goodyear, 2019).

Types of groups

EMDR supervision groups can take different forms, as summarised by Proctor and Inskipp (2001). They described four types of groups, the first three being supervisor-led and the fourth described as a peer group.

• Type 1. Authoritative group (supervision in a group)
• Type 2. Participative group (supervision with the group)
• Type 3. Co-operative group (supervision by the group)
• Type 4. Peer group

Type 1. Authoritative group (supervision in a group)

The supervisor provides supervision to each supervisee in turn, whilst the other supervisees are primarily observers and learners during this process. It is, in effect, individual supervision with an audience.

Type 2. Participative group (supervision with the group)

The supervisor still takes prime responsibility for supervising each therapist. However, the supervisor also actively directs group members to co-supervise each other and comment on each other’s presentations.

Type 3. Co-operative group (supervision by the group)

Here, it is the group itself that is providing the supervision. The supervisor’s role is as a facilitator and supervision monitor. In the context of EMDR supervision, the supervisor will still take responsibility for ensuring that comments by members of the group are in accordance with EMDR protocols. In addition, as an evaluator in relation to accreditation, the supervisor will also be assessing the group members in terms of their understanding of the protocol during this process.

Type 4. Peer group

In this type of group, no individual is taking on the responsibility of supervision. Although one individual may act as chair or co-ordinator (a role that might revolve around the group), this person holds no responsibility as a supervisor. Such groups exist in some regions of the UK under the auspices of the EMDR Association. It should be noted that peer group meetings cannot be counted towards accreditation, even if there is an EMDR consultant present at the meeting. To be absolutely clear about this, a decision was made when I was on the board of the Association to describe such groups as ‘peer support groups’ rather than ‘peer supervision groups.’

So, which is the best sort of group? The answer is, ‘It all depends…’ If those in the group have not yet completed their basic seven-to-eight-day training in EMDR or have only recently completed it, an authoritative group might be the most effective format. This is because trainees will still be learning basic EMDR protocols and would be floundering if they were expected to comment upon each other’s cases. However, in my experience, even with such groups, an element of a participative group can often be valuable, and I would not preclude other members of the group from commenting when one of their colleagues is presenting a case. Generally speaking, however, the more experienced the group members are, the more appropriate it will be to have a participative or co-operative group. In particular, if the group consists mainly of consultants or consultants-in-training, a co-operative group will assist them in learning and practising the skills of supervision.

It may be that a particular group will oscillate between being authoritative and co-operative. For example, a group that normally works co-operatively, may, on occasion, have a many more cases to discuss, and there may simply not be sufficient time to involve the whole group in discussing each case. So, the group may need to resort to becoming an authoritative one for that meeting.

How many in the group?

The ‘Goldilocks’ range – not too large, not too small – for a supervision group appears to be four to six members. Boalt Boëthius and Ögren (2001) suggest that a group of just three individuals may become too competitive, whereas a group of four can relate to each other in dyads. However, as the group size increases, more reticent members may fail to contribute, and some members may begin to dominate.

Additionally, the guidelines regarding frequency and quantity of EMDR supervision by the EMDR Association UK (2019), the first version of which was drafted by me, specifies a recommended group size of no more than six.

Homogenous versus heterogenous

There are a number of ways that individual members of a group may differ in terms of, say, age, gender, race, nationality, professional training and experience. In general, a more heterogenous group functions better (Ögren, Boëthius & Sundin, 2014). However, I am concerned here in thinking about the individual’s level of development as an EMDR therapist.

What are the pros and cons of having more heterogeneity in a supervision group in terms of the EMDR development of its members? The advantage of a homogenous group is that everyone is working at a similar level, and any teaching relating to the EMDR protocol is likely to be relevant to all the members of the group. If it is an advanced group of consultants-in-training, the group can also address issues regarding supervision that would not be relevant to those who are not yet accredited practitioners. I have run such homogenous groups, one for recently trained EMDR therapists working towards practitioner accreditation and one for those working towards consultant accreditation, and both worked well.  

However, I also ran a very mixed group that included consultants-in-training and those who had not yet completed their basic EMDR training. This group also worked very well, and, in fact, the consultants-in-training were able to practise and demonstrate their group supervision skills whilst I was observing them in the form of live supervision-of-supervision, which worked well for everyone.

Organisation and structuring of groups

One of the things you will notice if you move from individual supervision to group supervision is how the session needs to be organised. For individual supervision, the supervisee usually sets the agenda, decides what they want to discuss and how much time to spend on each supervision question.
 
In a group context, however, the agenda needs to be set by the supervisor, who will need to start by finding out what everyone has brought to supervision to formulate a group agenda. Alongside this, the supervisor needs to ensure everyone’s supervision needs are met and that supervisees feel safe enough to share their vulnerability about their struggles in working with particular clients.

Shame. It’s never far away!

As EMDR therapists, we are aware that before we can start processing a trauma, our client needs to be in a place of security and have sufficient resources in situ. Without that firm ‘foot in the present,’ they will not be ready to put their ‘foot in the past.’ Similarly, with group supervision, before we, as supervisees, feel comfortable in sharing our vulnerabilities regarding our clinical work, we must feel safe and secure in the group and with our supervisor.

The experience of being in a supervision group and sharing our mistakes and vulnerabilities as therapists can engender a sense of shame. It is important for our supervisor to foster a climate in which we can be open about our vulnerabilities without feeling judged by members of the group. Whilst remaining strong and dependable as a group leader, a supervisor who shares some of their own vulnerabilities and examples of when they themselves have ‘messed up’ should help to create the right culture in the group. Group members need to feel a sense of security and know that they can trust other group members as well as the supervisor (Ögren, Apelman, & Klawitter, 2002).

In conclusion, group supervision can be scary and daunting. But, with the right group culture, it can be one of the most rewarding, stimulating and energising experiences.

Postscript

I have now decided to finish my regular columns in ETQ on the topic of EMDR supervision – principally because I have run out of things to say! I was initially invited to write this column in 2021 by Omar Sattaur, a former editor of ETQ, and was delighted to start this process.

This is my 11th column, and, after a total of 23,086 words, I think you will have heard enough from me! Also, I will be retiring later this year, although I will be popping back to run Consultants Trainings for a couple more years. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this column, and I hope that it has been of help to my readers.

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Update from the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee

By Heena Chudasama

As we welcome spring, we continue to see much turmoil and adversity globally, and it is vital that we support vulnerable groups and people. This may include our clients, peers, our environment and ourselves.

I am happy to share that Emma Mullins-Crocker will be shadowing me whilst in the position of deputy chair with a view to taking the chair position of the EDI Committee in July 2025. I will remain on the committee as past chair. I am committed to EDI (equality, diversity and inclusivity) development within the EMDR UK Association. We are grateful for the continued interest from members expressing an interest in contributing to the work of the EDI Committee, which will be revisited once Emma has transitioned into the chair position.

Whilst the beginning of 2025 brought four new members to the EDI Committee, Azucena Guzman, unfortunately, is unable to commit to the work of the committee at this time. Beverley Carrington will also be taking a break from the committee due to her outside commitments. We hope to welcome Beverley back next year.

ETQ

It was my pleasure to meet and welcome Dean Whybrow, our new editor of the ETQ. We spoke about continuing the fabulous work Beverly Coghlan started with integrating EDI into the publication. We discussed how we could monitor, maintain and further develop the work she started. We look forward to working with Dean. Like Beverly, Dean is a supportive and containing editor who strives to support new and established authors. Dean has assured me that he too will continue to support authors and promote and encourage equality, inclusivity and diversity. I would encourage you to reach out to Dean with contributions (or share ideas for publication) at d.whybrow@emdrassociation.org.uk.

Webinars

The EDI Committee has engaged in a multimedia approach in providing EDI-related opportunities for its members. We encourage members to engage with the EDI Committee by way of sharing their areas of interest via webinars, podcasts, the forum and/or ETQ articles.

The committee continues to source and deliver a multimedia approach that focuses explicitly on working with marginalised and underserved groups, adapting and developing our EMDR practice. If this is something you could offer and are an EMDR therapist (practitioner, consultant or trainer), please get in touch.

There are a number of CPD events that can be accessed here.

Bursary to come

The Association has agreed to offer some bursaries to access standard EMDR and C&A EMDR training, books and clinical supervision. We are in the process of setting up a process of application. This will take some time, so please bear with us.

Short Life Working Group (SLWG): Guidance

We are working on developing some tip sheets/guidance on accessibility to events for the Association. These will be shared via the forum when they are ready.

Regional groups (RGs) and special interest groups (SIGs)

Kamla Dadral continues to coordinate the reflective space for ethnically minoritised EMDR UK members to share their narratives and processes, and to think about the next steps as a group. Please contact Kamla Dadral via email to find out more or to join the reflective group at kamladadral7@gmail.com.

Awareness days

Thank you to the SIGs and RGs that have shared awareness and heritage days they wish the association to highlight. Soon we will be in contact to ask for contributions from relevant SIGs to consider contributing to supporting the awareness building via the ETQ, podcasts, sharing resources and webinars. Katy Bell and David Leck will be working with the Association to support the promotion and work in this area.

Forum

The EMDR UK Forum is a great place to share ideas, experiences and resources. The Association aims to develop a safe space to explore issues relating to EDI. The aim is, of course, for EDI to be overtly integrated throughout the forum. Fiona Corbett and Karen Crowe share resources in the EDI section of the forum.

Accessible answerphone

We have attempted to increase accessibility to the Association and an answerphone has been live since May 2023.
 

Accessible answerphone number: 0151 372 6802

This is an accessible answerphone line for those who cannot email the Association. The answerphone will not be monitored on weekends and during holiday periods. Please be mindful that queries will be responded to as soon as possible but may take a few days. If you are able to email, please do so on admin@emdrassocation.org.uk

Please be aware there is a process of reasonable adjustments and mitigating circumstances that members can access. Please contact admin@emdrassociation.org.uk to be directed to the right person in relation to your query.

Heena Chudasama

HChudasama@emdrassociation.org.uk

EDI Committee Chairperson

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Complex Issues, Systemic Recovery: EMDR Therapy and Addiction

By Jessica Woolliscroft

Radical Hope: Report and reflections on a presentation delivered by Hope Payson at the EMDR UK Annual Conference 2025 

Hope Payson demonstrated her activist credentials from the very start of her presentation. The previous day, the US government had published a list of forbidden words not to be used by government-funded bodies or those seeking funding. It was too late for Hope to change her presentation, and she responded by highlighting every forbidden word in her PowerPoint in blue. She certainly knows how to convey a message.

As trauma therapists, we work with people who have been on the sharp end of oppression and the abuse of power. Those working with addiction know that such trauma plays a fundamental role in its development.

Hope divided her presentation into two parts. The first set the scene, describing her work with people with addictions, many of whom were in and out of the prison system. She told us how, on her way to her office, both she and her clients must walk past the neighbourhood heroin dealer. She asked him if he would move, but he wanted her to!

The second part was a creative demonstration of how she uses EMDR to treat addiction, using audience members to represent negative cognitions, positive cognitions, triggers and resources.

Anyone can become addicted to substances, behaviours or both, and anything can become the object of addiction because addictive behaviours create the dopamine hits that get us hooked. Hope pointed out that:

“The faster the behaviour/substance acts and the more powerful it is, the more addictive potential it has. The more underlying trauma/neglect there is, the more at risk someone is of developing an addiction”.

She described how addiction has a pulse made up of stressors interspersed with the “flatline of neglect and missed developmental stages”. Addiction leads to the wiring in of emotionally charged triggers, which lead to urges and compulsions. As a result, the individual develops maladaptive ‘positive’ feeling states associated with their addiction, and this is what leads to the constant craving, wanting and seeking. She described a phenomenon called ‘cruel optimism,’ where agencies and well-meaning people repeatedly tell people with an addiction that recovery is possible when they do not grasp the intensity of its grip.

Hope was generous in sharing what she had learned from her extensive experience. For example, how often have we, as EMDR therapists, felt overawed by the sheer amount of trauma suffered by our clients and not known where to begin? Hope’s answer is to cluster experiences under the heading of different negative cognitions, e.g., ‘I am powerless,’ ‘worthless’ or ‘I do not matter.’

Hope enlivened her presentation using video clips showing some of her clients talking about their experiences. The way in which addiction evolves as a maladaptive response was beautifully illustrated by her story of a charismatic man who was born to be a leader but never got a break in his life. The only option open to him to feel powerful and connected was to become a drug dealer. Once he got clean, he discovered a new pathway, by becoming a sponsor. He became the most popular and successful sponsor in the community. He found a more adaptive way of being powerful and connected.

EMDR treatment planning for addiction

Hope described how she planned her treatment for a particular client, a young woman who had been trafficked. She used audience members to represent each stage, asking them to hold banners. This approach certainly amused the audience and kept us all engaged.

She teased out the negative cognitions and clustered the trauma events into each of them, e.g., ‘I am worthless,’ or ‘I do not matter.’ From there, it was an easy step to identify what the positive cognitions were that were associated with the addictions. These were the maladaptive positive cognitions, e.g., ‘I am powerful,’ or ‘I am connected.’

She then found out what external and internal triggers troubled her client the most, and this was where she was able to contain her with resource figures and memories that emphasised her strengths. Hope helped her to identify her NA sponsor, her determination and her parole officer as resources and strengths.

To contain the inner triggers, such as strong emotions, and prepare for external ones, Hope used containment exercises and future templates (e.g., “What will I do when…?”). She used Jim Knipe’s Positive Affect Tolerance protocol (Knipe, 2018) or Miller’s Feeling-State protocol (Miller, 2011) to process the maladaptive positive cognitions. Gradually, the client started to see the links between these maladaptive positive cognitions and her addiction and suddenly realised why dealing helped her to feel powerful and connected.

As the maladaptive positive cognition was processed, the true traumas emerged – being trafficked, the sexual violence – and this was when the client really needed all her courage to dig deep. This was when Hope processed the most representative memories in the trauma clusters using the standard protocol.

I found Hope’s presentation to be a tour de force; she is obviously a highly skilled EMDR clinician. She managed to be witty, compassionate and politically astute. I entitled this review ‘Radical Hope,’ a term coined by Jonathan Lear (2006), who describes it as a form of hope that is needed when the outlook appears truly bleak. Hope Payson’s approach to addiction certainly brings radical hope to those of us working in treatment, or to those struggling with addiction themselves. This hope is not cruel.

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Understanding Generational Trauma and Black Identity Wounding

By Jasminder Bahia

Report and reflections on a presentation delivered by Aileen Alleyne at the EMDR UK Annual Conference 2025

Introduction

This article offers a personal reflection on Dr Aileen Alleyne’s keynote presentation at the EMDR UK Annual Conference 2025, which addressed the intergenerational impact of trauma and Black identity wounding. Drawing on Aileen’s clinical insights and longstanding research into the internal oppressor, the artic probably be a bit more cleverle explores the resonance of her work for EMDR practitioners, especially those engaging with culturally complex trauma. It also shares the personal significance of the presentation for the author, highlighting the shift in the EMDR field towards acknowledging racialised trauma in clinical spaces.

Dr Aileen Alleyne is a UK-based psychodynamic psychotherapist, clinical supervisor and organisational consultant. Her work centres on the psychological impact of racism and generational trauma, particularly within Black communities. She is known for developing the concept of the ‘internal oppressor,’ which describes how societal racism becomes internalised and affects self-worth. Her book, The Burden of Heritage, explores identity trauma, cultural enmeshment and the emotional weight carried across generations. Alongside managing her private practice, she teaches, writes and consults across health, education and public services. This brings thoughtful, therapeutic insight into the realities of race, identity and belonging.

As someone who has known Aileen for over 20 years, hearing her speak at the EMDR UK Annual Conference was both moving and inspiring. It felt like a full-circle moment – personally and professionally. It’s been almost 10 years since we met in person. Aileen was my clinical supervisor for some years during a time when I was experiencing racism and racial bias at work, and I was fortunate to have her clinical support to process what was happening. In more recent years, we’ve reconnected. She now offers consultation and mentoring support for my work on embodied racialised trauma, decolonising therapy and my role as a psychologist and yoga teacher trainer.

Themes and relevance in EMDR work

The talk covered topics such as the history of slavery, initial trauma for Black people, the question “Who remembers us Black folks?”, generational trauma, the hidden white minority, the internal oppressor and practical therapeutic pointers.

This presentation felt significant, both in content and in its relevance to EMDR practice. As the chair, Russell Hurn, said in his introduction:

“This is an uncomfortable topic for many of us – Aileen will focus on generational trauma through the specific lens of Black identity wounding, with the aim of identifying good intercultural practice, which is essential for all EMDR therapists.”

The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool

The presentation began by drawing a connection between the Albert Dock and the International Slavery Museum, the only museum of its kind. I lived in Liverpool from my teenage years and completed my first degree in Applied Psychology in the city. Liverpool shaped my identity, and as Aileen pointed out, this port holds deep and wounding links to Britain’s history of enslavement.

She shared hard-hitting facts about the history of ‘colonial produce.’ As I listened, I reminded myself to breathe, remembering the lessons of Resmaa Menakem’s book My Grandmother’s Hands. The presentation was both rich and challenging – I could feel the history and trauma sitting in my body. I reminded myself to breathe deeply, to stay present, feet grounded and jaw unclenched.

Aileen shared that between the 15th and 18th centuries, over 18 million African people were taken captive. Six million died during capture and transport, and 12 million were forced into labour on plantations across the Americas and the West Indies.

“I start with this spotted history to create a significant backdrop to the topic… As I see it, this initial trauma for Black people is very poignant, because it’s the systematic dehumanisation of African slaves.”

Who remembers us Black folks?

Aileen spoke powerfully – in a way I felt in my body. I was nervous, aware of how her words might land in a room of predominantly white-bodied therapists. How would it be received? My internal oppressor was stirred, yet also felt freed by the strength and clarity in front of me. Aileen named what often goes unsaid. The audience met her with warmth and curiosity; that support was palpable. I felt held, and that brought a quiet sense of connection.

When Aileen spoke about how differently we relate to the atrocity of slavery, and how it’s everyone’s shame and everyone’s loss, she named how this crime is allowed to be forgotten. She linked this to the trauma of being forgotten and the additional weight Black people carry when left to hold this pain alone.

She spoke with conviction about the importance of remembrance – Holocaust Memorial Day, Remembrance Day – and then asked plainly:

“But who remembers us Black folks?”

Generational trauma and Black identity wounding

Aileen made it clear that we cannot talk about generational trauma for Black people without starting with slavery. She stated:

“You have to start from slavery – even though Black people’s existence didn’t begin there –because of the psychic wounding it created. Most, if not all, Black people carry something of this, knowingly or unknowingly.”

She explained that the world’s forgetfulness, its neglect of this vast and violent history, keeps the wound alive. That invisibility causes its own harm – the feeling of not being seen, valued or remembered. This, she noted, can lead people to hold tightly to the wound as a way of protecting it from erasure.

Aileen named the emotional weight of this trauma – shame, depression, anxiety, mourning, anger, and how these live in the psyche of Black people. For some, this leads to avoidance or detachment. For others, an over-attachment to history means the wounds are continually reopened. This, she noted, is what defines Black identity wounding.

She reminded us gently, through humour, warmth and care, that this isn’t easy work. And she appreciated Russell Hurn for naming the discomfort:

“If you’re not feeling uncomfortable, I think something’s wrong.”

That discomfort is necessary. Aileen helped us sit with it.

She also clarified her use of the broader term ‘generational trauma,’ which holds both:

• Intergenerational trauma: passed through families (shame, secrecy, inherited illness), transmitted biologically and socially.

• Transgenerational trauma: rooted in historical events like colonisation, slavery, genocide and forced displacement.

Her framing held all of this – with clarity, care and grounding.

Intersectionality and the hidden white minority

Aileen also spoke about the intersectional nature of generational trauma, not just rooted in history but showing up in daily experiences. She calls this ‘heritage hauntings’ – how the past echoes into the present. It’s a clear reminder that trauma isn’t fixed in time – it’s ongoing.

One concept that stood out for me was Aileen’s term ‘hidden white minority.’ She uses this to describe communities that may be perceived as white but experience being othered, such as Jewish communities, Roma, Travellers, Eastern Europeans and people of mixed heritage who ‘pass’ as white. These groups often carry their own histories of exclusion and invisibility. Their trauma isn’t always immediately recognised, but it’s there.

It reminded me that the way we talk about identity keeps shifting. And staying open to that helps us stay connected to what people are really carrying.

How generational trauma is passed on

Aileen spoke about how generational trauma is often passed down through everyday family dynamics, parenting styles and inherited belief systems. It’s not always obvious, but when you listen closely, the patterns start to reveal themselves.

She gave examples we are likely to hear in the therapy room:

• Parenting patterns: Emotionally absent or punitive parenting, often seen in authoritarian households, can reflect unresolved trauma passed down from previous generations. These ways of coping become repeated learned behaviours.

• Father absence: Aileen spoke about the emotional or physical absence of fathers in some Black families, based on her clinical experience, and the lasting impact this can create. She described how this absence can leave a gap in emotional connection and security—one that may echo across generations.

• Emotional legacy: These dynamics can leave behind deep-rooted feelings of abandonment, neglect, resentment, shame and repressed anger, which often resurface as addiction, compulsive behaviours or chaotic relationship patterns.

• Scripts: Perhaps the most striking aspect was Aileen’s example of the internalised script: “You have to work twice as hard as your white counterparts.” She spoke about how this made her driven, but at a cost. She has since worked to reframe that script.

Therapists are invited to listen out for these individual, family and societal scripts that shape a person’s self-belief and sense of possibility. That same script, “work twice as hard,” was given to me by a tutor while I was studying for my master’s in psychology. As a South Asian woman of colour, I was told I’d need to overperform just to be seen. That message stayed with me. It shaped a sense of shame, of not belonging, and a drive to succeed in systems that weren’t built with me in mind.

It was powerful and healing to hear this kind of dialogue spoken aloud. Equally affirming was the genuine curiosity in the room from practitioners working with racialised and marginalised groups.

In conversations after the presentation, I was struck by how many people, from all backgrounds, were reflecting on their own inherited scripts and family dynamics. These exchanges felt meaningful. There was a shared sense of reflection and recognition across difference.

Aileen reminded us that good intercultural work isn’t about asking someone to reject their culture or family. Rather, it is about helping them access and express their ‘real,’ and often conflicted, feelings with honesty and care. This, she emphasised, is the heart of meaningful therapeutic work.

The internal oppressor

By this point in the presentation, Aileen had laid the foundations – guiding us through history, personal scripts, emotional legacies and the inherited weight many of our clients carry. It felt like a slow, deliberate build-up. Each layer of the talk invited us to go deeper – to bear witness, not just to our clients’ experiences, but to our own internalised messages as well.

Then came the ‘Doll Test’ video.

It brought tears to my eyes and to my colleague sitting beside me. My body felt the sadness. It was tough to watch, confusing and painful – you could feel the depth of it in the room.

The short video (2 mins 44 secs) recreated the 1940s Doll Test with Italian children. Children of colour were asked to choose between a white doll and a Black doll, and say which one was good, pretty or bad. Almost all chose the white doll as ‘good’ or ‘beautiful,’ and the Black doll as ‘bad’ or ‘ugly’.

The hardest part was when they were asked, “Which doll looks like you?” The discomfort was immediate – in the children and in us watching. It was a simple exercise, showing how early the internal oppressor takes root. These messages are absorbed from a young age through media, school, family dynamics, playgrounds, and now TikTok and social media. They drip-feed into children’s minds, often before the age of six or seven.

Aileen held the topic with such care and relevance, threading it into everything she had already shared. It didn’t feel abrupt; it felt like something she had mindfully been preparing us for. As if to say: this is the work; this is what’s at stake. And this is why we need to keep doing it, with depth, honesty and awareness.

She reminded us that the internal oppressor is not the same as internalised oppression:

• The internal oppressor is a part of the self, an aspect of the ego, a noun. It inhibits. It functions as an inner enemy.

• It is often more challenging than external oppression because it becomes part of how someone sees themselves.

• It can come from unresolved cultural or historical pain, not only racial but from personal or family history as well.

• It often manifests as shame.

These messages start early. And the cost of carrying them quietly, sometimes unconsciously, shows up in how people relate to themselves and others. This part of the talk left me reflecting deeply on what we hold in our own bodies and what our clients silently carry into the therapy room.

Final reflections and practical guidance

After such a powerful exploration of history, identity and the embodied effects of racial trauma, Aileen closed the presentation by grounding us – offering practical guidance for working with generational trauma in clinical settings.

She spoke about the importance of exploring a client’s developmental history while holding in mind the vertical and horizontal impacts of oppression and how inherited trauma intersects with lived experience. This affects identity, self-esteem, relationships (intimate, familial, professional) and the client’s overall sense of worth.

She reminded us that resource building is essential – not just focusing on wounds but also helping clients access stability and strength.

Micro-skills for therapeutic work:

• Bracketing: Avoid assumptions and don’t objectify the client’s experience.

• Horizontalisation: Observe without rushing to interpret – allow clients to connect their own dots.

• Descriptive focus: Stay with what is being shared and reflect gently to support deeper insight.

• Curiosity: Stay curious – it’s a skill and a stance.

Aileen shared a moment from her journey to the conference, a long drive from East Sussex, where she saw a white van (driven by a white man!) with the words:

“Blessed are the curious, for they shall enjoy adventure.”

That stayed with me. It was a simple but timely reminder that curiosity is a strength, especially when navigating the complexity of intercultural and intergenerational work.

Questions for therapists (and clients) to reflect on:

• Which of your worldviews were shaped by your parents?
• What family scripts have you internalised that still shape your life?
• Where does identity shame reside in your family?
• What shame has been passed down, and how have you internalised it?

These kinds of questions don’t just open insight; they gently guide us into the deeper layers of generational trauma. They invite us and our clients to reflect with care.

What stayed with me

What stayed with me most was the reminder that history is not just a backdrop – it is present in the room, in the body and in the therapy relationship. As EMDR therapists, we need to know the history, especially the role of the British Empire and the legacy of slavery, and how being unseen, unacknowledged and misrecognised continues to impact racialised clients today.

Aileen’s framing of the internal oppressor stayed with me too – how it takes root so early, and how we might help clients begin to name it. The script, “You’ll have to work twice as hard,” still lives in many people. Naming it publicly, in a space where people were ready to listen, felt quietly powerful.

This presentation didn’t just inform – it invited us to reflect, to stretch and to stay open.

Chair Russell Hurn’s closing words captured that invitation:

“Thank you for highlighting that we’re all part of a system that historically has divided us – but we’re part of that system now, which means we can be part of bringing something different. We can work towards a more inclusive future, if we’re just able to remain curious, and able to have those really difficult conversations.”

That’s the work. And it starts with staying curious – about ourselves, our clients, and the stories we’ve inherited. In doing so, we begin to honour what’s been silenced, name what’s been internalised, and support our clients in finding their own language for healing.

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Why Therapists Are Not Delivering the EMDR Evidence Base and How to Put It Right

By Jessica Woolliscroft

Report and reflections on a presentation delivered by Matthew Wesson at the EMDR UK Annual Conference 2025

How to deliver bad news

Command HQ (aka EMDR Conference Committee): “So, Matt, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell the EMDR community that they risk becoming redundant because they’re failing to deliver the evidence base to NICE research standards. Oh, and you’ll have to deliver this message at the EMDR UK Conference, at the end of a long first day – just before the boozy social.”

Matt: “Mission accepted.” (cue theme music from Mission Impossible).

So, how did it go?

Matt Wesson presented a masterclass on how to deliver bad news. He was open about his strategy from the start, which was to make his pitch funny and lively alongside the controversy. He hoped this would keep his audience awake and engaged. He would be sharing uncomfortable truths, and he did not want his audience to shoot the messenger – hence photos of his pet dog, Hilda, who he knew loved him. (cue laughs).

He also made use of a classic therapeutic tool to soften up his audience, namely, the paradoxical injunction. He warned us that what we were about to hear would make us feel uncomfortable and that this discomfort was due to our cherished basic assumptions being challenged. These were our ‘knowledge shields,’ and they were preventing us from learning. He urged us to stay open-minded because we all want to be more effective trauma therapists, don’t we?

Trauma therapists need to be able to sit with discomfort. So, as I sat there, laughing and squirming through the presentation, my ego kept reminding me, “Don’t reject this, Jessica; you want to be a better trauma therapist, don’t you?”

Very cleverly done.

Why watch this presentation?

If you have not seen this presentation, please do so. Despite the many other excellent talks at the conference, this one may have been the most important presentation of them all. This is because if we do not reverse the trend that is diluting and complicating EMDR, we will not be able to ensure it remains an evidence-based therapy. Patients who could benefit will be deprived; funding for EMDR training will dry up, and at a certain tipping point, we will lose any foothold we have worked so hard to achieve. Because of this, ambitious and talented new therapists will choose not to train in EMDR because there will be no point, as there will be no career path.

I recently discovered that there are around 30 University Clinical Psychology courses that offer CBT training. There are only two that offer EMDR training, and one of those is about to lose its funding (personal communication from Dr Johnathan Hutchins). Matt warned us that we need to adapt to the reality of NHS public health priorities and not expect them to adapt to us. As Darwin and Russell Wallace described in their theory of natural selection – what does not adapt does not survive.

There would be no more EMDR UK.

No more EMDR conferences.

No more EMDR treatments.

Extinction.

What is the problem?

In 2018, NICE downgraded EMDR as the treatment of choice for veterans and children. It limited the provision of EMDR to other adults with PTSD only. Although we know it is effective in treating other presentations, such as depression, anxiety, phobias and OCD, we have not delivered enough gold-standard research to influence NICE. Practitioners in the NHS are now caught in a catch-22 situation. They cannot collect research data on EMDR’s efficacy with different client populations because they are prevented from offering it to them.

Why is this happening?

• There is not enough research into the EMDR training model (Miller, 2024).
  It could be that our current training models are too long for teaching PTSD treatment and too short for covering all the other complex presentations. The requirement for three clients is too vague. What kind of client? Can they be colleagues? Should they have a diagnosis? Which diagnosis? The assessment criteria are not stringent enough. How do we know those clients have been seen? Should videos be submitted? – there is a need for closer governance of qualification criteria. Lastly, the eligibility for training needs to be stricter as some therapists are not really cut out for trauma work. Farrell and Keenan (2013) noted a lack of confidence in many therapists after the basic training, which brings us to the next issue…

• NICE is worried that therapists are not delivering EMDR in a consistent way. This is partly due to what has been termed “therapist drift” (Waller, 2009). Matt expressed exasperation that some of us are obsessed with changing something that works. When we drift away from the model we were trained in, patients can receive a less effective therapy that could be harmful (Speers, 2022). There followed an amusing but uncomfortable section where Matt described how therapists consistently overate their skill level – 25% rated themselves in the top 10% and no one rated themselves in the bottom half (Walfish et al., 2012). Haarhoff’s (2006) work described therapists who set themselves demanding standards, see themselves as a “special, superior person” and a bit of a maverick, so want to do their own thing. There is also an over-reliance on the therapeutic relationship and a belief in what Meehl (1973) called the “spun glass theory of the mind” – the idea that clients are too fragile to cope with the standard therapy and need special conditions. Even though for the rest of the week, their lives are pretty difficult anyway. Too many EMDR therapists are avoiding exposing clients to the trauma so they can heal, on the grounds they are dissociative. Muriel et al. (2010) found that dissociative clients benefited equally from exposure elements of trauma therapy.

What can we do about it?

After this challenging portion of Matt’s talk, accompanied by nervous laughter in the room, he offered some recommendations for the future:

• Be realistic about the context. If research into EMDR effectiveness is not delivered soon, it will inevitably be downgraded further by NICE.

• Effective research needs consistent delivery of the evidence-based model. Trainees and supervisees need to be assessed as to their fidelity to the model and strongly encouraged to remain faithful to the evidence base. Matt recommended that everyone be aware of the EMDR Fidelity Rating Scale (EFRS-Version 2.1) and that consultants and trainers use it more often to assess their supervisees.

• Conduct research into EMDR training effectiveness, e.g., comparing online training to in-person; research the criteria that make some trainees more and less suitable for trauma work and restrict training eligibility as a result: get more clarity on the definition of three training patients; increase clinical governance and oversight on those patients; require more than three to qualify.

• Supervisors need to do more live supervision and view more videos. He stated that, “Videos are not just for accreditation but can be used throughout one’s career.” Supervisors could offer more group supervision using the EFRS.

• Newly trained therapists need to restrict their CPD to those events that will help them to consolidate their model. Refresher courses are of more value at this level than advanced adaptations. This builds confidence in trainees and supervisees to address the trauma directly, using increased stimulation to stabilise dissociating clients rather than jettisoning the model too early.

• Conduct research into EMDR with veterans, other adults and children to ensure fidelity to the model. Adaptations should focus on adapting the standard protocol to different cultures/diversity to make it more accessible. We need to research whether tapping and sounds are as effective as eye movements in processing the trauma.

• Offer standard protocol to dissociative clients and increase the stimulation to help them tolerate the memory, as the evidence from Dutch studies shows that dissociation lessens after treatment.

• Keep the conceptualisation simple using the three-pronged approach of identifying past, present and future targets and focusing on the traumatic events presented by the client. There may not be a need to do as much floatback/bridgeback as is often believed. Shapiro recommended using floatbacks only if you could not find the earliest memories. Start with the worst memory (van Vliet et al., 2024), as this consistently gives the biggest treatment effect.

Response from the audience

After the laughter had died down and ruffled feathers had been self-soothed, with limited time for questions – there was only one – a very helpful question about asking clients to choose their own preferred BLS.  Matt replied that he understood why therapists were doing that but stated, “How can that be an informed choice when the evidence shows it is eye movements that are most effective?”

There was a definite buzz in the room.

I noticed more than one therapist approached Matt after his talk to defend their unique adaptations to therapy, which kind of proved his point.

The next morning, knowing I was writing this article, Matt and I talked about dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I explained I was currently treating two clients diagnosed by a consultant psychiatrist with DID using microprocessing – ”and now I have guilt!” He asked me how often I get to work with DID clients, and I explained that it was a pretty rare occurrence, even when I worked in the NHS – possibly one every few years. I asked how often he came across DID in the prison population, and again, he reported it was rare. He explained that he often finds therapists claiming a “very high percentage” of their clients have DID, when it has been self-diagnosed and is a lot rarer than therapists realise.

As I met with colleagues, it was clear Matt’s talk had made an impression.

A practitioner in the NHS, asked:

“How many therapists who offer remote EMDR have access to platforms/software with BLS functionality, including eye movements? It would be interesting to know if in the NHS there are organisations who enable this, as remote sessions tend to be delivered on Attend Anywhere or possibly MS Teams.” – meaning that NHS therapists may be being prevented from offering eye movements due to the platforms being used.

I found the talk confronting yet stimulating. I decided then and there to become better acquainted with the EFRS and to apply it to my own and my supervisees’ practice. Not for the first time, I wondered how the EMDR Association, with its membership of 7,000 therapists, could, in an ethical way, tap into all their data in order to offer up more gold-standard research evidence. There must be a way of mobilising our membership as a research resource. Exposing EMDR therapists to this difficult information does not have to lead to controversy and pushback – it can also inspire and galvanise us. Posttraumatic growth, one could say.

Let’s be better!

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Let’s play with EMDR: The fundamentals of EMDR with children, adolescents and teens

By Jennifer Lonsdale

Report and reflections on a presentation delivered by Annie Monaco and Ann Beckley-Forest  at the EMDR UK Annual Conference 2025

In true ‘working with children’ fashion, Annie and Ann began their talk by inviting the audience to stand and imagine themselves chopping and lifting wood. This set the tone for an energetic and engaging presentation covering the interplay between play therapy and EMDR. Delegates were asked to consider the power of engagement arising from a child’s initial experience in the therapy room, to ensure they are not reminded of other settings where meetings with adults occur such as the headteacher’s office. The passion and enthusiasm for utilising play in EMDR was clear, along with the important message that:

“Play is what enables us to have a more equal relationship with a child.”

Delegates were shown how materials commonly used in play therapy can be skillfully interwoven into the delivery of EMDR. Play therapy materials were described as providing an opportunity for ‘projection and externalisation,’ allowing the child to explore spontaneously. Examples of materials the therapist may use include sand trays, doll houses, musical instruments and art supplies. 

The speakers encouraged clinicians to consider, at each stage of the eight-phase EMDR protocol, how play materials can make EMDR more accessible to children. In phase 1, the importance of gaining a shared understanding with children was stressed, as well as giving them agency and the ability to opt-out. Practical ideas for history taking were covered, such as storytelling and props. Joyce Mill’s Bowl of Light story was discussed, and delegates were shown a video cartoon of this story enacted in a sand tray. After presenting this story to the child, the therapist can then move on to show them that stones can represent bad things that block some of the light in the bowl of light. This was then combined with a visual SUD scale to talk to them about developing a problem list and rating how much each stone bothers them now. To explore resources, ideas such as creating a rainbow of the best things that have happened in the child’s life were promoted. 

In phase 2, ‘preparation for therapy,’ a range of body movements to encourage soothing and grounding were explored. Exercises, such as pretending to chop wood and laughing yoga, were recommended to help the child and parent ground during the session. These were taught as strategies that families can use at home during times of distress. Integrated colour visualisations with breathing exercises were described, such as asking the child to give colours to different feelings and then to breathe out the colours associated with the distressing feelings.

The audience was once again asked to take part in an experiential activity – this time their favourite superhero pose – and to observe what this felt like.  Delegates were encouraged to think of ways to learn from young people, such as a favourite TikTok dance, as preparation for moving on to processing. Sword fighting was introduced as both a means of positively resourcing an ‘empowering kinesthetic experience’ and as a potential means of later processing. A video example was shown demonstrating the installation of the resource “I can handle it,” where a child was observed to show physical strength while verbalising the resource. Following the excitation of sword fighting the child was then engaged in the down-regulation activity of bowing to a ‘judge’.   

The speakers encouraged creativity in EMDR by adapting materials. They showed an example of a DIY EMDR toy whereby two footballs can be covered in written statements – one for positive cognitions and another for negative. When the ball is thrown back and forth, the child can be asked to tell a time when they have had that thought. Visual scales can be made more accessible by using language more familiar to children, such as a ‘yucky scale’ ranging from ‘little yucky’ to ‘big yucky’ and feeling dials on a card the child can hold and spin to show changes. 

Throughout phases 3-8, the speakers recommended a flexible approach, as processing may begin before all the details are known. Therapists need to ensure they are mindful of the child’s developmental level and to consider their use of language. Delegates were treated to lots of video examples throughout the presentation. These included demonstrations of how short sets enabled a child to stay within their window of tolerance, and the use of breathing exercises, catching a teddy and dancing in between sets of processing using pool noodles.

To support a family where the parents were fearful of upsetting their child by discussing the trauma, the presenters showed a video example of the Movie Method of EMDR narrative. In this approach, the child is the director of the movie, and the sand tray is used as a way to ‘miniaturise’ the trauma narrative. Recording this movie also provides the clinician with further opportunities to desensitise, process and extend to other family members. The use of a sand tray was recommended to explore narrative questions, such as:

“Show me what happened?”

“I wonder what (the character) is thinking? Maybe…” (negative cognition)

“I wonder what (the character) is feeling?” 

Collaboration with parents and carers was highlighted as key for some children, particularly where there is a strong attachment, with parents being involved in interweaving information if appropriate and structured. In the example covered, the parent acknowledging they also felt scared was important to share as a part of the processing. The Loving Eyes protocol was referred to for parents who find it difficult to be with their child during processing. The importance of educating parents prior to processing and involving them so they are aware of the intervention and equipped to support their child was stressed. Parents may observe changes in their child between sessions that are insightful for the therapist and help to understand and evaluate how the child is responding to treatment. 

After the session, there were more questions than time allowed. The presenters were asked:

“How long do you let a child replay the same story over and over?” – They responded by speaking about how play is the initial show of safety, and it may be that there are aspects of the child experiences and beliefs embedded within the story, so consider what the negative cognition may be while building rapport.

“What about obsessive play with things that scare them in the room?” – They recommended creating an opportunity for them to access the early distress to work on, balancing being flexible with directive.

“How do you manage when working at other people’s settings” – The presenters spoke of being prepared (e.g., taking a yoga ball or noodles) and improvising with whatever else is available at the setting to support working.

“Do you work online, and if so, do you use an online sand tray?” –  Delegates were given information on an online resource available from the Oaklander Training www.onlinesandtray.com.

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Introducing Coalesce: your new membership dashboard

By Kelly Ryan

In February 2025, EMDR Association UK launched its new membership platform, Coalesce, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of the Association’s digital membership services. Coalesce is the culmination of significant planning and development by the Association’s Board of Trustees and administration team and marks the next big step in digitisation across the Association.

As we began to realise the limitations of our existing set-up, creating a unified system for all our sites and member services became a goal of the Association. Our previous set-up, while functional, was a patchwork of different platforms that didn’t communicate effectively with each other. We relied on separate systems for membership management, event bookings and financial transactions, which ran the risk of leading to data discrepancies and inefficiencies.

Recognising these challenges, we embarked on what has proved to be quite an ambitious project for our small but growing Association, with the goal of creating a more unified digital ecosystem. We wanted to develop a platform that would not only address our current needs but also provide a strong foundation for future growth and innovation – more than any off-the-shelf product would be able to do.

The development of Coalesce has been a collaborative effort and represents more than just a technical upgrade. It embodies our commitment to providing the best possible support to our members. We want, not only to enhance the day-to-day experience of our members, but also to free up resources internally that can be redirected towards supporting our professional community.

With the launch of Coalesce, we’re excited to make things easier and more accessible for our members. The platform will enable us to deliver more value and adapt more quickly to the evolving landscape we find ourselves in.

Key features of Coalesce

Easy membership management

New members can join by completing a simple online form and making a payment for the first year of fees. Don’t forget that some people qualify for a free first year of membership! Once you’re logged in as a new member for the first time, don’t forget to upload documentation to confirm you meet the membership criteria!

If you’re an existing member, you can renew your membership with just a few clicks and set up auto-renewal via direct debit to ensure uninterrupted access to your membership benefits. Existing members should also note that there are new membership numbers and that these replace the previous numbers.

Enhanced profile management

You can now update your own contact information, add a professional photo to your profile and manage your communication preferences (via the cog in the top right-hand corner).

If you need to update your billing address or professional experiences, drop us an email, and we can help you do that.

Document management

You can now safely upload and manage your professional documents within Coalesce. You can access your important files at any time (even via a phone browser) and can securely share your uploaded documents with others.

Events & CPD

We’ve scrapped our separate events website and have streamlined event bookings. Now, if you’d like to attend an event run by the Association*, you can book tickets, access event documents, join online, complete post-event surveys, access your CPD certificate and automatically claim CPD points, all from within the platform.

*This does not apply to commercial events, the annual conference or other events where bookings are made via different systems.

Better financial transparency

You can now see your payment history and access and download invoices for payments made via Coalesce at any time.

Getting started with Coalesce

To access Coalesce, simply visit https://members.emdrassociation.org.uk/

If you’re an existing member of the Association, you will already have an account set up. To access it, click ‘Sign In’ and then ‘Forgot your password.’ Enter the email address you have registered with the Association, and a password reset email will then make its way to you.

If you’re new to the Association, you can join by completing a simple online form and making a payment for the first year of fees. New members need to confirm they meet the membership criteria, so don’t forget to upload your relevant certificates after you sign up. This will allow our membership team to confirm your eligibility.

If you have any issues using the platform, please email us at membership@emdrassociation.org.uk

Please also keep an eye out for our YouTube channel for Coalesce guidance videos which will be coming soon.

Looking ahead

As mentioned already, we see Coalesce as the foundation for the future of the Association, and we are already developing new features that will be launched this year, including integrating the Accreditation application process (farewell PDFs!) and integrating the Forums too, so soon a separate log-in won’t be needed for those. ‘Find a Therapist’ will also be integrated into Coalesce at a later date, allowing accredited members to manage and update their own Find a Therapist page.

We are excited about the possibilities that Coalesce brings and look forward to your feedback as you explore the system. Your input will be invaluable as we continue to refine and improve the system to better meet our members’ needs.

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Poster Presentations: EMDR UK Annual Conference 2025

By Anthea Sutton

This year’s conference showcased a diverse and impactful selection of poster presentations, reflecting the application of EMDR therapy across a wide range of settings and populations.

Six posters were selected from the abstracts submitted, and we were delighted to have authors for each one in attendance. The research presented included:

• A field report on integrating EMDR into a community drug and alcohol service.
• A pilot feasibility study using EMDR within a family paediatric oncology psychology service.
• Qualitative research on how adults with psychosis experience EMDR.
• A study evaluating the effectiveness of online EMDR to address PTSD and comorbid symptoms in medical personnel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• A qualitative study on how clients experience intensive EMDR for PTSD.

The EMDR UK Scientific and Research Committee (SRC) assessed the posters on criteria relating to the research methodology and poster design. The standard of the posters was very high, and in a close-run competition, Dr. Paul V. Greenall’s poster “Using EMDR to Treat Combat-Related Trauma: A Prison-Based Clinical Case Study” claimed the award for the best poster, and Paul was presented with a certificate at the conference.

Dr Paul V. Greenall with his winning poster

The conference posters truly reflected the innovation, compassion and dedication within the EMDR community. Congratulations to all our presenting authors, and well done to Paul Greenall and colleagues for their winning contribution.

Looking ahead: A call for posters 2026

If you are feeling inspired, we are now welcoming early expressions of interest for poster abstract submissions for the 2026 EMDR UK Conference. Whatever stage of your career you are at, we encourage diverse perspectives and all levels of evidence. To register your interest in submitting an abstract to be considered by the SRC, please email a.sutton@emdrassociation.org.uk with your proposed area of research, and we will be sure to contact you when the official call for posters opens.

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EMDR Publications Database

By Anthea Sutton

The EMDR Publications Database has been developed collaboratively using the expertise of the Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research (SCHARR) and is provided as a free resource for Association members. If you still haven’t accessed this useful resource, you can find out how to in the member’s area of the EMDR UK website.

The EMDR Publications Database is a collection of peer-reviewed research and dissertations/theses focusing on EMDR. It contains over 1900 references, many of which have access to the full text. The references are categorised by ‘tags’ (keywords) relating to the clinical area and study type – allowing for easy browsing. The database can also be searched by terms of interest.

The most recent update to the database was in April 2025, where 41 new publications were added. The search to populate the database was conducted on the following international databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, and PTSDpubs.

Newly added publications can be easily viewed by clicking on the ‘NEW’ tag. Within the NEW tag, you can then select further tags of interest to see what has recently been added for specific topics and research types.

New publications by type

Table 1. New publications by research/publication type

A selected summary of recent research added to the EMDR Publications Database

A systematic review of psychological interventions for post-myocardial infarction patients found EMDR reduced PTSD symptoms, along with anxiety and depression (Chew et al., 2025). This research has a graphical abstract, which can be found here. Notably, this review has been highlighted as the “Editor’s Choice” for the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.

A randomised controlled trial (RCT) of EMDR with and without dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) for PTSD and comorbid borderline personality disorder symptoms (Snoek et al., 2025) found that both treatments led to a reduction in PTSD symptoms, but global functioning improved only in the EMDR group according to one measure (WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0). Additionally, patients in the EMDR-DBT group were twice as likely to drop out from EMDR treatment compared to those in the EMDR-only group.

A randomised study conducted in Ecuador with women who were victims of violence indicated that EMDR therapy was more effective than narrative exposure therapy in improving clinical outcomes (anxiety, depression, post-traumatic symptoms), neuropsychological performance (working memory, executive functioning) and quality of life (Meneses et al., 2024).

Several retrospective studies have been added to the publications database this quarter. A service evaluation conducted over 11 years in a London NHS Talking Therapies (TT) service found no significant difference in PTSD recovery between CT-PTSD and EMDR, using NHS TT criteria (Belli et al., 2025). CT-PTSD showed greater reductions in anxiety and depression; however, this finding was confounded by higher baseline anxiety and depression scores in the CT-PTSD group at the start of treatment.

A retrospective analysis of 34 women in an Irish hospital indicated that EMDR therapy may be an effective and easily delivered intervention for childbirth-related posttraumatic stress symptoms and disorder, with most showing symptom reduction and a low dropout rate, although no factors predicting effectiveness or completion were identified (Doherty et al., 2025). However, the study limitations highlighted by the authors include lack of a control group and long-term follow-up. The statistical analyses were also limited by the sample size.

A study evaluating two trauma-focused interventions for children in the Central African Republic – the narrative protocol Action contre la Faim (ACF)/KONO and the EMDR G-TEP protocol – found that the G-TEP protocol reduced posttraumatic symptoms in children aged 6–17 years as effectively and significantly as the ACF/KONO protocol over five sessions (Dozio et al., 2024). The positive effects of both protocols were maintained in follow-up data, where available, five months after treatment.

Dissertations and theses

We continue to collect references to dissertations and theses about EMDR for the publications databases, linking to a copy of the document where open access is available. Five have been added this month, including two from the UK (University of Manchester). The full text is available for both via the University of Manchester institutional repository:

The Use and Effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing by Educational Psychologists by Janice M Shaw.

A Multicomponent Remote Group Intervention for Parent Refugees and Asylum Seekers with Young Children by Safa Kemal Kaptan.

The next update to the Publications Database will be in July, but in the meantime, if you have any queries or comments, you are welcome to get in touch at a.sutton@emdrassociation.org.uk. If you are an EMDR UK member, and wish to request access to the database, please email the team at University of Sheffield team at emdrdatabase@sheffield.ac.uk

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A note from the Editor

By Dean Whybrow

Hello, my name is Dean Whybrow. At the EMDR Conference 2025, I was delighted to take on the role of editor for EMDR Therapy Quarterly (ETQ) on behalf of the EMDR Association UK. Firstly, a huge thank you to Beverly Coghlan for her contribution as editor over the past few years. There have been many interesting and thought-provoking articles, and long may that continue. 

Positionality statement: I am a mental health nurse, academic, veteran and EMDR practitioner. I completed my EMDR training in 2007 and was accredited in 2012. My background is diverse, and my life experiences are varied, but at the core, I am from a working-class family in the Medway Towns, Kent. That said, I had the opportunity to go to public school and lived in several different countries as a child. I am always grateful for the opportunity to see the world and appreciate my family’s intentions. However, at the same time, I’ve never felt like I truly fitted in anywhere or like I belonged, as I was always the outsider and never fully connected to any one group – a feeling that continues to this day. While this has some personal disadvantages, it shapes how I approach my professional roles and writing. I value a non-judgmental and supportive stance, and I am keen that other people feel they have a home and somewhere to fit in. I hope ETQ can be such a place for our members and others who are excited about EMDR. 

Now to this edition of ETQ. Firstly, thank you to all the contributors. Your writing is engaging and insightful, and I hope you will contribute again in the future. This is a members’ publication, and seeing what the membership can produce is great. With that in mind, if you’re reading this editorial and considering publishing for the first time or adding to your list of publications, please do get in touch to talk about your idea or send in a draft. This is a membership-focused, supportive and kind environment in which to publish.

It has been a busy period, highlighted by the well-attended conference in Liverpool, which had a notably positive vibe. This edition reflects the conference, with many articles reporting on specific conference presentations and posters. There are also regular updates, an introduction to Coalesce, and a fascinating opinion piece about EMDR and the power, threat, and meaning framework. 

Finally, a huge thank you to Robin Logie, who has decided to hang up his pen after completing his series about clinical supervision. This edition’s article about group supervision represents his 11^th submission. Thank you! 

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