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The Mystery Cure
Readers Respond

page 4

I am surprised at the wide-eyed naiveté with which Janelle Brown has eaten up all of the praises lavished upon EMDR without taking a critical look at the controversy surrounding this treatment. EMDR may be a good treatment for trauma/PTSD but it also has many detractors within the psychological community who argue it is nothing more than classic cognitive/behavioral techniques slickly repackaged and sold to a desperate populace looking for a quick fix.

Some research shows that the eye movements (finger waving, tapping, whatever) are a sham component of the treatment that add nothing to its effectiveness above simply discussing (processing) the trauma repeatedly and in detail. This is the essence of classic cognitive-behavioral therapy, not some new miracle cure.

The "principles of neuroscience" that EMDR is purportedly based on are hogwash; Shapiro has no training in neuroscience and her language around the mechanisms for EMDR are fuzzy at best.

Some research suggests EMDR is an improvement over traditional psychotherapeutic techniques because it works more quickly; this aspect deserves further study.

I am all for a treatment that works, and EMDR certainly seems to do so for many people. Anything that offers comfort and assistance to those who have gone through horrible tragedies like in New York is worth attention. But to tout EMDR as a miracle cure and then not even discuss the controversy over it or present the other side of the argument is unfair to the many people who at this time seek any answer, any cure for the horrible things they've gone through.

Victims of trauma deserve a balanced presentation of the issues, normally the hallmark of good journalism.

-- Lauren Fox, Ph.D.

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The absolute lack of skepticism in this article was a disappointing lapse from the site's usual standards. The writer failed to point out that 1) The evidence that EMDR is beneficial is somewhat weak; 2) the treatment is not accepted by the American Psychological Association; and 3) assuming the treatment works, there is no sound theoretical explanation of how it's supposed to work, the invocations of "left brain, right brain" notwithstanding. You did note the broad variation of physical stimuli used by different practitioners (eye movement, hand tapping and alternating sounds), but this variation throws into question the basic practice. If they all work, what's really going on?

Interested readers should check out the entry for EMDR in the online Skeptic's Dictionary (www.skepdic.com) and follow the links there. It is a shame that your writer didn't.

-- Jack Dominey

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