ABSTRACT

EMDR was developed as a clinically integrative method of therapy, rather than as a theoretically integrated method. I will elaborate later, but one may easily see key features of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, experiential therapies, client-centered, dynamic, and other approaches. Shapiro has noted, even emphasized, that the development of EMDR was not theoretically based. She discovered that rapid, repetitive eye movement had a powerful anxiety reduction effect (initially attributed to desensitization); then, based on experience, she developed a therapeutic approach to accompany this discovery.