Do bi-lateral eye movements actually add anything to treatment?
by Michael D. Anestis, M.S. Several months ago, I wrote an article discussing eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). The article focused on a special issue of the Journal of Anxiety Disorders in which several empirical studies investigated the degree to which EMDR produces reliably strong results and whether or not the treatment actually differs from traditional exposure techniques (e.g., do bi-lateral eye movements actually add anything to therapy?). The conclusion of those studies and of the article I wrote was that EMDR produces reliably strong results in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but that the evidence did not substantiate claims that bi-lateral eye movements play an important role in that process. As such, although few people argue against the idea that EMDR can be helpful in treating PTSD, there are many who believe – based upon the evidence available – that EMDR simply represents another form of exposure, which we already know to be ef
