Does EMDR work better than doing nothing?
Yes. Numerous controlled studies show that EMDR produces more improvement than absence of treatment, at least for alleviating the symptoms of civilian PTSD, such as those triggered by rape. The evidence that pertains to EMDR’s efficacy for other anxiety disorders is promising but preliminary. EMDR’s effects are most marked on self-reported measures of anxiety; its impact on physiological measures linked to anxiety (such as heart rate) is less clear-cut.
