Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychological method that is used to help treat experimental based disorders and emotional difficulties that are caused by negative or disturbing life experiences. EMDR is a controversial therapy that has been and still is heavily researched. Many remarkable claims have come from the use of EMDR. While many traditional therapies may take years to successfully alleviate people's problems, EMDR may only take a few sessions. .
EMDR emerged in 1987 when Francine Shapiro, while walking through a park, accidentally discovered that eye movements decreased the negative emotions associated with distressing memories she had. After discovering this she then tried it on other people and realized it had the same effect on them. She realized the eye movements were not the only component that produced the therapeutic effect. Shapiro added a cognitive component and set up a standard procedure. She called this new procedure Eye Movement Desensitization (EMD). She conducted several case studies and controlled studies to test the effectiveness of EMD. In 1989 Shapiro's initial controlled study on the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder with EMD was published. In 1991 she changed the name from EMD to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). She changed the name to help reflect the insights and cognitive changes that occurred during treatment. In 1995 after most of the controlled studies had been published, the term "experimental" was disassociated with EMDR and the first text book describing the procedure was published. .
EMDR is performed by trained physicians or psychologists. During EMDR a patient visualizes the traumatic event and internally repeats the associated irrational cognition or negative self treatment at the same time as the eye movement or some other form of external stimulus. The procedure is divided up into eight stages.