Having EMDR can disqualify you from seeking justice

@Dimity

Thank you for sharing this post!

Reading this article was gut-wrenching. It sends a terrifying message to survivors that their healing can be used against them as a weapon in court. EMDR is a gold-standard treatment for PTSD, and labelling it as a 'memory contamination' feels like a massive step backward. My heart goes out to Katie; she deserved both healing and justice, not one at the expense of the other. Again, thank you for sharing this; it's a vital (if painful) conversation for this forum to have.

Thanks for posting @Dimity

Hopefully the article will raise awareness and hopefully, advocacy and change.

Wow, that is really sad. And the fact it is a known pattern of problem - not just specific to that one person raising it - lends evidence that it is not a once-off due to something other than EMDR. That is horrifying.

Now, I don't know much about EMDR because I haven't had it. But I used to know someone who did it as a practitioner. I have never had any hint of any perception of it being ever being like a state of (suggestible) hypnosis. I've always imagined the eye-movement as a bit like a "Mental Stimming" for emotional regulation, in the same way that I rub my hands/arms when I am distressed. I have no experience or study in the area, so I have no "factual basis" for this comparison -- just has been my impression from what I have read about what EMDR therapy is. 🤔

I really hope this person's advocacy and the reporting on it will prompt further questioning of the dismissal of evidence & prosecution for those who have had EMDR. Doesn't sound difficult to design studies on pre-EMDR and post-EMDR account accuracy and also with corroboration from others who may have known of the events at the time, etc etc to see if the changes in recount of memory are negatively affected. (or maybe they already have been done?)

That is insane!

This boils my blood.

Can we do anything to help her? Petitions? Calling representatives?