Getting Past Your Past / Francine Shapiro

In 1987 Dr. Shapiro observed, during a walk in a park, that moving her eyes seemed to reduce the stress of disturbing memories. Based on these initial observations she developed standardized procedures to maximize these effects, conducted further research and published a randomized controlled study in 1989 describing beneficial results. Based on the positive results of many rigorous scientific studies, EMDR therapy is now recommended as an effective treatment for trauma in numerous international practice guidelines, including those of the American Psychiatric Association and the Department of Defense.