Your friend has just come from a therapist who has recommended eye movement desensitization and reprocessing for posttraumatic stress disorder. Because you are taking a course in abnormal psychology, your friend asks what you think. Based on the literature, what would you say?

It is plausible that my friend is going through trauma and I might not be aware of it. If the doctor suggested the effectiveness of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) for my friend, then I would want to believe that it is the right therapy for PTSD that has been proven as the best for years. Most EMDR will require my friend to sit still and remember the traumatic memory whilst doing an activity that involves her moving here eyes from left to right or up and down. Studies show that the emotions that are exhibited from a trauma will gradually start to decrease if this kind of therapy is delivered in a time period of between six to twelve weeks. Some EMDR experts suggests that these kinds of rhythmic eye movements from left-right help a lot in reducing emotional arousal caused by Trauma while other doctors believe that it does not help. It is up to my friend to try out EMDR and see whether it will work for her. If it does not, we can try other therapies.