User:Ralba007/sandbox/assignment

Development
EMDR was first developed by Francine Shapiro upon noticing that certain eye movements reduced the intensity of disturbing thought, She then conducted a scientific study in 1989. The success rate of that first study using trauma victims was posted in the Journal of Traumatic experience. Shapiro noted that when she was experiencing a disturbing thought her eyes were involuntarily moving rapidly. She noticed further that when she brought her eye movements under voluntary control while thinking a traumatic thought, anxiety was reduced. Shapiro developed EMDR therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. She speculated that traumatic events "upset the excitatory/inhibitatory balance in the brain, causing a pathological change in the neural elements". EMDR is now recommended as an effective treatment for trauma in the Practice Guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association.