Healing Addiction with EMDR Therapy - by Jamie Marich & Stephen Dansiger (Paperback)

About the Book

"Unhealed trauma causes distress in the body. When the nature of the distress overrides a person's existing system for coping, or the trauma is not processed, survivors may numb themselves or seek a more pleasurable experience to escape. Such behavior is a completely natural response to unprocessed trauma. This tendency we have as human beings to dissociate, or sever, from the present moment when the moment becomes unpleasant or painful is amplified for survivors when chemicals or other reinforcing behaviors are introduced. Such chemicals and behaviors can accelerate the potency of dissociation. The field of addiction studies has slowly attuned to this connection between unhealed trauma and addiction, yet more work needs to be done. In both our travels throughout the country teaching on trauma and in our local communities, we continue to hear addiction treatment program directors make comments like, "You have to shut down trauma if they bring it up." Sometimes the resistance takes on the tone of, "There's no time in treatment to get into trauma. It's like opening up a Pandora's Box. They just have to learn to stay sober.""--

Book Synopsis

There are just so many things that I love about this book that I simply don't know where to begin! Marich and Dansiger take an approach that is comprehensive, integrative, relational, and deeply hopeful. They share their wisdom and lived experience as skilled clinicians AND as vulnerable human beings who themselves have struggled with addiction, benefiting in profound ways from EMDR therapy...

- Deborah Korn, Psy.D.
Co-Author of Every Memory Deserves Respect: EMDR The Proven Trauma Therapy with the Power to Heal

This must-read volume, offers clinicians a road map to navigate the often convoluted and intricate journey of accompanying clients suffering the aftermath of trauma and addictions. Clinicians will find in this book the guidance, foundational and advanced skills, as well as an incredibly rich repertoire of stabilization strategies...

- Ana M. Gomez, MC, LPC
Author of EMDR Therapy and Adjunct Approaches with Children: Complex Trauma, Attachment and Dissociation

Healing Addiction with EMDR is tailored to support therapists along the different phases of EMDR Therapy. It focuses on understanding each individual case, through case conceptualization and treatment planning, and avoiding the simplistic ";What protocol should we use?" question. People need to be understood as individual beings since this is the essence of EMDR Therapy...

- Dolores Mosquera, Co-Author of EMDR and Dissociation: The Progressive Approach
INTRA-TP, A Coruña, Spain

Offers a holistic, comprehensive approach to addiction treatment that combines standard EMDR therapy with specialty protocols

This innovative and brand new EMDR therapy guide for healing addiction is the first book to underscore the efficacy of EMDR therapy as a primary modality for treating trauma and addiction. Targeting the trauma lurking beneath the addiction, the resource presents a comprehensive collection of best practices and strategies for using EMDR therapy to treat addictive disorders, and guides practitioners in incorporating their protocols of choice into EMDR treatment. While illuminating underlying theory, the book focuses on practice knowledge and how therapists can translate this knowledge into clinical settings in order to provide clinicians with a fully-integrated approach to the diagnosis, treatment, and management of addiction across populations

Written in user-friendly language by two prominent practitioners and trainers of EMDR therapy, the book helps therapists to address the complexity of addictive disorders by providing a comprehensive guide to the standard eight-phase protocol and adaptive information processing model as groundwork for case conceptualization and treatment. Chapters contain case studies with commentary on relevant decision-making points along with discussion questions to enhance critical thinking. Abundant "Tips and Tricks" learned in the trenches make the text come alive with clinical relevance, and references to many of the best specialty protocols and strategies for treating clients suffering from addiction due to trauma, guide readers to choose the best protocol for each situation. Purchase includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers.

Key Features:

• Authors' lived experience brings a wealth or real-world application
• Introduces the standard EMDR therapy protocol as a modality of choice for treating trauma and addiction disorders
• Rates popular specialty protocols for addiction and provides guidance on how to integrate them into treatment
• Delivers a wealth of best practices and strategies for working with clients with addiction issues
• Addresses effectively working with dissociation in EMDR therapy
• Focuses on best practice informed by a thorough review of up-to-date scholarly literature
• Uses abundant case studies, "Tips and Tricks from the Field" and practical exercises to reinforce knowledge