EMDR is controversial among scholars in the psychological community. It is used by some practitioners during trauma therapy and in the treatment of
complex post-traumatic stress disorder. EMDR has been called a
purple hat therapy on the grounds that its effectiveness stems from its underlying mainstream therapy (or the standard treatment), not from its distinctive features. Some scholars have criticized Francine Shapiro for repeatedly increasing the length and expense of training and certification, allegedly in response to the results of controlled trials that cast doubt on EMDR's efficacy. This included requiring the completion of an EMDR training program in order to be qualified to administer EMDR properly after researchers using the initial written instructions found no difference between no-eye-movement control groups and EMDR-as-written experimental groups. Further changes in training requirements and/or the definition of EMDR included requiring level II training when researchers with level I training still found no difference between eye-movement experimental groups and no-eye-movement controls, and deeming "alternate forms of bilateral stimulation" (such as finger-tapping) as variants of EMDR by the time a study found no difference between EMDR and a finger-tapping control group. EMDR adds a number of techniques that do not appear to contribute to therapeutic effectiveness (e.g., bilateral stimulation). EMDR is classified as one of the "power therapies" alongside
thought field therapy,
Emotional Freedom Techniques, and others—so called because these therapies are marketed as being superior to established the therapies which preceded them. EMDR has been characterized as
pseudoscience because the underlying theory and primary therapeutic mechanism are
non-falsifiable and
non-scientific. EMDR's founder and other practitioners have used
untestable hypotheses to explain studies that show no effect. The results of the therapy are non-specific, especially if directed eye movements are irrelevant to the results. When these movements are removed, what remains is a broadly therapeutic interaction and deceptive marketing. According to neurologist and
skeptic Steven Novella: Furthermore, Novella argues that investigation into EMDR has been characterised by poor-quality studies rather than tightly controlled trials that could justify or falsify the mechanisms proposed to support it. Novella writes that the research quantity nevertheless means that EMDR has claimed a place among accepted treatments and is "not likely going away anytime soon, even though it is a house of cards built on nothing". EMDR has been characterised as a modern-day
mesmerism, with striking similarities, from the sole inventor who devised the system while out walking to the large business empire built on exaggerated claims. In the case of EMDR, these have included the suggestions that EMDR could drain violence from society and be useful in treating
cancer and
HIV/AIDS. Psychology historian Luis Cordón has compared the popularity of EMDR to that of other
cult-like pseudosciences,
facilitated communication and
thought field therapy. A parody website advertising "" created by a fictional "Fatima Shekel" appeared on the internet in the 1990s. == Society and culture ==