Compassion-Focused EMDR
Compassion-focused therapy was developed to help people where shame and self-criticism inhibited progress in therapy.
Article Abstract
“Compassion-focused therapy was developed to enhance physiological systems related to well-being, safeness, and connectedness in people where shame and self-criticism inhibited progress in therapy (Gilbert, 2000; Gilbert & Irons, 2005). This system links attachment experiences with emotion regulation capacities, with integrative capacities of the mind and also with the interplay between different motivational systems, which are played out in multiple self-states (Cortina & Liotti, 2010; Cozolino, 2010; Gilbert, 2009; Liotti & Gilbert, 2011). Hence, a compassionate focus could potentially prove valuable in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), particularly where shame or attachment trauma is involved or for those traumas that have impacted on the structure of the self, for example, dissociation. A structured compassion-focused EMDR (CF-EMDR) seems likely to be particularly useful for therapists wishing to pay positive attention to strengths and well-being. The primary task of the CF-EMDR therapist would therefore be to facilitate a warm and wise relationship to the problems that brought the person to EMDR. This article outlines the potential benefit of a compassionate focus in the processing phases of EMDR to address self-critical blocks, giving clinical examples in tables to illustrate the process and language.”
—Description from publisher
Article Access
Open Access
Kennedy, A. (2014). Compassion-Focused EMDR. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 8(3), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1891/1933-3196.8.3.135
About the Journal
The Journal of EMDR Practice and Research is a peer-reviewed publication devoted to integrative, state-of-the-art papers about Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is a broadly conceived interdisciplinary journal that stimulates and communicates research and theory about EMDR, and their application to clinical practice. The Journal of EMDR Practice and Research is the Official Publication of the EMDR International Association.
Date
September 1, 2014
Creator(s)
Angela Kennedy
Topics
Attachment, Emotion Regulation
Extent
12 pages
Publisher
Springer Publishing Company
Rights
Copyright © 2014 EMDR International Association
APA Citation
Kennedy, A. (2014). Compassion-Focused EMDR. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 8(3), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1891/1933-3196.8.3.135
Series
8
Installment
3
Audience
EMDR Therapists
Language
English
Content Type
Peer-Reviewed
Original Source
Journal of EMDR Practice and Research
Access Type
Open Access