Upon careful consideration, Shapiro’s accounting for the origins of EMDR is questionable. This is because saccades during everyday functioning are physiologically invisible (Moses & Hart, 1987). Rosen (1995) addressed this concern by asking six individuals if they could experience eye movements while walking around and thinking of positive and negative thoughts. None were successful.
After publication of Rosen’s challenge to Shapiro’s origin story she alerted members of an EMDR listserv (traumatic-stress@freud.apa.org, September 12, 1996) that a responsive critique would be published by a “world renowned perceptual psychology researcher.“ Shapiro was referring to Robert Welch [...]
Welch’s praise of Shapiro’s sensitivity and diligence, following as it did Shapiro’s praise of his expertise, occurred without either party disclosing a likely conflict of interest: they had a relationship and married (Carey, 2019). Remarkably, a similar failure to disclose involved Shapiro’s earlier marriage in 1969 to Gerald Puk (retrieved March 1, 2021 from https://www.nycmarriageindex.com/) when both were students in Brooklyn, New York. [...]
Licensed in New York State and without academic credentials (PsycInfo, retrieved on March 1, 2021) Puk was not on the faculty at the Professional School of Psychological Studies in California: yet somehow he became a member of Shapiro’s dissertation committee (Shapiro, 1988). As with Welch, Shapiro’s relationship history with Puk remained undisclosed to relevant parties (Anne Hanley, dissertation committee member, personal communication March 10, 2021).
...
It was in 1985 that Shapiro published an article in Holistic Life Magazine and discussed Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) theories on various topics including the importance of eye movement patterns (Shapiro, 1985, pp. 41–43):
Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a technique developed over eight years ago. . .. It has been dubbed the “Super-Achievers” technology because the research team studied the most successful people they could find in law, medicine, business and psychology to see what made them so successful. .. In NLP, the key is that since people share the same neurological system, responses are predictable, verifiable, and repeatable. In other words, Neuro-Linguistic Programming is scientifically rather than merely theoretically based.
One of the findings of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming research is that all people cross-culturally (with the exception of the Basque nationality) show how they are thinking by the way their eyes move. . . Even without their saying a word, if you watch their eyes carefully, you can determine whether they are seeing a picture, hearing, or feeling something. As a further refinement, you can tell if they are remembering something or constructing it. Thousands have learned to walk on red-hot coals without injury, using Neuro-Linguistic Programming.. . Using Neuro-Linguistic Programming, people are shown how to tap into their own unlimited source of personal power, get rid of even the basic fear of fire and change their physiology to walk across the coals. The major dilemma that people are confronted with in Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the question of manipulation and free will. Since the powerful technology allows you to practically “read minds” and have people respond automatically in any way you choose, there is a distinct ethical issue.
Of course, it is possible that a person who appears to be generally dishonest, and over-credulous (and/or consciously dishonest) about the magic powers of NLP, might have stumbled upon a genuinely correct technique. But it would seem prudent to, at the very least, discount any evidence that came from that person and anyone connected to her.
For anyone who wants more juicy reading, there are articles from a few NLP people listed on https://www.nlp.ch/pdfdocs/Historie_EMDR_Wingwave.pdf . I myself would go with Connirae Andreas perspective. (That’s the wife of Steve Andreas who among other things is responsible for Transform Your Self which was previously discussed on LessWrong)
Wow, that article has some delicious allegations.
(For those who aren’t familiar: Wiki on firewalking)
Of course, it is possible that a person who appears to be generally dishonest, and over-credulous (and/or consciously dishonest) about the magic powers of NLP, might have stumbled upon a genuinely correct technique. But it would seem prudent to, at the very least, discount any evidence that came from that person and anyone connected to her.
For anyone who wants more juicy reading, there are articles from a few NLP people listed on https://www.nlp.ch/pdfdocs/Historie_EMDR_Wingwave.pdf . I myself would go with Connirae Andreas perspective. (That’s the wife of Steve Andreas who among other things is responsible for Transform Your Self which was previously discussed on LessWrong)