Cultural Competence and Healing Culturally-Based Trauma with EMDR Therapy: Innovative Strategies and Protocols

Underscoring the importance of cultural competence, this groundbreaking book focuses on using EMDR therapy with specific populations, particularly those groups typically stigmatised, oppressed, or otherwise marginalised in society. Drawing on social psychology research and theory as well as social justice and social work principles, it delivers general protocols for EMDR intervention for recovery from the internalised effects of cultural mistreatment.

Employing best-practice methods for cultural competence as EMDR therapy is introduced to new cultures worldwide, the editor and esteemed EMDR clinician/authors relay their experiences, insights, and guidance; and lessons learned through trial and error while adapting EMDR interventions for cross-cultural competency and therapeutic effectiveness. It defines cultural competence and validates the need for a multi-culturally aware approach to psychotherapy that embraces authentic social identities and attends to the impact of socially based trauma.

Chapters address using EMDR therapy to heal the trans-generational impact of Anti-Semitism, working with the LGBT population, treating an immigrant woman suffering from social anxiety, healing individuals with intellectual disabilities, the traumatising effects of racial prejudice, harmful cultural messages about physical appearance, EMDR therapy attuned to specific cultural populations and socially based identities, and many other scenarios. The book is replete with step-by-step treatment guidelines to help clients recover from traumatic life events, dos and don'ts, and common adaptive and maladaptive cultural beliefs.