EMDR Up Close: Subtleties of Trauma Processing Paperback – September 16, 2013

Phil Manfield's EMDR Close Up is a gem of a book! It is useful for EMDR therapists who have mastered the basics and now know enough to recognize the areas in which they need more knowledge as well as for those trained years ago who want to understand the recent advancements in the field.The first chapter provides an overview of the major issues and is followed by transcripts of 7 client sessions in which Dr. Manfield shares what he was thinking theoretically and why he made the interventions he did. His gift as a therapist and as a teacher is that his work is clean, focused, orderly and effective. He starts with the very latest discoveries about memory reconsolidation and shows how they apply to EMDR Therapy.He then differentiates between 1) what he calls "low-hanging fruit" (the single incident traumas for which EMDR Therapy was originally developed), 2) the more complicated situations where there has been a more extensive trauma history and 3) pre-verbal memories. Each of these requires a different approach. Working with clients with more complicated trauma histories is the subject of his previous book, Dyadic Resourcing (also a gem). This new volume deals with clients who have enough of an early parenting foundation to be able to provide their own compassionate adult perspective. In fact all the "clients" in these sessions are themselves therapists in Dr.Manfield's trainings who have volunteered to work with him in front of their classes. I also appreciate that actual videotapes of these sessions are available online at a site containing 25 of his videos (www.emdrclinicalvideos.com).This book is a must read for the sophisticated practitioner of EMDR Therapy and the beginner alike. Readers should anticipate rereading it from time to time as their skills improve and they are able to appreciate more of the subtleties of work presented.Marianne Ault-Riche

I read this book literally in a weekend. I'm a trained EMDR therapist. This book is designed to help the therapist extend EMDr and to hone his skills, rather than as a beginner's guide. It is especially helpful in aiding the EMDR therapist to identify the traumatic memories that it would be most helpful to target. He also has very good suggestions on how to proceed if processing is stalled. I wouldn't recommend this as a "stand-alone" introduction to EMDR, but I recommend it very highly to extend understanding for someone already trained.

This book gives the reader extensive information involving what EMDR actually is and what doing EMDR does for clients and clinications.. Its worth reading and diving deeply into. Many clients will benefit also from reading about this ,and will help clients get the maximum benefit from actively participating in this evidence based treatment of therapy.

I LOVE this book. The transcripts of session are very helpful. I have been doing EMDR a little over a year and I use it with clients daily and I wish I had gotten this book sooner. The importance of spending a lot of time getting the assesment just right was a missing piece in some of my unsucessful processing. I felt much better after reading a seasoned expert work hard to see up the target. I won't feel as uncomfortable taking my time in targeting now. I am very thankful for Philip Manfield taking the time to share his widom. Get this book. You won't be sorry.

Excellent explanations of EMDR theory and also very helpful commentary on transcripts of EMDR therapy sessions.

EMDR Up CloseDr. Manfield’s book, EMDR Up Close, has as a subtitle Subtleties of Trauma Processing. For me, the subtitle says a lot: EMDR is replete with subtleties. One of the most important and challenging of these is selection of the correct trauma target for processing and resolution. Chapter 2 is titled the Right Target Goes a Long Way. I would subtitle this The Wrong Target Takes a Long Long Way. The importance of this book for me is that it reinforces Dr. Manfield’s teaching that patience and thoroughness during the earlier phases of EMDR therapy will be rewarded with more effective, faster, and more thorough processing of the trauma. Numerous case examples, with actual transcripts, illustrate this. EMDR Up Close will help you be more effective in navigating through this critical process.Allen Kaplan, MFT

I am working on full certification in this remarkable therapy, EMDR. In this book Dr. Manfield clarified theory and some guiding principles about the nuts and bolts of how to make each therapy session as effective as possible--how this may be done and the reasons it works. His works are easy to read and insightful, including candid commentary from the therapist. Fascinating.

If you hold any marginalized identities, I strongly recommend you support another author with your purchase. In his EMDR trainings, Manfield is extremely harmful with his behavior towards folx of color and other marginalized individuals. He talks down to them, suggests that systemic oppression is a result of their own carelessness, and evades any responsibility when called out. There is no excuse today for someone holding all dominant culture identities to behave in this way (and be able to get away with it).

Philip Manfield does a brilliant job of breaking down the steps involved in EMDR, which includes providing verbatim transcripts from EMDR sessions with clients. As well, he adds further commentary as to why he asked certain questions or provides certain direction at specific points along the way. I highly recommend this book, and know I will return to it as a reference.

This is an excellent book for EMDR. It guides you through actual EMDR sessions which I find very very helpful, with some wonderful hints of assessing target and building resource. I rate this book very hightly .