EMDR Therapy for Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses By Paul William Miller. Springer Publishing Company. 2015. $65.00 (pb). 296 pp. ISBN 9780826123176

Dr William Miller has written a beautifully presented and interesting introduction to eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy (EMDR). Excitingly, it refers to the relatively new idea that EMDR might be a therapy useful for the treatment of psychotic disorders, but this risks disrupting the focus of the book.

For a work about EMDR, quite a bit of this text refers to more general topics. Early chapters explore the relationship between trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia, followed in later chapters by the psychopathology of dissociation and psychotic disorders, clinical skills in psychotic disorders, and a critique of modern psychotherapeutic methods within the framework of a slightly strained Disney metaphor (‘Psychotherapy for psychosis and schizophrenia: the Wizard of Oz fallacy’). The extent to which this book is an advance of an argument that EMDR is effective, a model for the mechanism by which EMDR might work, or a manual for the implementation of EMDR in schizophrenia is not clear. Finally, as a relatively junior psychiatrist and relative novice to EMDR, to me the book was a rich, characterful introduction to the development of EMDR as an intervention, but I was left uncertain about the empirical evidence, its applicability to EMDR in clinical settings, or the compatibility of EMDR with modern clinical practice.

Chapters are composed of short sections, are well referenced and clearly written. Each has a very short ‘intention’ at the beginning, which helps to orient the reader. Case descriptions of patients with psychosis treated with EMDR, presented at the end of the book, help to paint a picture of the therapy in action, but often emphasise an optimistic approach.

In conclusion, this book is not a destination for those of us who are interested in a dispassionate evaluation of the evidence base for EMDR. Rather, it is a description of an emerging treatment from a singularly interested observer and practitioner of this fascinating intervention.