Jamie Marich - Healing Addiction with EMDR Therapy: A Trauma-Focused Guide

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Often asked, What about EMDR to treat addiction? Marich and Dansiger came together as skilled clinicians to create Healing Addiction With EMDR Therapy. This innovative book offers an investigation into therapies which can assist therapists to assess trauma and how it impacts the mind-body. It provides a clear guide to therapists in changing the way healing addiction is imagined.

Sharon Salzberg
Author of Lovingkindness and Real Change

There are just so many things that I love about this book that I simply dont know where to begin! Marich and Dansiger take an approach that is comprehensive, integrative, relational, and deeply hopeful. They share their wisdom and lived experience as skilled clinicians AND as vulnerable human beings who themselves have struggled with addiction, benefiting in profound ways from EMDR therapy. They are fierce advocates for this model, challenging the status quo in addiction treatment and advocating with all their might for a creative, inclusive, trauma-informed approach to recovery. They do a masterful job of citing and weaving together all that has come before in terms of therapeutic protocols and strategies, providing readers with a crystal clear conceptual framework to help with moment-to-moment decision-making. And, all of this is done with a sense of humor, beautiful metaphors, and a style that is both accessible and inspiring.

Deborah Korn, PsyD
Co-Author of Every Memory Deserves Respect: EMDR The Proven Trauma Therapy With the Power to Heal

This must-read volume, offers clinicians a road map to navigate the often convoluted and intricate journey of accompanying clients suffering the aftermath of trauma and addictions. Clinicians will find in this book the guidance, foundational and advanced skills, as well as an incredibly rich repertoire of stabilization strategies. Healing Addiction With EMDR Therapy presents in a clear and concise manner how to stay true to the heart of EMDR therapy while honoring the uniqueness of each individual client and making the adjustments, additions and modifications that will best serve their healing journey. It honors the importance of attunement and synchrony in the therapeutic relationships while demonstrating how to masterfully utilize techniques and protocols. Marich and Dansiger utilize an exquisite and dexterous approach that enhances and promotes critical thinking in the moment-to-moment decision making. This book will be an active companion to the community of clinicians around the globe dedicated to alleviating human suffering and healing the root causes of addiction.

Ana M. Gomez, MC, LPC
Author of EMDR Therapy and Adjunct Approaches With Children: Complex Trauma, Attachment and Dissociation

Healing Addiction With EMDR Therapy: A Trauma-Focused Guide is an essential contribution to the EMDR therapy literature. Jamie Marich and Stephen Dansiger bring their extensive professional training and decades of clinical experience with EMDR therapy and the treatment of individuals struggling with addiction. They write in a warm and personable tone with interactive questions for the reader and client vignettes that keep the reader engaged. The text is anchored in the professional literature with complete references at the end of every chapter. The authors challenge the reader to think beyond the disease model of addiction to consider the profound impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the development of substance use disorders. They cover a broad range of EMDR treatment protocols for clients with co-occurring disorders including specific strategies for preparing clients for trauma resolution and for clearing the addiction memories that often drive relapse. This well-organized book offers a wealth of practical guidance. It is indispensable reading for clinicians in addiction treatment center, community clinics and private practice.

Andrew M. Leeds, PhD,
EMDR Europe and EMDRIA Accredited Trainer
Director of Training, Sonoma Psychotherapy Training Institute

ii Healing Addiction With EMDR is tailored to support therapists along the different phases of EMDR Therapy. It focuses on understanding each individual case, through case conceptualization and treatment planning, and avoiding the simplistic What protocol should we use? question. People need to be understood as individual beings since this is the essence of EMDR Therapy. The authors ability to integrate the latest research and clinical practices in the field of EMDR and addictions makes Healing Addiction With EMDR a practical, clear, well-written, and respectful guide. And since integration is a crucial part of our work, this guide is undoubtedly a true gift for EMDR therapists.

Dolores Mosquera
Co-Author of EMDR and Dissociation: The Progressive Approach
INTRA-TP, A Corua, Spain

The conversation about how to address trauma as a root cause in addictions couldnt be more timely as we face the crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and rise of addictions as its own epidemic. Jamie Marich and Stephen Dansiger bring us a thorough and scholarly inquiry that is equally practical with Tips and Tricks from the field and relatable clinical vignettes. This book is an essential reference for trauma specialists, EMDR therapists, and all who aim to support individuals who struggle with addiction. This is a must-have resource!

Arielle Schwartz, PhD
Author of The Complex PTSD Workbook, EMDR Therapy and Somatic Psychology and The Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook

iii Jamie and Steve emerge in this fabulous book as the Lennon and McCartney of contemporary EMDR creativity. Like John and Paul, they draw on and, as the Beatles did, gaily quote the richest rhythms and disciplines of the past, crafting a masterful and inspiringly original exploration of EMDR. This, I suspect, will become an instant EMDR classic, appealing to therapists working with the widest range of presentations. Beautifully and accessibly written, and youll love their metaphors, ranging from toilet plungers to badly cooked meals. Its practical, refreshingly free of jargon and dogma, and eloquently anticipates EMDRs necessary future as, from the first session, a comprehensive and complete trauma-informed psychotherapy. Conversational, superbly referenced and topical, Jamies and Steves manual is perhaps the first to bring EMDR smartly into our COVID-changed world. Think the Beatles with Rubber Soul in 1965 this is a Marich/Dansiger 2021 version for EMDR.

Mark Brayne
Director, EMDR Focus
EMDR Europe Accredited Consultant, Dip Psych, MA, UKCP

Marich and Dansiger have accomplished something very significant with this bookthey have developed a manual that will help EMDR therapists who do not have special training in substance abuse to stand by our clients and adjust Shapiros 8 phase EMDR protocol to offer them a path towards healing. These authors understand the pain from trauma that feeds addictive behavior at its root. Intertwining the AIP model with leading theories from neurobiology and addiction leads to a thoughtful and integrative approach versus a rigid protocol-driven approach to case conceptualization, preparation and processing. Marich and Dansiger support their thinking with carefully constructed and illustrative case examples and step by step approaches to using the material successfully. Of particular interest to my practice was the treatment of co-occurring addiction and dissociation. Congratulations on a significant contribution to the treatment literature, and a must-read for addiction specialists and general practitioners.