Resources for EMDR Clinicians
The books our trainers assign, recommend and keep within reach, from the required Basic Training text to the attachment, somatic and parts-work titles behind the S.A.F.E. approach. Plus two books worth handing to clients.
From PTI
EMDR for Anger Management: Somatic and Attachment-Focused Skills to Heal the Unresolved Trauma That Drives Anger
Deb Kennard, PTI founder
Deb’s book brings the S.A.F.E. approach to the anger that chronic, unresolved trauma leaves behind, with bilateral tapping and nervous-system skills readers can use on their own or alongside therapy.
EMDR Clinical Reference Manual: The S.A.F.E. Approach
Personal Transformation Institute
The manual we teach from. Phase-by-phase reference, scripts and worksheets for the somatic and attachment-focused protocol, in print for your desk.
Free courses in the Training Portal
Personal Transformation Institute
The 4 E’s of Resourcing and Utilizing Virtual Tools for EMDR Therapy are free. Create a portal login and start today.
Start here: the core EMDR texts
If you are preparing for or just finished Basic Training, these four cover the protocol itself and the first year of practice.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy, Third Edition
Francine Shapiro
The required text for our 6-Day Basic Training and the definitive statement of the eight-phase protocol and the Adaptive Information Processing model.
A Therapist’s Guide to EMDR: Tools and Techniques for Successful Treatment
Laurel Parnell
A practical, clinician-first walkthrough of case formulation, ego strengthening and target development. The book many graduates keep next to Shapiro.
EMDR Scripted Protocols: Basics and Special Situations
Marilyn Luber (ed.)
Word-for-word scripts for the standard protocol and its variants, from recent events and phobias to grief and somatic complaints. Useful in the first year after training.
EMDR Toolbox, Second Edition: Theory and Treatment of Complex PTSD and Dissociation
Jim Knipe
Loving Eyes, Back of the Head Scale, CIPOS and the other tools for clients who cannot yet tolerate standard processing. Essential once your caseload turns complex.
Attachment, the body and parts
The science and clinical craft behind Somatic and Attachment-Focused EMDR. Read in any order.
Attachment-Focused EMDR: Healing Relational Trauma
Laurel Parnell
Resource tapping and attachment repair woven into the protocol for clients whose wounds began in early relationships. Closest in spirit to how PTI teaches.
Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy
Pat Ogden, Kekuni Minton and Clare Pain
Why the body holds what the mind cannot narrate, and how to work with it in session. Foundational for the somatic side of S.A.F.E. EMDR.
The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation
Deb Dana
The nervous-system map behind resourcing and preparation, with exercises you can use in Phase 2 the week you read it.
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma
Peter A. Levine
The book that made the case for completing the body’s defensive responses. Short, readable, and still the best introduction to somatic trauma work.
Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors
Janina Fisher
Parts, structural dissociation and self-alienation explained for the treating clinician, with interventions that sit comfortably alongside EMDR.
Easy Ego State Interventions: Strategies for Working With Parts
Robin Shapiro
Quick ego-state techniques for blocked processing, looping and protector parts. Practical enough to use the day after you read it.
No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model
Richard C. Schwartz
The accessible introduction to IFS. Many EMDR clinicians borrow its language for parts work during preparation and interweaves.
Complex trauma and dissociation
EMDR and Dissociation: The Progressive Approach
Anabel Gonzalez and Dolores Mosquera
How to bring EMDR into the treatment of dissociative clients from the preparation phase onward, rather than waiting for stability that never comes.
EMDR Toolbox, Second Edition
Jim Knipe
Listed above under the core texts, and the book we point to first when a client is not ready for standard processing.
Special populations
Cultural Competence and Healing Culturally Based Trauma with EMDR Therapy, Second Edition
Mark Nickerson (ed.)
Frameworks and protocols for culturally based trauma and adversity, including chapters on EMDR with Black, American Indian, Asian-American and Latinx clients.
EMDR and the Art of Psychotherapy with Children: Infants to Adolescents
Robbie Adler-Tapia and Carolyn Settle
The full eight phases adapted for every age from infancy through adolescence, with the companion treatment manual of scripts and forms. Check Amazon for the current edition.
Books to recommend to clients
Both explain trauma and EMDR in plain language and tend to build commitment to the work.
Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy
Francine Shapiro
Written for the public by EMDR’s developer. The book to hand a client who wants to understand what EMDR is and practice simple self-regulation between sessions.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Bessel van der Kolk
The book most clients have already heard of. Explains why trauma lives in the body and why approaches like EMDR work, in language that builds buy-in for treatment.
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Ready to start your EMDR training?
Take your psychotherapy career to the next level with our EMDRIA-approved 6-Day EMDR Basic Training, taught through a somatic and attachment lens.