emdrs  2 Jan 2004 - 22:27   

Software for use on computers / laptops

There are three software packages that I have seen but only the first is reviewed below. I welcome reviews of the other programs.

• Software from Neurolateral (reviewed)
• Visit www.practicemagic.com/emdr.html to download "There & Back" Cornucopia free software developed by Dr Phil Manfield (Author & EMDR Institute Facilitator).
• I have used German software (link to be found) in its preliminary stages.
  It is not reviewed because I have not seen late editions.

My memory is that all these packages allowed movement of a variable shape across the screen with auditory tones available and the possibility of adding headphones which could be also used as tactile devices, by holding the earpieces. The most enhanced by far is the one from Neurolateral which allows much more than these basic elements. Details should be available from the websites that will be linked above but a review of only the NeuroLateral package follows.

NeuroLateral: Software for EMDR (Audio / Visual / Tactile) (A-V-T)

In addition to what is visible on the screen, this software product can be purchased with optional vibrating probes for tactile use (the latest have built in LEDs that flash as they pulse. Most headphones will simply attach to your computer sound card for auditory use. It is one of the most comprehensive of all the packages allowing complete control of all modes (A,V,T) of bilateral stimulation for the therapist during the EMDR process. This program has the ability to do what all almost all the other products in the hardware and auditory reviews do, in one simple package.

This computer program allows user setting of visual and auditory bilateral stimulation and allows the simultaneous use of the optional connecting tactile unit. It has the facility to allow the user to choose either a picture or the shape of stimulus on screen, its colour and its size and then change speed and direction of movement. There is an excellent range of audio sounds from beeps, ticks and musical blips, to calming musical passages of varying intricacy and complexity. Most of the sounds are naturally soothing and when panned across each ear become even more so. There is a choice between using discrete sounds in each ear or gentle variable panning (left/right movement) of music. My preferred option is panning with about a 90% setting rather than the default 60-40% pan. When I mentioned this to the developers, along with one other earl minor software bug, they immediately made changes to their initial version of the product and changed future versions to make selection very simple.

This is a company that listens to the user and works to get a very good product. I received a very neatly packaged CD, which simply installed without a hitch.

The few disadvantages are inherent in any similar product in that you need a computer. Arranging a comfortable computer to patient distance is less simple for visual use, but with tactile or auditory modalities, there is no problem. If you work from your own office base, then portability is not an issue. Movement of pictures can look jerky on-screen, but this is probably a 'old computer' feature rather than a software issue and seems not to detract too much.

Advantages: This is the most comprehensive of all the packages I have used with Audio, visual and tactile modalities. It contains a superb range of audio sounds plus the facility to use the clients own music and play it back through the computer with an audio pan. You can choose to use audio, tactile and visual independently or together as you wish. You can even add your own or your clients photographs and change the default settings. There are free samples including Mark Grant’s warm and relaxing Australian voice and music.

A wonderful feature for the talented, is that you can make your own music, record it onto your own disc and play it back to the client as EMDR bi-lateral audio stimulation.

To experience moments of bliss, put your favourite picture on, set the movement to float extremely slowly in a relaxing vertical direction, match your breathing to a similarly slow rate and set the SOUND / ADVANCED to PAN at 90% (or 95%) and listen to the supplied Mozart's Adagio.