Is it possible for someone who is arguably a charlatan to come up with a psychological

intervention that actually works? Can we separate the two? This is the case with EMDR, a treatment for

PTSD that involves moving the eyes back and forth and that has a very dubious origin indeed.

Must and inventors, unethical nature, necessarily taint the product they create.

We're going to find out right now on Scaptoid.

You're listening to Scaptoid. I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

EMDR, looking past the pain.

Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history,

and helps us all make better life decisions

by knowing what's real and what's not.

Today we're going to unravel a specific type of psychotherapy,

and it's one that presents the researcher with formidable walls to scale

of both support and criticism.

Some psychotherapists are firm believers,

some are firm detractors.

The therapy is called EMDR,

eye movement desensit, and reprocessing.

It is controversial as the day is long, and yet it enjoys broad recommendations in most of the world's

major guidelines.

It also has plenty of criticism of its effectiveness,

and it has a wildly unscientific origin story,

which never bodes well for any kind of treatment.

...