It's not hypnosis, psychotherapy or flooding - it's EMDR
No the Speakmans do not do EMDR. As others have said this is a well evidenced approach used mainly to treat trauma. It’s used in the NHS, for example at the Maudsley where they also use Trauma Focussed CBT and Compassion focussed therapy with people who have suffered serious multiple trauma. Those therapeutic approaches are delivered by post graduate trained (as a minimum), accredited and supervised clinicians who must continue to demonstrate adherence to an evidence base and continuous training and reaccreditation.
As for the Speakmans, none of the above is true for them. It’s so easy to handpick your subjects, capture a moment of progress and then what? Those of us working as psychotherapists treat whoever comes through our door. We are trained not just to do our work but to recognise our own limitations and to confer with more experienced colleagues or refer on. What concerns me is that there are so many ‘therapists’ out there like the Speakmans who do not know their limitations and who can do some real damage to people Who may already be extremely vulnerable. This damage can be done however well meaning the therapists are, and I think the Speakmans probably are well meaning.
I gather they’ve been “testing” their “Schema Focussed Therapy” (a combination of Schema Therapy and CBT I think) against EMDR. Fine, but one trial an evidence based does not make. They want to trial it against CBT but that is a colossal undertaking as CBT’s evidence based has been built from the 1960s onwards. Of course no therapy is perfect and it’s only as good as the clinician delivering it and the therapeutic relationship but at least we understand its pluses and minuses and its disorder specific use for all sorts of anxiety disorders such as OCD, health anxiety and Panic.
The Speakmans are not furthering their cause by talk of “cure” and implying instant results. There are all sorts of variables at play when someone is on national TV being confronted by their fear which may not translate into their everyday life. Perhaps there is a huge amount of work going on backstage for weeks either side of the TV appearance; if so we need to know this. Phobias are some of the easiest problems to treat but what of the Speakmans’ approach to depression, OCD, Social Anxiety or someone with a mental health diagnosis?
If their approach can be shown to work consistently across many disorders among a diverse population etc etc then good on them.
@Alison421e for a phobia you really are best off with CBT. You can look on the www.cbtregisteruk.com/ for properly BABCP accredited CBT Therapists working privately or you can ask for a referral to IAPT from your GP or self refer once you find your local IAPT service via a search engine, but you will find at the moment most Therapy is being delivered on line (not necessarily a problem).