Treating Depression with EMDR Therapy

Arne Hofmann, MD, PhD, is a specialist in psychosomatic and internal medicine, director of the EMDR Institute and senior physician of the Gezeitenhaus Clinic for Psychosomatics, Psychotraumatology and EMDR in Schloss Eichholz (Wesseling). He introduced the EMDR method in Germany in 1991, is co-founder and honorary member of the German-speaking professional society for psychotraumatology (DeGPT) and the professional societies for EMDR Europe and EMDRIA Germany. He researches and teaches internationally in the field of treatment of trauma sequelae and depression. He has been awarded international prizes and the Federal Cross of Merit for his work.

Luca Ostacoli, MD, is a psychiatrist. He is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Turin, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, School of Medicine and Surgery; Head of the Clinical and Psychosomatic Psychology Service at S. Luigi Hospital (Orbassano, Turin, from 2001 to 2016); on the Clinical Obstetric Gynecological Psychology Service (from 2016 to present; on the Psychotraumatology and Health Staff Support Service (City of Health and Science Hospital of Turin from 2019 to present). He is a member of the International Research Consortia and author of numerous scientific publications in the field of trauma-focused interventions, EMDR and Mindfulness and their neurobiological correlates. He is co-founder of the academic spin off MindToMove. He is a psychotherapist with Body Dynamics training. He is an EMDR Supervisor, and Trainer in Clinical Mindfulness and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. He conducts training seminars on psychotherapy. In 2018, he was awarded the EMDR International Association Award and in 2019 the Francine Shapiro Award from EMDR Europe.

Maria Lehnung, PhD, is a psychological psychotherapist, did research at the University of Kiel with a neurobiological focus and is now in private practice with a psychotraumatological focus. In addition, she is active as a lecturer and supervisor and EMDR-Europe trainer. From the beginning of her work with EMDR, she was fascinated by the procedure and its possibilities and interested in finding creative ways of using EMDR even with difficult patients. For years she has been involved in the scientific research of EMDR therapy. She was instrumental in developing the concept of treating depression with EMDR.

Michael Hase, MD, PhD, is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist and director of the Lueneburg Center for Stress Medicine. After his training in neurology and psychiatry, he worked as a senior physician at the Psychiatric Hospital in Lueneburg in Lower Saxony State, where he established the treatment focus on psychotraumatology. He then headed departments for psychosomatic rehabilitation and psychotherapy in Hamburg and Bad Bevensen and is the head physician of the rehabilitation clinic "Therapeutischer Hof Toppenstedt." Alongside Arne Hofmann, Hase provided decisive impetus for starting the research into depression treatment in EMDR therapy. He teaches and publishes internationally and was awarded the 2018 Outstanding Research Award by the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) professional society for his work.

Marilyn Luber, PhD, is a licensed, clinical psychologist in private practice in Philadelphia. She was on the Founding Board of Directors of EMDRIA and an EMDR Task Force for Dissociative Disorders member. She has conducted training both nationally and internationally. She is a co-facilitator for the EMDR Global Alliance. She is on the Steering Committee for the Future of EMDR Therapy Project, on the Council of Scholars, and chair of the "What is EMDR" working group. She received HAP's Humanitarian Services Award (1997), Outstanding Contribution to EMDRIA award (2003) and EMDRIA's Francine Shapiro Award (2005).