A review of the book titled “Getting Past Your Past” written by Francine Shapiro

“Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques” is the latest publication by Francine Shapiro, an American psychologist who created and developed Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It is a fairly new therapeutic approach aimed at combating traumatic memories and experiences. Practiced by ca. 70,000 clinicians worldwide, and with more than 20 million patients responding positively to the treatment, EMDR has been gaining popularity as an efficient method of alleviating trauma and related disorders, which prevent good quality of life.
In her book, Francine Shapiro presents and addresses a variety of issues, such as who we really are, how our mind, brain, and body are connected, and how traumatic memories and experiences may influence our current self and condition. By describing the examples of actual clinical cases, she helps readers understand how problematic behaviours, feelings, and memories have an adverse impact upon present actions of individuals.
The chapters of the book are structured to provide an outlook on specific matters related with trauma and to demonstrate how EMDR therapy addresses it, while also presenting stories of patients who have successfully overcome their trauma.
One of the problems primarily elaborated by Shapiro is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which involves extreme emotional distress from significant trauma such as accidents, physical or sexual abuse, war combat, or natural disasters.
When people are not able to process traumatic memories or experiences, they are likely to react in ways that may have made sense in the past, but are no longer helpful in the present. This is one of the key issues described in the first chapter of the book, titled: “Running on Automatic”. The majority of experienced problems stem from the past, and while our reactions to them may seem irrational in the present, it does not mean there is no reason for it. The memories are stored in the brain and may emerge without our control. These memories can subsequently interfere with our present life. The book provides guidance to trace current difficulties to past unprocessed memories that are the basis for current responses. Shapiro presents a number of example stories, through which she demonstrates how traumatic events from the past build a network in the...


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