Dr. Shapiro has made a significant contribution. Clients that have experienced healing as a result of EMDR and those of us that have been trained in the use of EMDR are truly indebted. Certainly, there have been other methodologies that successfully desensitize trauma. I believe that the brilliance of Dr. Shapiro's theory is the Accelerated Information Processing. In a literal sense, this causes information processing to stop.
All humans form conclusions about their experiences, people and situations.
We use our senses to group experiences together. The way something or someone looks or sounds or smells may remind us of another time or place. In this process, we are also reminded of the way we felt or thought in that other situation. We are forever applying past conclusions to present situations. When the past was traumatic and information processing was halted, the present day application is likely to be faulty.