The EMDR Letters Protocol is a named relational procedure, not ordinary journaling
EMDR Letter Writing Protocol: evidence, records, and boundaries
Review the EMDR Letters Protocol, its relational-trauma rationale, limited direct research, record and sending risks, and script boundaries.
By the EMDRSuite Editorial Team
Product claims checked against the current EMDRSuite code and interface.
No independent clinical reviewer is named for this guide.
This is a named procedure for unfinished relational material
The Francine Shapiro Legacy Library records Hélène Dellucci's Letters Protocol as presented in 2009 and discussed at the 2010 EMDR Europe conference for relational trauma, individual and family work, supervision, and some work with dissociative parts.
It should not be confused with generic expressive writing, an unsent letter exercise from another therapy, ordinary journaling, correspondence with an abuser, a legal statement, or the standard eight-phase EMDR protocol. Naming the procedure does not supply its protected steps.
The available direct research claim is preliminary and incompletely reported
The 2010 conference description says results from clinical research with 30 patients would be presented. Author papers and presentations describe the rationale and development, but the search conducted through 28 August 2026 did not identify a peer-reviewed controlled outcome report for that 30-patient sample.
A conference statement is not enough to estimate effect size, attrition, adverse events, comparator performance, durability, or which component caused change. Evidence for standard trauma-focused EMDR cannot be transferred automatically to the Letters Protocol.
Writing and sending are separate clinical and legal decisions
Clarify whether text is imagined, spoken, drafted, retained, destroyed, or ever sent. Sending a letter can expose location, identity, health information, allegations, or contact details; provoke retaliation; affect legal proceedings; breach a no-contact plan; or involve a third party who never consented.
Use neutral language, avoid suggestion and recovered-memory claims, assess coercion and ongoing danger, and document uncertainty. Do not promise catharsis, reconciliation, disclosure, memory accuracy, or a response from the person addressed.
EMDRSuite does not author or transmit protocol letters
Therapist notes in EMDRSuite are professional records, not a patient correspondence service. The platform does not provide the Letters Protocol script, generate a letter, send one to another person, decide retention, verify facts, or assess relational and legal risk.
If clinically necessary information is documented, apply data minimization, access control, retention policy, and local record law. A software note should never be represented as protocol training or permission to reproduce an author's material.
FAQ
EMDR Letter Writing Protocol
Is the Letters Protocol ordinary therapeutic writing?
No. It is a named EMDR-derived relational procedure with its own training and provenance.
Was the reported 30-patient work a controlled published trial?
No peer-reviewed controlled report for that sample was identified in the review through 28 August 2026.
Should a protocol letter be sent?
Not automatically. Drafting, retaining, and sending have different safety, privacy, relational, and legal consequences.
Does EMDRSuite generate or send these letters?
No. It provides therapist notes and session technology, not the script, authorship, transmission, or risk decision.
References
EMDR Letter Writing Protocol: evidence, records, and boundaries
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