Observed and Experiential Integration (OEI)

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · Audrey Cook, Richard Bradshaw, Marvin McDonald · 1993

What it is

OEI is a set of eye-based trauma therapy techniques. Audrey Cook originated the core techniques, starting in 1993 after EMDR training: she noticed that some clients with early complex trauma could not track smoothly, or found EMDR too intense, so she began working "one eye at a time". Richard…

Format

• OEI is not published as a fixed phase protocol. The 2011 paper gives a sequencing logic, and the 2014 trial gives one short manualised format. Both are set out below, then a phase structure that applies trauma-safety rules. The phase structure is.
• Home use: clients use Switching, and Release Points, between sessions only once they are "sufficiently safe and stabilized".

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Glitch work (Tracking, Massaging, Tracking-to-Target, proximal–distal movements, Glitch Holding) for complex, resistant or specific multisensory material. The authors call this the hardest set to master; it needs training and supervision.
• Three individual 1-hour sessions of OEI Switching, using script-driven symptom provocation, with mixed-trauma adults with PTSD (n = 10). Clients were taught Switching for affect regulation during and between sessions. The script-construction procedure and session-by-session content are not drawn on.
• Version followed: Bradshaw, Cook & McDonald (2011), Observed & Experiential Integration (OEI): Discovery and development of a new set of trauma therapy techniques (J. Psychotherapy Integration 21(2), 104–171; copy hosted on the official OEI site), plus the three-session Switching protocol of Bradshaw et al. (2014) and the developers' "Why is it called OEI?" page. OEI training manuals are not drawn on; anything…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Fear surges. Return to clear space and switch.
• As in 4.3. Apply the exposure contraindications and the stop signal.
• Drooping eyelids and drowsiness mark a point of intensity, not boredom.
• Shame about being looked at closely. Offer partial eye contact or a slight angle.
• Lability. For emotionally labile clients, standing back to reflect may be new. Go slowly.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.