Treatment of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Iran: A Systematic Review Study

Although a variety of treatments have been developed over the past decade to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of the most effective psychological treatments to improve its symptoms is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). This study was performed with the aim to systematically review the studies which have focused on the effect of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing on post-traumatic stress disorder. In this systematic review, searching was conducted in SID, Magiran, Noormags, and Google Scholar databases for clinical trials written in Persian and English using the keywords "post-traumatic stress disorder", "PTSD", " eye movement desensitization and reprocessing" and "EMDR" as well as their English equivalent. Totally, seventeen full-text articles were subjected to a final review. After searching, screening, and evaluation, the results showed that all studies in general (overall score) had reported positive effects of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing on improving post-traumatic stress disorder. The findings also showed that this therapy was effective for specific groups, including victims. The studies covered were conducted in different individuals, small sample size, and various cultural contexts. According to these findings, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing could be useful psychotherapy to treat trauma-associated symptoms and improve psychological symptoms in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Further studies however are needed in order to reach firmer conclusions about EMDR of psychotherapies on some symptoms.