BACKGROUND A wide array of experimental studies are supportive of a working memory explanation for the effects of eye movements in EMDR therapy. The working memory account predicts that, as a consequence of competition in working memory, traumatic memories lose their emotional charge. METHOD This study was aimed at investigating (1) the effects of taxing the working memory, as applied in EMDR...

The present study uses a within-group controlled design to examine the efficacy and safety of two psychological approaches to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 10 patients with a concurrent psychotic disorder. Patients were randomly assigned either to prolonged exposure (PE; N=5) or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR; N=5). Before, during, and after treatment, a total of ...

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has been widely recognized as an efficacious treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the last years more insight has been gained regarding the efficacy of EMDR therapy in a broad field of mental disorders beyond PTSD. The cornerstone of EMDR therapy is its unique model of pathogenesis and change: the adaptive informati...

BACKGROUND Building on previous research with disaster-exposed children and adolescents, a randomised clinical trial was performed in the treatment of trauma-related symptoms. In the current study two active treatments were compared among children in a broad age range and from a wide diversity of ethnic populations. OBJECTIVE The primary aim was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of ...

A meta-analysis was conducted on 61 treatment outcome trials for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Conditions included drug therapies (TCAs, carbamazepine, MAOIs, SSRIs, and BDZs), psychological therapies (behaviour therapy, Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), relaxation training, hypnotherapy, and dynamic therapy), and control conditions (pill placebo, wait-list controls,...

A 68-year-old man, who had had phantom limb pain in his leg and foot for 27 years, was referred for EMDR treatment. This case study shows that after 10 sessions of EMDR the pain intensity had diminished from 10 to 1 (on a scale of 10). Further sessions, consisting mainly of discussions, focused on consolidation of the result, namely on finding a new physical and mental balance and on strengthen...

The present study reports on the first ever controlled comparison between eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and emotional freedom techniques (EFT) for posttraumatic stress disorder. A total of 46 participants were randomized to either EMDR (n = 23) or EFT (n = 23). The participants were assessed at baseline and then reassessed after an 8-week waiting period. Two further blind...

Jessica Phillips-Silver and colleagues recently introduced a new concept, neuroentrainment, to refer to the human tendency for synchronization in time and affect through coordinated rhythmic movements. Entrainment, from French entraîner, originally refers to the spatiotemporal coordination between several individuals in response to a rhythmic signal (Phillips-Silver and Keller, 2012). By extens...

This study examined emotional processing and outcome in 17 Vietnam veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who underwent eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, with and without the eye movement component, in a crossover design. Results supported the occurrence of partial emotional processing, but there were no differences in its extent in the eye-moveme...

The current investigation, framed within the emotional cognitive science field, was conducted with three patients with major depression. They participated in a therapeutic process which involved EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Data were obtained in the clinical practice through a longitudinal one subject study design, including: emotional valence identification within affe...