Use of EMDR with disruptive behavior disorders

Disruptive behavior disorders such as Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Tourette's Disorder, Intermittent Explosive Disorder and, to a lesser extent, some children with Bipolar Disorder, are among the most difficult conditions for clinicians to treat. The difliculty is two-fold: Clinicians must find the balance between developing a rapport and working with the disruptive child while also addressing the concerns of the parents who may be beyond their level of tolerance and looking for prompt improvement and frequently the child's very diagnostic condition - disruptiveness - may prevent the child from willingly participating in the treatment, despite the good rapport that the child and clinician may have. EMDR is, a technique which has shown great promise in helping children who are 'stuck' break through their own stubbornness and disruption to help them achieve a sense of self-control, insight and self-confidence. It also provides parents with reason to hope that a prompt improvement maybe possible. The essential aspect of successful utilization of EMDR with disruptive disorders resides in the creativity of the clinician and the modfication of the standard EMDR protocol. Using EMDR with children, especially with young children, requires a nonstandard administration only loosely based on the standard protocol. Children often won't - or can't - verbalize cognition's or adequately employ SUDS scales reliably. Disruptive children may have access to their cognitions, but may decline to cooperate with clinicians. The key in using EMDR with Children - as with many other techniques employed in treating children - is to make -the technique challenging or fun or maybe a bit mysterious, depending upon the presentation of the child and his or her ability to take some responsibility for the treatment process. The key with disruptive children is knowing how to combine EMDR usage with engagement of the difficult child. This workshop explores the use of such nonstandard EMDR administrations as auditory cueing and hand tapping and will review how EMDR has been used to engage very difficult children. The presentation will include both successful and unsuccessful treatment outcome, focusing on the identification of hidden handicaps which could prevent engagement of a diflicult child and techniques on how to overcome those handicaps to help the child to help him or herself.

Conference

English

Michael Abruzzese

Abruzzese, M. (1995, June). Use of EMDR with disruptive behavior disorders. Presentation at the EMDR Network Conference, Santa Monica, CA