EMDR treatment of phobic symptoms in multiple personality disorder

Two multiple personality disorder patients with severe, persistent phobias were treated using Eye Movement Desensitization/Reprocessing (EMDR). Both patients achieved significantly beneficial results with a single session in one patient and two sessions in another. Each patient confronted the previously phobic object successfully showing an objective measure of success and results were maintained at six months follow-up. Caution should be exercised from generalizing the use of EMDR for specific target symptoms to using it as a total treatment technique. Further research is needed to determine the efficacy of EMDR as a treatment procedure in general and its role in the overall treatment of dissociative conditions.

Journal

English

Walter C. Young

Young, W. C. (1994, June). EMDR treatment of phobic symptoms in multiple personality disorder. Dissociation: Progress in the Dissociative Disorders, 7(2), 129-133