The use of short-term EMDR for symptomic relief of acute stress syndrome in victims of the 2006 Israeli-Lebanese hostilities

During the 2006 hostilities between Israel and the Hezbollah militia, many northern Israeli towns were under the continuous threat of rocket bombardment for several weeks. Thirty people who arrived at the general hospital with Acute Stress Reaction (ASR) and were found later to suffer from Acute Stress Syndrome (ASS) were treated by a group of senior EMDR clinicians with a two-session modified EMDR intervention.

The raw results indicate that about 50% of ASS outpatients treated with a brief modified EMDR protocol responded to a single session EMDR with an initial very significant (SUDs dropping or points or more) or a significant alleviation, of their, mostly intrusive, symptoms. The other half of the ASS population showed partial response or no response. We also report the results of a 7 month follow-up of these patients. The advantages and limitations of using the modified brief EMDR protocol in ASS victims are discussed. The response of prolonged war-stress to EMDR is compared to the reason of victim of a single trauma like terrorist attacks and road accidents.

Conference

English

Ilan Kutz

Kutz, I. (2007, June). The use of short-term EMDR for symptomic relief of acute stress syndrome in victims of the 2006 Israeli-Lebanese hostilities. Presentation at the 8th EMDR Europe Association Conference, Paris, France