Ego strengthening and eye movement desensitization reprocessing in post traumatic stress disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder, which occurs after exposure to overwhelming stress like combat, rape, serious accidents, violent crime and other catastrophic events. The essential characteristics of the condition are recurrent intrusive memories, images, thoughts or dreams of the trauma, persistent arousal, emotional numbing and avoidance of the situations reminiscent of the trauma. 15-20% of individuals experiencing significant trauma are known to develop PTSD [1]. Although anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs have been tried, none have been consistently associated with improvement [2]. Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) is being increasingly utilized as a valid method of treatment for this distressing condition [3-7]. Ego Strengthening (ES) is a sequence of simple psychotherapeutic suggestions given under hypnosis [8]. A long standing case of PTSD treated with EMDR and ES is reported.

Journal

English

Kama Raju

Raju, K. (2005). Ego strengthening and eye movement desensitization reprocessing in post traumatic stress disorder. Medical Journal Armed Forces of India, 61, 289-290