EMDR and phantom limb research protocol

The important elements of the EMDR and Phantom Pain Research Protocol are the following: (a) Client history taking and relationship building; (b) Targeting the trauma of the experience; and (c) Targeting the pain. This protocol is set up to follow the eight phases of the 11-Step Standard Procedure. While the authors have not undertaken formal research, they have been doing a case series with phantom limb patients since 1996. As part of the case series, they have obtained a few before and after EMDR magnetoencephalograms (MEGs) at the University of Tubingen, Germany on arm amputees that show the presence of phantom limb pain (PLP) in the brain images before EMDR and the absence of it after EMDR. In these case series, they have found that PLP in leg amputations is much easier to treat than arm amputations, likely due to the much more extensive and complex arm and hand representation in the sensory-motor cortex compared to the leg and foot representation. While leg amputees can often lose their phantom limb pain in two or three sessions of EMDR, PLP from arm amputations often require more sessions and different forms and locations for bilateral stimulation (BLS). This chapter presents the EMDR and phantom pain research protocol script.

Book Section

English

Sandra A. Wilson
Robert Tinker

Wilson, S. A., & Tinker, R. (2010). EMDR and phantom limb research protocol. In M. Luber (Ed.), Eye movement desensitization (EMDR) scripted protocols: Special populations (pp. 559-571). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Co