Comparing the effectiveness of psychological debriefing, eye movement desensitization reprocessing, and imaginal exposure on treatment of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder

Background & Aims: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is considered as one of the most prevalent disorder during the life time and can negatively influence the individual, family and social relationships of patients, so, prevention and treatment of this disorder is highly important. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), psychological debriefing (PD), and imaginal exposure (IE) are some treatment methods, but there is controversy about long effects of these treatments, especially among chronic patients. Method: In a semi experimental study, a total of 54 adult male patients, based on Davidson scale and psychiatric diagnostic, were randomly selected, and then were divided into 3 equal therapy groups. All participants were evaluated before, after and 3 months after the treatment. Data were analyzed through the repeated variance and Duncan post-hoc tests. Results: Psychological debriefing and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing were better than imaginal exposure in relief of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder signs and remaining the effectiveness in three months follow-up. Conclusion: It is concluded that all of the above methods are effective on chronic post-traumatic stress disorder and the efficacy of the therapeutic techniques would be still in force even after 3 months. Considering the importance of psychological interventions, it is necessary that such methods be taught to psychologists so that they can use them after traumatic accidents.

Journal

English

F. Khosropour
G. H. Ebrahiminejad
M. Salehi
V. Farzad

Khosropour, F., Ebrahiminejad, G. H., Salehi, M., & Farzad, V. (2012, April-May). Comparing the effectiveness of psychological debriefing, eye movement desensitization reprocessing, and imaginal exposure on treatment of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, 19(2), 149-159