Integrating psychophysiological monitoring in EMDR treatment of PTSD- clinical examples for the use of new emotion detection algorithms to enhance treatment outcome

Physiological monitoring is rarely used in therapeutical setting. Recent advances in wearable sensor technology and new algorithms for psychophysiological sensing open new ways to understand a clients' affective state in real time. The emotional brain often functions separately from the cortex and from cognitive influences (Ledoux ,1996). The ability to measure physiological changes while reprocessing traumatic memories helps the therapist to proceed with the intervention while making sure that the client is in the proper arousal zone. The ability to monitor the therapist as well as the client improves ability to create the atmosphere of safety needed for successful treatment outcome. In their work on emotional contagion, Levenson and Gottman (1983) proposed that when the autonomic nervous system (ANS) physiology of two people shows ‘‘linkage’’(i.e., one person’s patterns of activation across the ANS measures mirror those of another person), there is an emotional involvement. Cozolino (2002) describes two components of therapy that optimize neuroplasticity:

● "A safe and trusting relationship with an attuned therapist".
● "The maintenance of moderate levels of arousal".

Conference

English

Yuval Oded

Oded, Y. (2016, June). Integrating psychophysiological monitoring in EMDR treatment of PTSD- clinical examples for the use of new emotion detection algorithms to enhance treatment outcome. In Neurobiology (Frances Haour, Chair). Presentation at the at the 17th EMDR Europe Association Conference, The Hague