Positive side effects of EMDR in PTSD: Reduction of attendant symptoms and enhancement of affective and structural regulation

The EMDR treatment has shown to be highly effective in reducing the core symptoms of PTSD (intrusive memories and flash backs, hyperarousal, avoidance). Additionally, PTSD is often accompanied by a broader set of psychological complaints such as depression, anxiety disorders or somatisation and disturbed self-regulation abilities. Therefore, we targeted in a RCT multicenter EMDR therapy study the course of additional symptoms and structural skills in 139 patients suffering from PTSD using the BSI, BDI, TAS-20 and HSRI questionnaires in a pre-post design. The results showed that in addition to alleviating the PTSD symptoms, the EMDR treatment led to a significant decrease of accompanying symptoms of depression, anxiety and somatisation. Furthermore, patients improved significantly their structural abilities regarding their emotional perception and differentiation, impulse control, frustration tolerance and the regulation of relationships and self-esteem. The findings suggest that the EMDR treatment involves therapeutic mechanisms beyond mere exposure. EMDR also seems to be potentially helpful in treating other mental disorders than PTSD and could be used to enhance patient's structural abilities also.

Conference

English

Markus Stingl

Stingl, M. (2016, June). Positive side effects of EMDR in PTSD: Reduction of attendant symptoms and enhancement of affective and structural regulation. In Research track (Leonieke Kranenburg, Chair). Presentation at the at the 17th EMDR Europe Association Conference, The Hague