Treating trauma in psychosis with EMDR

Trauma is an important risk factor for developing psychotic symptoms. Both trauma and PTSD are highly prevalent in individuals with psychotic disorders, and PTSD and psychosis overlap and interact. Individuals with both psychotic experiences and PTSD have more severe symptoms, lower levels of functioning, respond less well to psychotropic medications, and report a lower quality of life. In this workshop these interactions will be presented and clarified. An overview of the research into trauma-focused PTSD treatments in patients with psychosis will be presented. Assessing and treating PTSD in individuals with psychosis may prove to be a wise starting point in treatment planning. Secondly novel insights into both direct and indirect associations between adverse life experiences and psychosis will be presented, together with data on negative psychosis and trauma related mental imagery that appears to be highly prevalent in individuals with psychotic experiences. We will practice with conceptualizing EMDR for individuals with trauma-related psychotic symptoms and negative imagery.

Conference

English

David van den Berg

van den Berg, D. (2017, June). Treating trauma in psychosis with EMDR. Presentation (Benedikt Aman, Chair) at the 18th EMDR Europe Association Conference, Barcelona, Spain