'EMDR treatment for children with PTSD: Results of a randomized controlled trial': Corrigendum

Reports an error in 'EMDR treatment for children with PTSD: Results of a randomized controlled trial' by Abdulbaghi Ahmad, Bo Larsson and Viveka Sundelin-Wahlsten (Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 2007, Vol 61[5], 349-354). In the presentation of the results of ANCOVAs on page 352 of the original article, errors were discovered in the description of the between-group effects. However, the only significant difference in the study pertains to a stronger reduction of re-experiencing thoughts after EMDR than in the WLC. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2007-18097-006). The objective of the study was to examine the efficacy of EMDR treatment for children with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared with untreated children in a waiting list control group (WLC) participating in a randomized controlled superiority trial (RCT). Thirty-three 6-16-year-old children with a DSM-IV diagnosis of PTSD were randomly assigned to eight weekly EMDR sessions or the WLC group. The Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Scale for Children (PTSS-C scale) was used in interviews with children to evaluate their symptoms and outcome. Post-treatment scores of the EMDR group were significantly lower than the WLC indicating improvement in total PTSS-C scores, PTSD-related symptom scale, and the subscales re-experiencing and avoidance among subjects in the EMDR group, while untreated children improved in PTSD-non-related symptom scale. The improvement in re-experiencing symptoms proved to be the most significant between-group difference over time. The results of the present exploratory study including a limited number of children with PTSD are encouraging and warrant further controlled studies of larger samples of children suffering from PTSD.

Journal

English

Abdulbaghi Ahmad
Bo Larsson
Viveka Sundelin-Wahlsten

Abdulbaghi, A., Larsson, B., & Sundelin-Wahlsten, V. (2017, March). 'EMDR treatment for children with PTSD: Results of a randomized controlled trial': Corrigendum. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 71(4), 324. doi:10.1080/08039488.2017.1301704