Treating combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder using therapeutic fly-fishing with EMDR (TF-EMDR)

Therapeutic fly-fishing is a nature-based intervention that is experiencing increased use to adjunct mental health treatment with current and former uniformed service professionals. While promising, literature suggesting the use of therapeutic fly-fishing with evidenced-based psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or any other mode of psychotherapy, does not appear to exist. This raises several questions regarding the ethics and fidelity of current uses of fly-fishing during a person's mental health care. Because of these concerns, the author explores literature surrounding the use of therapeutic fly-fishing for combat-related PTSD and offers a way to integrate fly-fishing directly within a well-researched and widely used PTSD treatment modality: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. The distinct phases of EMDR are demonstrated through a treatment protocol, followed by implementation suggestions for interested mental health professionals, organisations and other treatment providers worldwide. The author hopes that clinicians and treatment programs will better understand the importance of using trained psychotherapists to facilitate trauma treatment-with the model presented as one way to integrate the worlds of nature-based treatment and evidence-based practice easily. Finally, this paper serves as a call for research into the concept of Therapeutic Fly-Fishing with EMDR (TF-EMDR) and other such integrations of nature-and evidence-based PTSD treatment approaches.

Journal

English

Anthony Parmenter

Parmenter, A. (2022, January). Treating combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder using therapeutic fly-fishing with EMDR (TF-EMDR). Journal of Military and Veterans' Health, 30(1), 24-30