Effectiveness of treating depression with EMDR among inpatients -a follow-up study over 12 months

Increasing prevalence of depression poses a huge challenge to the health care systems, and the success rates of current standard therapies are limited. While 30% of treated patients do not experience a full remission after treatment, more than 75% of patients suffer from recurrent depressive episodes. EMDR therapy represents an emerging treatment option of depression, and preliminary studies show promising effects with a probably higher remission rate when compared to control-therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy. In the present study, 49 patients with severe depression were treated with an integrated systemic treatment approach including EMDR therapy that followed a specific protocol with a treatment algorithm for depression in a naturalistic hospital setting. Following their discharge from the hospital, the patients were followed up by a structured telephone interview after 3 and 12 months. 27 of the 49 (55%) patients fulfilled the Beck’s depression criteria of a full remission when they were discharged. At the follow-up interview, 12 months after discharge, 7 of the 27 patients (26%) reported a relapse, while the remaining 20 patients (74 %) had stayed relapse-free. The findings of our observational study confirm reports of earlier studies in patients with depression, showing that EMDR therapy leads to a high rate of remission, and is associated with a decreased number of relapses. Patients with depression receiving EMDR treatment may be more resilient to stressors.

Journal

English

Susanne Altmeyer
Leonie Wollersheim
Niclas Kilian-Hütten
Alexander Behnke
Arne Hofmann
Visal Tumani

Altmeyer, S., Wollersheim, L., Kilian-Hütten, N., Behnke, A., Hofmann, A., & Tumani, V. (2022, May). Effectiveness of treating depression with EMDR among inpatients -a follow-up study over 12 months. Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.937204