Primary prevention: Use of EMDR during pregnancy

The perinatal period, defined here as the period encompassing pregnancy through the first three years postpartum, is one of both potential vulnerability and developmental promise for pregnant people, their babies, and families. PTSD in the perinatal period can result from events prior to pregnancy as well as events occurring during a current pregnancy. Whether or not the index trauma is related to pregnancy, research documents the detrimental effects of untreated PTSD on the pregnant person, the pregnancy itself, the developing fetus, and the newborn baby. Trauma-focused therapies such as Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) have demonstrated efficacy in the perinatal period to treat PTSD from traumatic birth, to reduce anxiety about imminent childbirth in women with a prior stillbirth, and in treatment for PTSD after infertility and ectopic pregnancy. A recent meta-analysis found no evidence for adverse outcomes when using trauma-focused therapies during pregnancy and noted that they found “no support for a course of action in which the continued presence of PTSD is preferable to the low chance of short-term physiological arousal during treatment for PTSD.” (Baas, et al 2020). This presentation will outline the prevalence of PTSD in the perinatal period, discuss EMDR’s efficacy with this population, and walk participants through the clinical decision making around the safety of utilizing EMDR therapy during pregnancy.

Conference

English

Mara Tesler Stein

Stein, M. T. (2023, May). Primary prevention: Use of EMDR during pregnancy. Virtual presentation at the EMDRAA Conference, Melbourne Victoria, Australia