A comparative study of EMDR and prolonged exposure for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: Does interoception moderate differences in symptom reduction?

This study aims to compare the efficacy and efficiency of EMDR and prolonged exposure (PE) in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults. Both interventions are standardized treatments for PTSD, however, each intervention’s mechanism of action are different, with EMDR being classified as a bottom-up psychotherapy model and PE being classified as a top-down psychotherapy model. A second aim of this study is to investigate whether differences in treatment response to EMDR compared to PE is moderated by interoception, a person’s ability to be aware of their internal states of their body. To accomplish these goals, a randomized controlled trial will be completed, with participants (adults over 18 meeting DSM-V criteria for diagnosis of PTSD) being randomized to either receive EMDR, PE, or a wait-list control for 3 months (weekly sessions, 12 sessions total). Symptoms will be assessed by treatment-blind assessors at posttreatment, and at 3-and 6-months follow-up. • EMDR and PE are both recommended treatments for PTSD by the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). While previous studies have demonstrated both EMDR and PE were effective in PTSD symptom reduction in comparison to minimal intervention, they also indicated EMDR was more efficient than PE in terms of total exposure time to traumatic memories during and between sessions; the number of trauma memories processed over the course of therapy; and time taken to process the primary trauma memory (McGuire Stanbury et al., 2020)

Conference

English

Kristen Sievert

Sievert, K. (2023). A comparative study of EMDR and prolonged exposure for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: Does interoception moderate differences in symptom reduction? Presentation at the 21st Annual SPC Research Conference, Seattle, Washington