Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)

[borrofburi]

So I don't really know much about this. Do any of you? I figured maybe one of you would know something about this off the top of your head. Anyone willing to bite?


A close friend's therapist is recommending that my friend try this therapy, so naturally I'm going to research the hell out of it in the coming days (because even if it works, it sounds like a traumatic experience in and of itself (kind of like exposure therapy which IIRC does seem to work)). But always nice to run into people who already know things.

 

[Asrahn]

EMDR has, to my knowledge, not been proven to work better than regular exposure-related therapies overall, and it's debateable whether the eye-movement part of the therapy has any function what so ever or if it can be credited to the distraction element. In most the studies I've come across regarding PTSD treatment there seems to be little or no difference between the results of regular CBT and and EMDR, so I guess my question is why the therapist would suggest this method over CBT?

Edit: Jumped in and did some quick scanning of peer-reviewed papers on the subject.

There actually appears to be a suggested difference in effect when it comes to the treatments in regards to sexual abuse victims (doi: 10.1002/cpp.395) where EMDR seems more effective - and additonally, there has been indication that EMDR can reduce depression significantly more effectively than CBT (doi: 10.1016/j.erap.2012.08.001), as well as to improve the state of children with self-esteem issues and related problems (doi: 10.1891/1933-3196.2.3.180).

I guess it's all dependent on what ails your friend.

 

[tuxbox]

I too suffer from PTSD and my doc also recommended EMDR. I have not tried it yet due to the fact I am still not stable on my meds.