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EMDR treatment for children with PTSD: results of a randomized controlled trial
Abdulbaghi Ahmad1, Bo Larsson, Viveka Sundelin-Wahlsten
1Child Center for Trauma and Exposure (Maskrosen), Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. abdulbaghi.ahmad@bupinst.uu.se
Insights
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy significantly reduced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in children compared to a waiting list control. EMDR effectively improved re-experiencing and avoidance symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Child Psychology
- Trauma Studies
Background:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) significantly impacts children's mental health.
- Effective therapeutic interventions for pediatric PTSD are crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for children diagnosed with PTSD.
- To compare EMDR treatment outcomes against a waiting list control group (WLC).
Main Methods:
- A randomized controlled superiority trial (RCT) involving 33 children (aged 6-16) with DSM-IV PTSD diagnoses.
- Participants were randomly assigned to eight weekly EMDR sessions or a WLC group.
- Symptom severity was assessed using the Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Scale for Children (PTSS-C).
Main Results:
- Children receiving EMDR showed significantly lower post-treatment scores on the PTSS-C scale compared to the WLC group.
- EMDR treatment led to significant improvements in total PTSS-C scores, PTSD-related symptoms, re-experiencing, and avoidance.
- The WLC group showed improvement only in PTSD-non-related symptom scales.
- A significant between-group difference over time was observed in the reduction of re-experiencing symptoms.
Conclusions:
- EMDR therapy is a promising treatment for reducing PTSD symptoms in children.
- The study's findings, while preliminary due to sample size, encourage further research with larger cohorts.
- EMDR demonstrates potential as an effective intervention for pediatric PTSD, particularly for re-experiencing and avoidance symptoms.
Abstract:
The objective of the study was to examine the efficacy of EMDR treatment for children with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared with untreated children in a waiting list control group (WLC) participating in a randomized controlled superiority trial (RCT). Thirty-three 6-16-year-old children with a DSM-IV diagnosis of PTSD were randomly assigned to eight weekly EMDR sessions or the WLC group. The Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Scale for Children (PTSS-C scale) was used in interviews with children to evaluate their symptoms and outcome. Post-treatment scores of the EMDR group were significantly lower than the WLC indicating improvement in total PTSS-C scores, PTSD-related symptom scale, and the subscales re-experiencing and avoidance among subjects in the EMDR group, while untreated children improved in PTSD-non-related symptom scale. The improvement in re-experiencing symptoms proved to be the most significant between-group difference over time. The results of the present exploratory study including a limited number of children with PTSD are encouraging and warrant further controlled studies of larger samples of children suffering from PTSD.
