Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in a Primary Care Setting: Assessing Utility and Comparing Efficacy of...

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry and Mental Health
• Psychotherapy Research
• Telehealth Innovations

Background:

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an established psychotherapy for trauma.
• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the adaptation of EMDR to virtual platforms.
• Primary care settings are increasingly integrating mental health services, including EMDR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the efficacy of EMDR with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) versus CBT alone for anxiety.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of virtual EMDR compared to in-person EMDR in primary care.
• To assess treatment outcomes using PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective chart review of adult patients treated by a single therapist from January 2018 to December 2020.
• Data collected included demographics, diagnoses, treatment type (EMDR with CBT, CBT alone, virtual EMDR, in-person EMDR), and pre/post-treatment PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores.
• Statistical analysis compared changes in symptom scores between treatment groups, adjusting for relevant covariates.

Main Results:

• Patients receiving EMDR with CBT showed numerically larger decreases in PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores than those receiving CBT alone.
• After adjustment for covariates, the differences in PHQ-9 and GAD-7 score changes between EMDR+CBT and CBT-alone groups were not statistically significant.
• Adjusted analyses also revealed no statistically significant difference in symptom reduction between virtual EMDR and in-person EMDR.

Conclusions:

• This study is the first to describe virtual EMDR in a primary care setting.
• While EMDR with CBT did not demonstrate statistically significant superiority over CBT alone, both modalities led to significant improvements in GAD-7 scores.
• Both virtual and in-person EMDR appear to be effective in improving anxiety symptoms within a primary care context.