TY - JOUR
T1 - Does EMDR therapy have an effect on memories of emotional abuse, neglect and other types of adverse events in patients with a personality disorder? Preliminary data
AU - Hafkemeijer, Laurian
AU - Starrenburg, Annemieke
AU - van der Palen, Job
AU - Slotema, Karin
AU - de Jongh, Ad
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the GGZ Delfland Psychiatric Institute in Delft, The Netherlandswhich played no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis or interpretation of the data; or in writing the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/10/1
Y1 - 2021/10/1
N2 - Background: Little is known about the effectiveness of trauma-focused therapies for memories of events not meeting the A-criterion of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Objective: Determining the effect of EMDR therapy on memories of emotional abuse, neglect and other types of adverse events in patients with a personality disorder (PD).Method: We conducted a secondary analysis of the data from our study, which aimed to determine the effectiveness of five sessions of EMDR therapy in 49 patients with a PD. Patients were divided into three different groups depending on their most prevalent type of adverse event. Data were analyzed with Generalized Estimating Equations.Results: Of all patients, 49% reported emotional neglect, 22.4% emotional abuse and 26.5% other types. Only one patient reported memories that predominantly fulfilled the A-criterion of PTSD. After five sessions of EMDR therapy, medium to large treatment effects for memories related to neglect (ds between 0.52 and 0.79), medium treatment effects for memories involving emotional abuse (ds between 0.18 and 0.59) and other types of adverse events were found (ds between 0.18 and 0.53). No significant differences in symptom reduction associated with the application of EMDR therapy among memories involving these three different types of adverse events could be revealed.Conclusions: The results support the notion that EMDR therapy is not only an effective therapy for memories related to A-criteria-worthy events, but that it also has a symptom-reducing effect on memories involving other types of adverse events. This suggests that EMDR might be a valuable addition to the treatment of PD without PTSD.
AB - Background: Little is known about the effectiveness of trauma-focused therapies for memories of events not meeting the A-criterion of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Objective: Determining the effect of EMDR therapy on memories of emotional abuse, neglect and other types of adverse events in patients with a personality disorder (PD).Method: We conducted a secondary analysis of the data from our study, which aimed to determine the effectiveness of five sessions of EMDR therapy in 49 patients with a PD. Patients were divided into three different groups depending on their most prevalent type of adverse event. Data were analyzed with Generalized Estimating Equations.Results: Of all patients, 49% reported emotional neglect, 22.4% emotional abuse and 26.5% other types. Only one patient reported memories that predominantly fulfilled the A-criterion of PTSD. After five sessions of EMDR therapy, medium to large treatment effects for memories related to neglect (ds between 0.52 and 0.79), medium treatment effects for memories involving emotional abuse (ds between 0.18 and 0.59) and other types of adverse events were found (ds between 0.18 and 0.53). No significant differences in symptom reduction associated with the application of EMDR therapy among memories involving these three different types of adverse events could be revealed.Conclusions: The results support the notion that EMDR therapy is not only an effective therapy for memories related to A-criteria-worthy events, but that it also has a symptom-reducing effect on memories involving other types of adverse events. This suggests that EMDR might be a valuable addition to the treatment of PD without PTSD.
KW - Abuse
KW - Adverse events
KW - EMDR
KW - Neglect
KW - Personality disorder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115407412&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/jcm10194333
DO - 10.3390/jcm10194333
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85115407412
SN - 2077-0383
VL - 10
JO - Journal of Clinical Medicine
JF - Journal of Clinical Medicine
IS - 19
M1 - 4333
ER -