Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Patients

Another limitation that can appear when examining the memory of trauma is that trauma victims do not elicit the same response to trauma. Individuals who experience psychological trauma, physical trauma or both all remember the abuse differently. Many trauma victims may have repressed those memories or simply forget the explicit details about their traumatic experiences. Toth and Cicchetti (1998) argue that victims will elicit different responses of they are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and experience trauma on a single or multiple occurrence. Multiple experiences of trauma may give individuals a general memory of the abuse, however, it often overlooks and forget about the unique features of their traumatic experience.

Cognitive therapy is one of the few theories that have been extensively scientifically tested and found to be highly effective in over 300 clinical trials. It focuses on the immediate or automatic thoughts the client has and how these thoughts affect their feelings and behaviors. The goal of cognitive therapy is to identify these thoughts that are poorly affecting the client. Then teach the client how to identify these automatic thoughts and how they can effectively change them. Through the very structured sessions of cognitive therapy, a client should essentially learn the tools to be their own cognitive therapist for future problems they may encounter. The therapy session will not make them an expert but they will be better prepared to

This paper will examine, compare and contrast Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) in the case of Joe, a fictional client with post-traumatic stress disorder from two tours of combat duty as a Marine Corps sniper in the Middle East, without the use of psychotropic medications. EMDR uses side-to-side eye movements in a one-on-one session with a clinician while the client focuses on a distressing memory until he or she reports reduced symptomology or no psychological distress; the clinician then has the client think of positive thoughts while continuing the exercises. EMDR has been the target of debate over its effectiveness, with some scholars suggesting that it is the “rewiring” of the brain that is most beneficial. CPT is often used when other processes of recovery fail. Therapy, administered individually or in a group, initially focuses on misconstrued beliefs of denial and self-blame for the traumatic incident and then addresses beliefs the client has about himself and the world in general. CPT uses talk therapy and worksheets with the goal of the client learning to make sense of what happened and fit it in with the beliefs about themselves and others. Findings suggest that each therapy has its advantages and which is best depends on how responsive the client is to each mode and the therapeutic alliance between the client and therapist.

The sudden recovery of repressed memories from a traumatic event such as childhood sexual abuse can be both validating and confusing for clients that are seeking help with various problems. These new memories might be able to help client identify the cause of their feelings and issues that are affecting their life. However for others it can be a very difficult time because of the conflicting emotions about the abuser. Worst of all when dealing with the recovery of repressed memories they may be all together false. The accuracy of recovered memories in regards to sexual abuse is low and can come with significant consequences. These false memories can be very harmful to the client as

The symptoms that are being treated through this individualized treatment plan related to post traumatic stress disorder are: dissociative reactions, irritable and aggressive behavior, concentration problems, and trauma-related external reminders. The first goal is in place to assist Precious in learning to eliminate intrusive memories, a “notable feature of memory in PTSD is the reliving experiences or “flashbacks” to the trauma” (Berwin, 2003, p. 340), and addressing causes of these memories through the intervention of prolonged exposure. In addition, the second goal that is being implemented, preventing and addressing distortions, is being addressed through prolonged exposure. This technique is “a general treatment strategy for reducing anxiety that involves confronting situations, activities, thoughts, and memories that are feared and avoided even though they are not inherently harmful.” (Foa, 1998, p. 65). The flashbacks and distortions that Precious experiences are being addressed through prolonged exposure, due the fact that it

EMDR therapy, EMDR uses an eight-phase approach, referring to the past, present, and future aspects of the traumatic experience, and dysfunctional stress stored memories. The first Phase calls History and Treatment Planning. In this phase the therapist listens the patient's history and develops a treatment plan. In Phase II, the preparation, the therapist teaches the patient how to calm down him/herself with the help of relaxation techniques. The phase III is Assessment in which the therapist asks the patient to visualize the image of the disturbing event, then asks him/her to develop a positive cognition associating with that image. In Phase IV, Desensitization, the patient  focuses on the disturbing memories during short sessions of 15-30 seconds. At the same time, he/she also focuses on the alternative stimulation such as directed eye movements, slapping hands, or voices. This process repeats  many times until the patient's reaction to the target memory becomes less distressed. In Phase V, Installation, the therapist again with the use of bilateral stimulation asks the patient to remember the event about which the positive cognition is developed in the phase III, and makes sure that

This method is useful in trauma cases, which result to depression, anger and anxiety. It includes strategies and methods used to help individuals deal with past traumatic events in order to minimize anger and depression. Making an individual remember their past traumatic events enables them deal with their fears (Rizvi, Vogt, & Resick, 2009). The treatment period is dependent on the needs of a client and the healing progress. Edna. B. Foa is the scholar who developed the therapy program she based her study on the treatment of anxiety. Practitioners all over the United States have practiced her strategy on treating trauma caused due to rape, child abuse, motor

Assessment of the Client. The role of assessment is vital for case conceptualization and treatment interventions (Briere and Scott, 2013). As such, signs and symptoms stemming from the episodes of traumatic events cannot be precisely treated if there are not diagnosed. More so, this clinician’s first task will be to conduct a comprehensive and informed diagnosis evaluation, as this step will enable this clinician in developing and formulating interventions that is best suited in addressing this client’s specific needs (Briere and Scoot, 2013). In assessing this client, during the intake session/clinical interview questions such as present and/or past trauma history, dissociative disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms where included.

As Ehlers and Clark the authors of the article point out, one of the PTSD syndromes the patients share is the constant pessimistic and inferior attitude and the predicament of appreciation for positivity, yet they provide no method to solve sadness, fear, guilt and shame resulted from that attitude. However, one case provided in the article, that a bus driver recovered from PTSD after being noticed that the death of an old man was not predominately caused by him but by the old man’s suicidal attempt presents an idea that by adjusting the patient’s memory, the patient could be less sensitive to the trauma. Providing the patients with reasonable alternative memories which have the ability to relieve the patient’s stress and desensitize the incident

People with PTSD also have to get a treatment called Exposure Therapy. The main goal of this exposure therapy is to lessen the fear of a person's memories of a traumatic event. The idea is used to help people who have to learn not to fear their thoughts and feelings that remind them of their past (“Treatment of PTSD”). A person that talks about their experience repeatedly with their therapist will give them the ability to control the thoughts and feelings about the trauma they have experienced. Being afraid of their memories won’t have any affect on them after they have been through this therapy (DeAngelis). It seems unusual to think about the stressful situations on purpose and this treatment seems like a hard task at first, but eventually

EMDR can be introduced during phase 3 of the assessment. The therapist must be mindful and use, if necessary the childlike affected self and the present adult self (Egli-Bernd, 2011). The childlike self can give access to the traumatic memories while the adult self can formulate the positive cognition (Egli-Bernd, 2011). Phase 3 begins by focusing on the traumatic experience which lays groundwork. EMDR can be used in the dissociative state. Using EMDR in the third phase can allow for deepening the patients awareness of the present (Egli-Bernd, 2011). This will force the childlike self and the adult self to interact thus allowing the patient to stay connected to the here and now (Egli-Bernd,

Imagine this sceneario, a 24-year old woman begins her first week of therapy with a psychologist. She explains moments of hypervigilance, irritability, difficulty sleeping and concentrating, dissociation, and moments of memory loss. Within the following weeks the psychologist diagnoses this patient with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As she completes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with the combination of psychoanalysis, childhood sexual abuse is identified. However, as the client digs deeper into the trauma, she begins to suffer from symptoms of memory loss in accordance with the trauma.

The patients used it this design were outpatients referred in 1992 through 1995 by professionals, Victim Support, police, ambulance, fire services, and even the subjects themselves. The criteria that had to be met in order for the subjects to be used in this study were as followed: PTSD for 6 or more months; age of 16 to 65 years; and absence of melancholia or suicidal intent, organic brain disease, past or present psychosis, antidepressant drug (unless the patient had been receiving a stable dose for 3 or more months); and diazepam in a dose of 10 mg/d or more or equivalent, ingestion of 30 or more alcohol units a week, and past exposure or cognitive therapy for PTSD (Marks et al., 1998). The therapist used a procedure manual and 4 treatment manuals which covered each session in each treatment condition. The sessions were audiotaped and each individual session lasted either 90 minutes or 105 minutes in Exposure Combined with Cognitive Restructuring (EC) therapy.

This is the therapy option that helps you recognise the thinking and cognitive patterns that are holding the victim back from recovering.

The three basic treatment principles are 1) address the traumatic symptoms and co-bid conditions, 2) improve adaptive functioning and help the client return to feeling safe and trusting, and 3) contain the traumatic effects from the traumatic event as much as possible and try to prevent relapse.