Mechanisms of Action Archives

Affect-Focused EMDR: Clinical Strategies for Working with Relational Trauma (Journal of EMDR Practice and Research)

This theoretical article explores affect-focused EMDR, which posits that the reprocessing of affect is central to the EMDR process, rather than the reprocessing of memories or mental representations.

Dual-task interventions reduce vividness and unpleasantness in both old and new memories (Behaviour Research and Therapy)

This study provides insight into memory consolidation, dual-task effectiveness and interventions, and EMDR.

A common denominator: PTSD, rapid eye movements, and fear extinction (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America)

Our findings provide evidence linking gaze reinstatement and pattern completion and advance a functional role for EMs in memory retrieval.

Disentangling eye movement desensitization and reprocessing mechanisms of action: The impact of eye movements in the eye blink conditioning task (Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory, Research, and Practice)

This study aimed to explore an EMDR mechanism of action by investigating the effect of horizontal eye movements (EM) on fear extinction learning in healthy individuals, using an Eye Blink Conditioning (EBC) task.

Eye movement patterns drive stress reduction during Japanese garden viewing (Frontiers in Neuroscience)

This study looks at the role of eye movements in the reduction of physiological and psychological metrics of stress during Japanese garden viewing.

Do eye movements in REM sleep play a role in overnight emotional processing? (Neuropsychologia)

This article dives into the crossover between neurobiology, rapid eye movements (REM), EMDR, and emotional processing.

In a UK sample, EMDR and other trauma therapists indicate beliefs in unconscious repression and dissociative amnesia (Memory)

This study provides data on UK mental health professionals’ beliefs about repression and dissociative amnesia and two dissociative trauma-related disorders, DID and PNES.

Targeting craving with EMDR therapy: Future directions (Addictive Behaviors)

This paper discusses the effects of addiction-focused EMDR therapy based on insights from working memory, and evidence of underlying EMDR mechanisms.

Neuroimaging in post-traumatic stress disorder: A narrative review (Archives of Medical Science)

The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive exploration of the epidemiology, symptoms, and ramifications of PTSD, supplemented by insights gleaned from neuroimaging investigations.

The effect of eye movement desensitization on neurocognitive functioning compared to retrieval-only in PTSD patients: A randomized controlled trial (BMC Psychiatry)

This study examined whether Eye Movement Desensitization (EMD) improves neurocognitive functioning in PTSD patients, in comparison with a retrieval-only control condition without EMs.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A pilot blinded, randomized study of stimulation type (Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics)

PTSD patients received EMDR with 3 different stimulations: intermittent alternating right-left, intermittent simultaneous bilateral & continuous bilateral.

A systematic review exploring the role of eye movements in EMDR therapy from a working memory perspective (EMDR UK EMDR Therapy Quarterly)

A review of EMDR therapy mechanisms of action discussing eye movements (EMs) and working memory.

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