Mechanisms of Action Archives

The neuroscience of curing PTSD with EMDR therapy with Marco Pagani (Coffee with Scientists)

Dr. Marco Pagani talks about the first scientific study ever to look at the brain during psychotherapeutic treatment and reveals how EMDR therapy works to cure PTSD.

Analyse et comparaison de discours de patients douloureux chroniques durant une thérapie de soutien par opposition à l’utilisation de la thérapie Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) (Pratiques Psychologiques)

L’objectif principal de ce travail s’est alors attaché à comparer le discours des patients durant l’utilisation de la thérapie EMDR en comparaison avec une thérapie de soutien, dans une Unité hospitalière de prise en charge de la douleur chronique.

The predictive processing model of EMDR (Frontiers in Psychology)

This article describes the Predictive Processing model of EMDR, a proposed neurobiological mechanism/model that expands on the AIP model.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing for post-traumatic stress disorder from the perspective of three-dimensional model of the experiential selfhood (Medical Hypotheses)

A theoretical article on the neurobiological rationale of EMDR using the three-dimensional model of experiential selfhood and overview of EMDR therapy neuroimaging studies.

Prise en charge du traumatisme psychique par la thérapie EMDR et mécanismes cérébraux impliqués (Revue de Neuropsychologie)

L’objectif de nos travaux était d’explorer le mécanisme d’action de la thérapie EMDR à travers différents paradigmes en EEG, TEP-scanner et IRMf, en comparant l’activité cérébrale avant et après traitement ou pendant les stimulations bilatérales alternées.

Changing emotional visual and auditory memories: are modality-matched dual-tasks more effective (Cognition and Emotion)

Participants recalled memories of the sounds and pictures while executing a visually-demanding task, an auditory-demanding task, or no task.

Increase of precuneus metabolism correlates with reduction of PTSD symptoms after EMDR therapy in military veterans: an 18F-FDG PET study during virtual reality exposure to war (European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging)

Study to identify, after EMDR therapy, regions of brain metabolism that evolve during stress exposure of a war scene in veterans with PTSD.

Effects of “Visual Schema Displacement Therapy” (VSDT), an abbreviated EMDR protocol and a control condition on emotionality and vividness of aversive memories: Two critical analogue studies (Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry)

Testing efficacy of Visual Schema Displacement Therapy, an abbreviated EMDR protocol, and control condition for negative emotional memories.

The Network Balance Model of Trauma and Resolution—Level I: Large-Scale Neural Networks (Journal of EMDR Practice and Research)

The default mode network functions in autobiographical memory, self-oriented and social cognition, and imagining the future.

Neurobiological correlates of EMDR therapy effect in PTSD (European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation)

Sixteen PTSD patients underwent fMRI during negative emotional face recognition task, before and after EMDR treatment.

Overlapping frontoparietal networks in response to oculomotion and traumatic autobiographical memory retrieval: implications for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (European Journal of Psychotraumatology)

A neurobiological account for how oculomotion may influence the frontoparietal cortical representation of traumatic memories” implications for EMDR.

Scientific evaluation of EMDR psychotherapy for the treatment of psychological trauma summary: Scientific evaluation of EMDR psychotherapy (Journal of Neurology & Neuromedicine)

This paper is a current review of the scientific validation steps of EMDR psychotherapy and its mechanisms of action.

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