Go With… Exactly What She Needs: EMDR Therapy for Perinatal Mental Health

Hilary Waller, EMDRIA member, shares a case example of promoting maternal mental health with EMDR therapy.

Effectiveness ofEye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy in reducing infertility distress in women: a community-based randomised crossover trial protocol. (the Trauma-AID trial): Protocol (BMJ Open)

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of EMDR therapy in reducing infertility-related distress and improving psychological well-being among women undergoing fertility treatment.

“The Most Loving Decision a Mother Can Make”: Using EMDR to reduce internalized abortion stigma within TFMR parents (Studies in Clinical Social Work: Transforming Practice, Education and Research)

This case study demonstrates how phase five of EMDR therapy can be utilized to restructure a TFMR parent’s negative self-beliefs rooted in internalized abortion stigma, to decrease shame.

Childbirth related post-traumatic stress disorder and childbirth trauma: A systematic review of available primary antenatal intervention (Birth Issues in Perinatal Care)

The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature and empirical evidence to identify antenatal interventions and their effectiveness for treatment of childbirth trauma related PTSD symptomology.

Exploring the relationship between breastfeeding and psychological well-being after traumatic childbirth: A secondary analysis of the PERCEIVE study data (Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology)

This study investigates associations between breastfeeding outcomes and psychological well-being in women with traumatic birth experiences, utilizing data from the PERCEIVE trial, which assessed EMDR therapy effectiveness on PTSD after childbirth trauma.

Early eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for traumatic birth experience: Treatment for maternal postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Evidence-Based Nursing)

EMDR therapy for traumatic birth experience and maternal postpartum PTSD.

Early online EMDR group therapy delivered by midwives for prevention and treatment of trauma sequelae in post-partum women: A pragmatic, exploratory randomised controlled pilot trial, set within the MRC guidelines (2000) for developing and evaluating complex interventions (Ulster University, 2023)

This study explored a strategy of preventative public health intervention for women at risk of the negative effects of trauma in the perinatal period by task shifting a trauma focused EMDR intervention to non-mental health professionals.

EMDR Therapy and the Perinatal Period GWT Magazine® Issue

EMDRIA Member Dr. Mara Tesler Stein writes about “Myth-busting EMDR therapy in the perinatal period” as featured in the Summer 2025 Go With That Magazine® issue.

Developing Maternal Efficacy While Living in a Second Culture: How EMDR Can Help

Christine Forte, EMDRIA member, discusses ways that EMDR therapy can help mothers giving birth in a second culture.

I feel pain, not pressure: A personal and methodological reflection on pain during cesarean delivery (American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology)

An experience-based article recounting pain during cesarean delivery, resulting PTSD, subsequent EMDR treatment, and a review of the evolution of cesarean delivery-based pain literature.

EMDR Therapy and the Perinatal Period (Go With That Magazine® Issue)

Whether it’s processing a traumatic birth, pregnancy loss, infertility, or perinatal anxiety and depression, EMDR therapy can help.

Community Voices: Perinatal Clients

EMDR therapists recall instances when a client’s culture/race was meaningful in using EMDR with perinatal clients.