Effectiveness of time-limited eye movement desensitization reprocessing therapy for parents of children with a rare life-limiting illness: A randomized clinical trial
EMDR reduces PTSD symptoms, psychological comorbidity, and stress in parents of children with a rare progressive life-limiting illness.
Article Abstract
“Background: Parents of children with a rare progressive life-limiting illness are at risk for parental posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Studies on the treatment of parental PTSD with eye movement and desensitization reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in pediatric practice are lacking. Therefore this study aims to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of time-limited EMDR therapy in reducing PTSD symptoms, comorbid psychological symptoms, distress, and parental stress.
Methods: Mono-center randomized clinical trial conducted between February 2020 and April 2021. Fourteen parents (N = 7 mothers, N = 7 fathers) of mucopolysaccharidosis type III patients reporting PTSD symptoms on a (sub)clinical level were assigned to EMDR or a wait-list control condition followed by EMDR. Four sessions of EMDR (each 90 min) divided over two half-days were offered. Measurements were conducted at baseline, post-treatment/post-waitlist, and 3-months post-treatment. The primary outcome was PTSD symptom severity (PTSD Check List for DSM-5). Secondary outcomes included comorbid psychological symptoms (Brief Symptom Inventory), distress (Distress Thermometer for Parents) and parenting stress (Parenting Stress Questionnaire). Between-group comparisons pre-to-post treatment (N = 7 EMDR vs. N = 7 wait-list) and within-group comparisons (EMDR, N = 14) from pre-to-post treatment and from pre-treatment to 3-months follow-up were carried out per intent-to-treat linear mixed model analyses.
Results: Compared to wait-list, EMDR resulted in a significant reduction on total PTSD symptom severity (d = 1.78) and on comorbid psychological symptoms, distress and parenting stress (d = .63–1.83). Within-group comparisons showed a significant effect on all outcomes at post-treatment (d = 1.04–2.21) and at 3-months follow-up (d = .96–2.30) compared to baseline. EMDR was well-tolerated, associated with a low drop-out rate, a high therapy adherence and no adverse events.
Conclusion: Time-limited EMDR reduces PTSD symptoms, psychological comorbidity, distress and parenting stress in parents of children with a rare progressive life-limiting illness. This treatment was feasible for these overburdened parents. Recurrent monitoring of PTSD symptoms, and, if needed, offering this time-limited type of trauma treatment should be introduced in everyday pediatric practice.”
—Description from publisher
Article Access
Open Access
Conijn, T., de Roos, C., Vreugdenhil, H. J. I., van Dijk-Lokkart, E. M., Wijburg, F. A., & Haverman, L. (2022). Effectiveness of time-limited eye movement desensitization reprocessing therapy for parents of children with a rare life-limiting illness: A randomized clinical trial. BMC Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 17, 328. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-022-02500-9
Date
September 2, 2022
Creator(s)
T. Conijn, C. De Roos, H. J. I. Vreugdenhil
Contributor(s)
E. M. Van Dijk‑Lokkart, F. A. Wijburg, L. Haverman
Topics
Medical/Somatic, PTSD
Client Population
Families/Parents
Extent
10 pages
Rights
© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
APA Citation
Conijn, T., de Roos, C., Vreugdenhil, H. J. I., van Dijk-Lokkart, E. M., Wijburg, F. A., & Haverman, L. (2022). Effectiveness of time-limited eye movement desensitization reprocessing therapy for parents of children with a rare life-limiting illness: A randomized clinical trial. BMC Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 17, 328. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-022-02500-9
Audience
EMDR Therapists, Other Mental Health Professionals
Language
English
Content Type
Article, Peer-Reviewed, RCT
Access Type
External Resource, Open Access
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