Effects of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing on depressive symptoms, stress and rumination in adolescents with depression: A randomised controlled trial
The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of EMDR in combination with SSRI medication in treating depressed adolescents versus SSRI medication alone.
Article Abstract
“Background: Adolescent depression patients who have experienced stressful life events usually have more severe symptoms. Existing treatment plans are not effective in reducing the high recurrence rate of adolescent depression. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), an integrative therapy, can effectively alleviate depressive symptoms, but the evidence of its effectiveness in treating adolescent depression is still insufficient.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of EMDR in combination with medication in treating depressed adolescents.
Methods: A total of 30 adolescent patients with depression were recruited and randomly divided into two groups: EMDR co-treated with an SSRI medication or an SSRI medication used alone. The intervention group received standardised EMDR treatment. The primary outcome indicators were the 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17) and the Impact of Events Scale (IES-R), while the secondary outcomes were the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES).
Results: In the end, 30 people completed the experiment, 15 from each of the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received EMDR treatment three times a week for 2 weeks, with a total of 6 sessions, each lasting 60 min. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between time and group on children’s HAMD-17, IES-R, and RRS scores (all p < .05). Linear mixed models revealed that increasing the IES-R score was associated with an increase in depression levels (estimate value = 0.104, p = .019), while increasing the SES score was associated with a decrease in the depression levels (estimate value = −0.298, p = .021).
Conclusions: Incorporating EMDR add-on therapy to medication for adolescent depressed patients with stressful life events can effectively reduce the degree of impact of stressful life events on patients, as well as reduce depressive symptoms and rumination thinking.
Highlights
- EMDR can reduce the impact of stressful sexual life events on adolescents.
- EMDR can reduce rumination thinking in adolescents with depression.
- EMDR is an effective treatment for adolescent depression with stressful life events.”
—Description from publisher
Article Access
Open Access
Zheng, S., Sen, Y., Geng, F., Ye, M., Song, S., Wang, R., Zhang, S., Ou, Y., & Zhou, X. (2025). Effects of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing on depressive symptoms, stress and rumination in adolescents with depression: A randomised controlled trial. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16(1), 2488558. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2488558
Date
April 17, 2025
Creator(s)
Siyuan Zheng, Yunyun Shen, Feng Geng
Contributor(s)
Mengting Ye, Suqi Song, Ruoqi Wang, Shaofei Zhang, Yangxu Ou, Xiaoqin Zhou
Topics
Depression
Client Population
Adolescents
Practice & Methods
Comparative Studies
Extent
14 pages
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Rights
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
APA Citation
Zheng, S., Sen, Y., Geng, F., Ye, M., Song, S., Wang, R., Zhang, S., Ou, Y., & Zhou, X. (2025). Effects of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing on depressive symptoms, stress and rumination in adolescents with depression: A randomised controlled trial. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16(1), 2488558. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2488558
Audience
EMDR Therapists, Other Mental Health Professionals
Language
English
Content Type
Article, Peer-Reviewed, RCT
Access Type
External Resource, Open Access