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EMDR treatment in patients with personality disorders. Should we fear symptom exacerbation? (European Journal of Psychotraumatology)

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Home / Resources / Personality Disorders / EMDR treatment in patients with personality disorders. Should we fear symptom exacerbation? (European Journal of Psychotraumatology)

EMDR treatment in patients with personality disorders. Should we fear symptom exacerbation?

This study explores trajectories of change in patients with a personality disorder (PD) without comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during EMDR therapy or waiting time.


Article Abstract

“Background: Clinicians are often hesitant to use trauma-focused therapy for patients with personality disorders (PDs) because of concerns that the pathology may worsen.

Objective: Exploring trajectories of change and individual exacerbations in psychological distress and suicidal thoughts in patients with a PD without comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during EMDR therapy or waiting time.

Method: In a randomized controlled trial, the effectiveness of five sessions of EMDR therapy was compared with a waitlist in 97 outpatients. Acute suicidal patients were not included in this study. Psychological distress and suicidality scores were measured on a weekly basis during the EMDR and waiting list (WL) periods and at 3-month follow-up. Data were analysed in a descriptive manner for individual patients, and hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify patterns of change among clusters of patients. Mann–Whitney U and chi-squared tests were used to explore differences in specific patient characteristics between the found clusters of patients.

Results: Patients generally improved, and no clusters of patients deteriorated during the EMDR therapy. Session-to-session exacerbations occurred in both the EMDR (psychological distress: 10.0%; suicidal thoughts: 28.0%) and WL group (psychological distress: 28.0%; suicidal thoughts: 43.5%). Two percent of patients in the EMDR group and 8.7% of patients in the WL condition showed an increase in psychological distress, whereas 2.0% of patients in the EMDR group and 10.9% of patients in the WL condition showed an increase in suicidal thoughts posttreatment compared to baseline.

Conclusions: These results show that although individual exacerbations in psychological distress and suicidal thoughts occur, these were less likely to occur in response to EMDR therapy compared with no therapy. Continuation of therapy following exacerbation led to a decrease in psychological distress and suicidal thoughts in most patients.”

—Description from publisher

Article Access

Open Access

Hafkemeijer, L., de Jongh, A., Starrenburg, A., Hoekstra, T., & Slotema, K. (2024). EMDR treatment in patients with personality disorders. Should we fear symptom exacerbation? European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 15: 2407222. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2024.2407222

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Basic Info Collapse

Date
October 15, 2024

Creator(s)
Laurian Hafkemeijer, Ad de Jongh, Annemieke Starrenburg

Contributor(s)
Trynke Hoekstra, Karin Slotema

Topics
Personality Disorders

More Info Collapse

Extent
11 pages

Publisher
Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Rights
© 2024 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-Non Commercial 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
Hafkemeijer, L., de Jongh, A., Starrenburg, A., Hoekstra, T., & Slotema, K. (2024). EMDR treatment in patients with personality disorders. Should we fear symptom exacerbation? European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 15: 2407222. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2024.2407222

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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