Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy or supportive counseling prior to exposure therapy in patients with panic disorder: Study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial (IMPROVE)
The goal is to investigate whether EMDR therapy plus exposure therapy improves efficacy/tolerability in patients with panic disorder.
Article Abstract
“Background: Exposure-based therapy is the treatment of choice for anxiety disorders, but many patients do not benefit sufficiently from it. Distressing images of threat related to the future or past may maintain the anxiety symptomatology or impede exposure therapy. An intervention that targets threat-related imagery is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. The main goal of this multicenter randomized controlled trial is to investigate whether EMDR therapy plus exposure therapy, relative to supportive counseling plus exposure therapy, improves treatment efficacy, tolerability, and adherence in patients with panic disorder. In addition, we will examine potential predictors of optimal treatment allocation, mechanisms of change as well as the long term effects of treatment. Finally, we will assess cost-effectiveness.
Methods: A multicenter randomized controlled trial mixed design will be conducted. Participants will be 50 patients, aged ≥ 18, diagnosed with a panic disorder. They will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: EMDR therapy (i.e., flashforward strategy) or supportive counseling (each consisting of four weekly sessions of 90 min each) prior to exposure therapy (consisting of eight weekly sessions of 90 min each). Assessments will be made pre-treatment (T1), between-treatments (T2), post-treatment (T3), one month post-treatment (FU1) and six months post-treatment (FU2) by an assessor blind to treatment condition. The primary outcome measure is severity of panic-related symptoms. Secondary outcome measures are: tolerability of exposure therapy (initial avoidance, willingness to start exposure therapy, considered drop-out; no-show and drop-out), related symptomatology (generalized anxiety, depression), and functional impairment.
Discussion: The primary goals of this research are to compare the efficacy, tolerability, and adherence of EMDR therapy plus exposure therapy and supportive counseling plus exposure therapy and to identify predictors, moderators, and mediators for treatment success. This multi-center research aims to make a significant contribution to our understanding as to how treatment for patients with anxiety disorders can be optimized, and elucidate who can benefit most from this novel approach.”
—Description from publisher
Article Access
Open Access
Endhoven, B., De Cort, K., Matthijssen, S. J. M. A., de Jongh, A., van Minnen, A., Cuits, P., Schruers, K. R. J., van Dis, E. A. M., Krypotos, A. M., Gerritsen, L., & Engelhard, I. M. (2023). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy or supportive counseling prior to exposure therapy in patients with panic disorder: Study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial (IMPROVE). BMC Psychiatry, 23:157. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-04320-4
Date
March 14, 2023
Creator(s)
Bart Endhoven, Klara De Cort, Suzy J. M. A. Matthijssen
Contributor(s)
Ad de Jongh, Agnes van Minnen, Puck Duits, Koen R. J. Schruers, Eva A. M. van Dis, Angelos M. Krypotos, Lotte Gerritsen, Iris M. Engelhard
Topics
Anxiety/Panic/Phobias
Practice & Methods
Comparative Studies, Efficacy
Extent
16 pages
Publisher
Springer Nature
Rights
© The Author(s) 2023. 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
Endhoven, B., De Cort, K., Matthijssen, S. J. M. A., de Jongh, A., van Minnen, A., Cuits, P., Schruers, K. R. J., van Dis, E. A. M., Krypotos, A. M., Gerritsen, L., & Engelhard, I. M. (2023). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy or supportive counseling prior to exposure therapy in patients with panic disorder: Study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial (IMPROVE). BMC Psychiatry, 23:157. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-04320-4
Audience
EMDR Therapists, Other Mental Health Professionals
Language
English
Content Type
Article, Peer-Reviewed, RCT
Access Type
External Resource, Open Access
