Effects of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Treatment in Chronic Pain Patients: A Systematic Review

Tesarz, Jonas; Leisner, Sabine; Gerhardt, Andreas; Janke, Susanne; Seidler, Günter H.; Eich, Wolfgang; Hartmann, Mechthild

doi:10.1111/pme.12303

Cited by 76 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Therefore, EMDR therapy is beneficial in the treatment of chronic pain and somatic symptoms. Consistent with accumulated evidence in the literature supporting the potent efficacy of EMDR in the treatment of somatic symptoms (Kleinstauber et al, 2011;Tefft & Jordan, 2016;Tesarz et al, 2014) the present results provided further support and extended the relevant findings. The reported scores of EMDR treated patients with SSD on the SF-36 improved considerably in all domains.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Comparison of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Duloxetine Treatment Outcomes in Women Patients with Somatic Symptom Disorder

Demirci¹,

Sağaltıcı²,

Yıldırım³

et al. 2017

Sleep Hypn

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Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) is a debilitating disorder that significantly diminishes quality of life and causes psychological distress such as anxiety and depression. The paper explored the efficiency of the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in SSD. The current investigation is a clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of eye movement desensitization (EMDR) therapy in the treatment of 31 first-diagnosed SSD patients in comparison to age, education and marital status matched 31-first-diagnosed SSD patients who received duloxetine over a 6-week course of treatment. Somatization subscale of the Symptom Checklist-Revised 90 (SCL-90), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were administered to the participants. EMDR group showed enhanced improvement relative to baseline after 6 weeks of treatment compared to duloxetine group. We concluded that EMDR appears to be a highly promising therapy and should be considered among the first-line interventions in the treatment of SSD.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Comparison of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Duloxetine Treatment Outcomes in Women Patients with Somatic Symptom Disorder

Demirci¹,

Sağaltıcı²,

Yıldırım³

et al. 2017

Sleep Hypn

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“…Studies investigating the effect of EMDR on physical symptoms, mostly chronic pain, suggest that treatment aimed at processing unresolved trauma and somatic symptom-related memories can reduce the somatic symptom by reducing the affective dimension of these memories or by integrating the somatic memory components (Tesarz et al, 2014; Van Rood & De Roos, 2009). We suggest that this explanation could also account for the reduction in tinnitus distress after EMDR.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A trauma-focused approach for patients with tinnitus: the effectiveness of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing – a multicentre pilot trial

Rikkert

Rood

Roos

et al. 2018

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Background: While normal tinnitus is a short-term sensation of limited duration, in 10–15% of the general population it develops into a chronic condition. For 3–6% it seriously interferes with many aspects of life. Objective: The aim of this trial was to assess effectiveness of a trauma-focused approach, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), in reducing tinnitus distress. Methods: The sample consisted of 35 adults with high levels of chronic tinnitus distress from five general hospitals in the Netherlands. Participants served as their own controls. After pre-assessment (T1), participants waited for a period of 3 months, after which they were assessed again (T2) before they received six 90 min manualized EMDR treatment sessions in which tinnitus-related traumatic or stressful events were the focus of treatment. Standardized self-report measures, the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI), Mini-Tinnitus Questionnaire (Mini-TQ), Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and the Self-Rating Inventory List for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (SRIP), were completed again halfway through treatment (T3), post-treatment (T4) and at 3 months’ follow-up (T5). Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant improvement after EMDR treatment on the primary outcome, TFI. Compared to the waiting-list condition, scores significantly decreased in EMDR treatment [t(34) = −4.25, p < .001, Cohen’s dz = .72]. Secondary outcomes, Mini-TQ and SCL-90, also decreased significantly. The treatment effects remained stable at 3 months’ follow-up. No adverse events or side effects were noted in this trial. Conclusions: This is the first study to suggest that EMDR is effective in reducing tinnitus distress. Randomized controlled trials are warranted.

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“…The therapists were supervised regularly (at least two times per patient) by an EMDRIA-approved consultant (Günter H. Seidler). Before starting the study, a treatment manual was developed to guarantee standardized treatment (30). Each therapist underwent 3-day training on the manual.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, preliminary studies (case reports and case series) have used EMDR to treat chronic pain and have indicated that EMDR is able to clinically significantly reduce pain intensity and disability in patients with various pain disorders (27). Furthermore, EMDR improves pain-coping abilities and facilitates relaxation, which reduces pain and pain-related attitudes and beliefs (28).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, we developed an EMDR manual for nsCBP patients (30) and conducted a randomized controlled pilot study of 10-session manualized outpatient pain-focused EMDR treatment for nsCBP patients with previous experience of psychological trauma (nsCBP-t). The objective was to estimate preliminary efficacy of a pain-focused EMDR intervention in addition to treatment-as-usual (TAU) compared to TAU alone in nsCBP-t patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing vs. Treatment-as-Usual for Non-Specific Chronic Back Pain Patients with Psychological Trauma: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

et al. 2016

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ObjectiveEye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)—an evidence-based approach to eliminate emotional distress from traumatic experiences—was recently suggested for the treatment of chronic pain. The aim of this study was to estimate preliminary efficacy of a pain-focused EMDR intervention for the treatment of non-specific chronic back pain (CBP).DesignRandomized controlled pilot study.Methods40 non-specific CBP (nsCBP) patients reporting previous experiences of psychological trauma were consecutively recruited from outpatient tertiary care pain centers. After baseline assessment, patients were randomized to intervention or control group (1:1). The intervention group received 10 sessions standardized pain-focused EMDR in addition to treatment-as-usual (TAU). The control group received TAU alone. The primary outcome was preliminary efficacy, measured by pain intensity, disability, and treatment satisfaction from the patients’ perspective. Clinical relevance of changes was determined according to the established recommendations. Assessments were conducted at the baseline, posttreatment, and at a 6-month follow-up. Intention-to-treat analysis with last observation carried forward method was used. Registered with (NCT01850875).ResultsEstimated effect sizes (between-group, pooled SD) for pain intensity and disability were d = 0.79 (CI95%: 0.13, 1.42) and d = 0.39 (CI95%: −0.24, 1.01) posttreatment, and d = 0.50 (CI95%: 0.14, 1.12) and d = 0.14 (CI95%: −0.48, 0.76) at 6-month follow-up. Evaluation on individual patient basis showed that about 50% of the patients in the intervention group improved clinically relevant and also rated their situation as clinically satisfactory improved, compared to 0 patients in the control group.ConclusionThere is preliminary evidence that pain-focused EMDR might be useful for nsCBP patients with previous experiences of psychological trauma, with benefits for pain intensity maintained over 6 months.

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Effects of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Treatment in Chronic Pain Patients: A Systematic Review

Abstract: Although the results of our study suggest that EMDR may be a safe and promising treatment option in chronic pain conditions, the small number of high-quality studies leads to insufficient evidence for definite treatment recommendations.

Cited by 76 publications

References 26 publications

Comparison of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Duloxetine Treatment Outcomes in Women Patients with Somatic Symptom Disorder

Comparison of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Duloxetine Treatment Outcomes in Women Patients with Somatic Symptom Disorder

A trauma-focused approach for patients with tinnitus: the effectiveness of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing – a multicentre pilot trial

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing vs. Treatment-as-Usual for Non-Specific Chronic Back Pain Patients with Psychological Trauma: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

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