Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Versus Treatment as Usual in the Treatment of Depression: A Randomized-Controlled Trial

Abstract

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a well-established treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Recent research suggested that it may be effective in treating depressive disorders as well. The present study is part of a multicenter randomized-controlled trial, the EDEN study, in which a homogenous group of 30 patients was treated to test whether EMDR plus treatment as usual (TAU) would achieve superior results compared to TAU only in a psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic inpatient treatment setting. Both groups were assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Global Severity Index and depression subscale of the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised. The EMDR + TAU group improved significantly better than the TAU group on the BDI-II and Global Severity Index, while a marginally significant difference favoring the EMDR + TAU group over the TAU group was found on the depression subscale. In the EMDR + TAU group, seven out of 14 patients improved below nine points on the BDI-II, which is considered to be a full remission, while four out of 16 in the TAU group did so. These findings confirm earlier suggestions that EMDR therapy may provide additional benefit in the treatment of depression. The present study strengthens the previous literature on EMDR therapy in the treatment of depression due to the randomized-controlled design of the EDEN study.

A randomized controlled trial examining the impact of individual trauma‐focused therapy for individuals receiving group treatment for depression

“…This model is supported by studies that identify measures of EMS as mediators of the relationship between aversive early‐life events and subsequent depressive life symptoms (Cukor & McGinn, 2006; Roelofs, Lee, Ruijten, & Lobbestael, 2011). Further, similar to schema therapy, the AIP model that has been proposed to underlie EMDR suggests that current depressive symptoms can be changed by targeting memories that are aetiologically related to the psychopathology (Hase et al , 2018). In CBT and schema‐based approaches, clients are often educated about the importance of past adversities in precipitating current thoughts and behaviours (Beck & Beck, 1995; Young et al , 2003).…”

“…While there are three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing TFTs as an adjunct therapy for depression (Hase et al , 2018; Minelli et al , 2019; Ostacoli et al , 2018), and two as a stand‐alone therapy (Gauhar & Wajid, 2016; Moritz et al , 2018), no study to date has compared a TFT with an alternative treatment and treatment as usual (TAU). This is important because the inclusion of an active control could help determine if the TFT per se was responsible for any additional improvement beyond TAU, or whether any targeted depression treatment might achieve the same effect.…”

“…This is important because the inclusion of an active control could help determine if the TFT per se was responsible for any additional improvement beyond TAU, or whether any targeted depression treatment might achieve the same effect. In addition, all but one of the RCTs used self‐report data to analyse symptom change (Gauhar & Wajid, 2016; Hase et al , 2018; Moritz et al , 2018; Ostacoli et al , 2018) and none of the studies used a specific diagnostic interview to detect change with regards to meeting diagnostic criteria for a major depressive episode.…”

Effectiveness of trauma-focused treatment for adolescents with major depressive disorder

“…In the past 5 years, several studies have been conducted demonstrating preliminary evidence for the efficacy of EMDR therapy in the treatment of MDD in adults. Promising results were obtained from studies investigating EMDR therapy as an adjacent therapy to CBT (Hofmann et al, 2014), to pharmacological treatment (Minelli et al, 2019;Ostacoli et al, 2018) and to inpatient treatment (Hase et al, 2015(Hase et al, , 2018. Three studies, investigating the efficacy of EMDR as a stand-alone treatment, demonstrated significant reductions of depressive symptoms (Gauhar, 2016), even for patients with long-term depression (Wood, Ricketts, & Parry, 2018) and treatment-resistant depression (Minelli et al, 2019).…”

Traumakonfrontative Behandlung mit EMDR – neue Entwicklungen und Studienergebnisse

“…B. Angst-, depressive und phobische Störungen und Suchterkrankungen ausgeweitet. Es zeichnet sich ab, dass eine Wirksamkeit auch für diese Indikationen nachgewiesen werden kann [11]. Damit wird EMDR zu einer Behandlungsmethode, die potenziell bei allen psychischen Störungsbildern eingesetzt werden kann, bei denen stressauslösende Erinnerungen eine ursächliche Rolle spielen.…”