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Treatments for PTSD
(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

Continued from: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatments: Part 3

Discussion

Ironson et al. (2002) used in vivo exposure for both EMDR and PE, comparing the two conditions only in what was happening with the participant during the therapy sessions. Taylor et al.'s (2003) study used therapist assisted "in vivo" exposure, in addition to imaginal exposure and one hour of daily homework for the PE group. The EMDR group used only standard sessions and no homework (except for practicing the Safe Place exercise in the beginning of the therapy), and what is important, no in vivo exposure homework. In vivo exposure is a very efficacious treatment of avoidance symptoms (Ironson et al., 2003) and may have confounded the results of the Taylor et al.'s study, making EMDR look as a less efficacious treatment. Also, as EMDR has minimal homework requirements the overall treatment time ended up being much shorter for EMDR.

EMDR Institute, Inc. (2003) says that Ironson et al.'s study is the only study to date that controlled for the effects of homework, supplementing both exposure and EMDR treatments with the same number of hours of exposure homework.

References

1. American Psychiatric Association. (1999). Let's Talk About Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Retrieved November 26, 2003 from http://www.psych.org/public_info/ptsd.cfm.
2. American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
3. EMDR Institute, Inc. (2003). EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Retrieved November 25, 2003 from http://www.emdr.com.
4. Ironson, G., Freund, B., Strauss, J.L., & Williams, J. (2002). Comparison for Two Treatments for Traumatic Stress: A Community-Based Study of EMDR and Prolonged Exposure. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, 113-128.
5. Taylor, S., Thordarson, D.S., Maxfield, L., Fedoroff, I.C., Lovell, K., & Ogrodniczuk, J. (2003). Comparative Efficacy, Speed, and Adverse Effects of Three PTSD Treatments: Exposure Therapy, EMDR, and Relaxation Training. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 330-338.