Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a new psychotherapy method that has reported positive outcomes. The purpose of the study by Puffer, Greenwald, and Elrod (1998) was to present results of a single session EMDR study with 20 traumatized children and adolescents.
The rationale for this study was supported by a brief literature review of EMDR and its success claims; these claims tend to be conclusions from small studies with limited subjects. EMDR has been shown to be helpful in treating PTSD. For this larger study 20 children and adolescents were recruited from small towns in the Midwest through newspaper publicity and therapist referrals. Inclusion criteria included absence of concurrent treatment during the study, absence of specific risk factors, and disturbance by a specific past event. The children were placed into treatment and delayed treatment groups according to convenience.
Measures for the study included the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (CMAS), the Impact of Events Scale (IES), the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS), and the Validity of Cognition Scale (VoC). While some information was offered regarding the scales used, reliability and validity information was lacking. Treatment consisted of a single 90 minute session of EMDR that was provided by the researcher; this researcher also collected the data. All study participants were pretested with the CMAS and the IES; the treatment group was given the SUDS and VoC as well and these two tests were given periodically during treatment. At one-week post-treatment and 1-3 months post treatment all tests were again administered. The delay group went through the same procedures at a later date.
Study results were that more than half of the participants moved to normal levels on the IES and all but three showed partial symptom relief on measures at the 1-3 month follow up, due to a single EMDR session. However there
...