A specialized therapy designed for trauma patients outperformed a wait-list condition among adults with personality disorders, according to a study in JAMA Network Open.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy was conceived to help treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) without requiring patients to repeatedly re-experience their traumatic memories. Rather, patients recall a traumatic memory while simultaneously doing another task, such as visually tracking the therapist’s fingers. This bilateral stimulation of the brain is believed to help patients reprocess their traumatic memories as less frightening.
Simon Hofman, M.Sc., at the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute at The Hague in the Netherlands, and colleagues recruited 159 adults (130 women) from two outpatient clinics in the Netherlands who were diagnosed with a personality disorder with or without comorbid PTSD. One group (79) received 10 EMDR sessions, delivered twice weekly for 90 minutes each; the remaining participants (80) were put on the waiting list. Assessments were conducted at baseline, posttreatment, and at a three-month follow-up.
Compared to those on the waiting list, people receiving EMDR had significant reductions in personality disorder symptom severity posttreatment and at the three-month follow-up, with 33% and 44% of participants reaching diagnostic remission at these time points, respectively. Participants who received EMDR also experienced improvements in personality functioning and emotion regulation. These effects were consistent across personality disorder subtypes and among patients with and without baseline PSTD. Treatment drop-out was low (four patients), and no adverse events were reported.
The researchers noted that a wait-list trial has limitations, such as possible expectancy effects from the participants on the wait list. However, the “present study suggests that targeting memories of traumatic and adverse events through EMDR may produce clinically meaningful improvements across a range of personality disorders,” they wrote. “The results align with theoretical models that conceptualize maladaptive personality traits as stemming from unresolved traumatic experiences and reinforce the emerging view that trauma-focused therapies can be beneficial beyond populations with traditional PTSD.”
For related information, see the Psychiatric News Alert “Meta-Analysis Finds Trauma-Focused CBT Most Effective Psychological Treatment for Pediatric PTSD.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/Galina Vetertsovskaya)
