Citation

Jamshidi F, Rajabi S, Dehghani Y. Counsell. Psychother. Res. J. 2021; 21(2): 412-421.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/capr.12339

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Child abuse is increasingly known to be a risk factor for health in children across any nationality worldwide. Studies in this area have shown that child abuse, as a traumatic event, can lead to symptoms of PTSD, mind-wandering and also suicidal ideation in adulthood. Although studies have shown significant effects of EMDR on a reduction in psychological symptoms in individuals with a history of trauma, further studies are needed regarding the specific effect of this treatment on reducing PTSD symptoms, suicidal ideations and mind-wandering in female victims of child abuse. The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of EMDR therapy on reducing PTSD symptoms, suicidal ideations and mind-wandering in female victims of child abuse. Thirty female victims were assigned to either EMDR or waiting list control in a randomised, double-blind trial. The participants in the EMDR group attended eight twice-weekly sessions. The participants were examined in pre-test and post-test with Civilian Mississippi Scale for PTSD (CMS), Child Abuse and Self-Report Scale (CASRS), Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ), Beck Scale for suicidal ideation (BSSI) and Brief Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-B).

RESULTS of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that EMDR had a significant effect on reducing PTSD symptoms with an effect size of 0.72, suicidal ideations with an effect size of 0.53, and mind-wandering with an effect size of 0.19. It can be concluded that this treatment is effective in improving PTSD, suicidal ideations and mind-wandering in female victims of child abuse. © 2020 British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

Language: en

Keywords

suicide; PTSD; child abuse; EMDR; mind-wandering