
Assessment of Psychophysiological Stress Reactions During a Traumatic Reminder in Patients Treated With EMDR
This study investigates changes of stress-related psychophysiological reactions after treatment with EMDR. Sixteen patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following type I trauma underwent psychometric and psychophysiological assessment during exposure to script-driven imagery
before and after EMDR and at 6-month follow-up. Psychophysiological assessment included heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) during a neutral task and during trauma script listening. PTSD symptoms as assessed by questionnaire decreased significantly after treatment and during follow-up
in comparison to pretreatment. After EMDR, stress-related HR reactions during trauma script were significantly reduced, while HRV indicating parasympathetic tone increased both during neutral script and during trauma script. These results were maintained during the follow-up assessment. Successful
EMDR treatment may be associated with reduced psychophysiological stress reactions and heightened parasympathetic tone.
Keywords: EMDR; HEART RATE; PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM; PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY; PTSD
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: July 1, 2007
- The Journal of EMDR Practice and Research is no longer available to subscribers on Ingenta Connect. Please go to http://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgremdr to access your online subscription to Journal of EMDR Practice and Research.
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content