Treating morbid jealousy with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing utilizing cognitive inter-weave ' a case report

Jealousy is an unwelcome emotion, which most people will have experienced at some time in their lives. In its mildest form it may be seen as an expression of devotion, however, for some people it can become obsessive and destructive. The possible consequences of this condition can result in suspicion, violence and the complete breakdown of the relationship. This paper will highlight the case of a man with a long-standing history of jealousy towards his partner. Characteristically, the jealousy was being maintained by the subjects erroneous assumptions about sexual behaviour and atttractiveness, and pervasive negative schemas of self worth. Any consideration for treatment therefore, needed to address both these areas. The treatment intervention of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) utilizing cognitive interweave was used to refute negative schemas of self worth, which resulted in a reduction of symptomatology, consequently developing for the subject more appropriate perceptions of his partner's behaviour. An outline of assessment re-formulation and subsequent treatment will be demonstrated.     

Using eye movement desensitization and reprocessing to treat complex PTSD in a biracial client

A biracial client's recovery from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through the use of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is discussed to illustrate the interaction between ethnicity and phenotype as well as diagnosis and treatment considerations. This case explores a woman's experience of discrimination in and out of her home and her vulnerability to complex PTSD, and it documents the importance of the therapy focusing on experiences of discrimination and prejudice as well as abuse. It shows how the client structures her environment in a personally creative fashion to include representative features of various aspects of her identity, by her choice of where and who she teaches as well as how and with whom she spends her free time.     

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): An overview

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a recently developed psychotherapy procedure which has been reported to dramatically increase efficiency in the treatment of psychological disturbances rooted in traumatic memories. Following a review of the research on EMDR's efficacy, clinical considerations are addressed, including the client's experience and the potential for negative effects or treatment failure. Finally, the role of EMDR in clinical practice is discussed. Initial reports are encouraging, and further research is recommended. Clinicians who choose to use EMDR are urged to obtain formal training.     

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing for mental health problems: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

There is no comprehensive meta-analysis of randomised trials examining the effects of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and no systematic review at all of the effects of EMDR on other mental health problems. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 76 trials. Most trials examined the effects on PTSD (62%). The effect size of EMDR compared to control conditions was g = 0.93 (95% CI: 0.67–.18), with high heterogeneity (I²= 72%). Only four of 27 studies had low risk of bias, and there were indications for publication bias. EMDR was more effective than other therapies (g = 0.36; 95% CI: 0.14–0.57), but not in studies with low risk of bias. Significant results were also found for EMDR in phobias and test anxiety, but the number of studies was small and risk of bias was high. EMDR was examined in several other mental health problems, but for none of these problems, sufficient studies were available to pool outcomes. EMDR may be effective in the treatment of PTSD in the short term, but the quality of studies is too low to draw definite conclusions. There is not enough evidence to advise it for the use in other mental health problems.     

No effects of eye movements on the encoding of the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop in healthy participants: Possible implications for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy

Horizontal eye movement is an essential component of the psychological intervention “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing” (EMDR) used in posttraumatic stress disorder. A hypothesized mechanism of action is an overload of the visuospatial sketchpad and/or the phonological loop of the working memory.     

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing as a therapeutic intervention for traumatized children and adolescents: a systematic review of the evidence for family therapists

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a relatively new form of psychotherapy for post‐traumatic symptoms of relevance to systemic therapists. The literature available on individual EMDR in traumatized children is reviewed in this article. A sample of eight studies was examined, consisting of three controlled trials, two uncontrolled studies and three case reports or series. The controlled trials compared EMDR with waiting list controls or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The study samples were small and their methodological quality variable. In all the studies, the results suggested a positive effect for EMDR but did not appear superior to CBT. It is therefore possible that systemic interventions may be improved by the integration of EMDR and family therapy with children and adolescents.     

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in the treatment of victims of domestic violence: A pilot study

IntroductionThe purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of EMDR in reducing PTSD symptoms, anxiety and depression.MethodThirty-six women participated in this study; 12 were treated with EMDR, 12 received eclectic psychotherapy, and 12 were assigned to the control group.ResultWomen in the EMDR condition showed significantly reduced PTSD and anxiety compared with those in the eclectic psychotherapy condition. The two psychotherapy approaches led to significantly reduced scores (PTSD, depression, anxiety) after treatment compared to the control group. These effects were maintained at the 6-month follow-up. Finally, effect sizes for the IES and STAI scores were greater for the subjects in the EMDR condition.ConclusionThis study met our expectations in the sense that our findings confirm the advantages and the potential of EMDR.     

Back from Moriah: Moral trauma and the Vietnam veteran

Psychological termination with Vietnam war experience continues as a subclinical agenda for an estimated two million veterans. This essay proposes facilitating a shift in the veteran's inner sense from victim to survivor of moral trauma. Explored are psychodynamic parallels between Vietnam veterans and adult survivors of untreated childhood incest. Suggested is the importance of veterans' initiative in terminating the Vietnam Soldier Role.     

Pursuit eye movement in tracking a target with two sine waves

It has been reported that, when subjects track a moving target comprising two sine waves, the tracking lag for the faster sine wave component is much smaller than that for the slower one. To understand this phenomenon further, this study examined frequency characteristics of the human tracking response and pursuit eye movement in response to the target with two sine waves of equal amplitude. Analysis indicates that, while the tracking response has very large phase lag for the slower sine wave component and very small phase lag for the faster one, the pursuit eye movement has a conspicuously large phase lead for the slower component and very small phase lag for the faster one. It is suggested that the lack of synchrony of the pursuit eye movement with slower component of the target may be associated with the inferiority of the slower component to the faster one in tracking lag.     

Backward and forward masking associated with saccadic eye movement

Visual masking effects on test flash thresholds were measured under real and simulated eye movement conditions to determine whether visual masking is primarily responsible for elevations in threshold that are sometimes associated with saccadic eye movements. Brief luminous flashes presented to the central retina before, during, and after saccades were masked by stimuli presented either pre- or postsaccadically. The amount and time course of masking were quantitatively dependent on stimulus parameters of intensity and temporal separation and were unaffected by eye movement parameters (amplitude, velocity, direction) as long as retinal stimulus conditions were constant. The duration of forward masking was longer than that of backward masking. When retinal conditions during saccades were mimicked while the eyes were held steady, masking interactions were identical to those obtained during real saccades. These results indicate that masking effects during saccades in ordinary environments are determined solely by the stimulus situation at the retina. Putative nonvisual, centrally originating saccadic suppression suggested by other authors is evidently not additive with visually determined masking during saccades.     

Linguistic focus and memory: An eye movement study

We report an eyetracking study investigating the effects of linguistic focus on eye movements and memory during two readings of a text. Across two presentations of the text, a critical word either changed to a semantically related word or remained unchanged. Focus on the critical word was manipulated using context. Eye movements were monitored during reading, and there was a secondary task of detecting the word change. Results indicated that when a word changed, participants were more successful at detecting it when it was in focus. In the second display, there were more fixations and longer viewing times on a changed than on an unchanged word, but only when the critical word was in focus; eye movement data for changed and unchanged words did not differ when the word was not in focus. We suggest that linguistic focus leads to more detailed lexical semantic representations but not more effortful initial encoding of information.     

Saccadic eye movement programming: sensory and attentional factors

The relationship between attention and eye movements is explored by consideration of the variety of ways attention may affect saccade programming. Four forms of attention are distinguished: one exogenous and three endogenous through either locations or objects or features. Each of these can control or influence the saccadic generation process. Visual onsets generate a rapid transient signal with low resolution that travels from the visual system to the oculomotor system. Generation of an eye movement is associated with an attentional signal, probably also with low resolution, travelling from the oculomotor system to the visual system. A high-resolution attentional signal, which appears to require voluntary effort, can also select saccadic targets.     

Treating family relational trauma: a recursive process using a decision dialogue

This article describes a therapeutic process that combines individual and family sessions to maximize therapeutic opportunities to bring forward, understand, validate, and empower children's experience as equal participants in family therapy. The aim is to strengthen relational bonds within the family. Drawing from earlier work with families where incest had occurred, the authors present a recursive process that utilizes a "decision dialogue" to link individual and family sessions. Clinical examples are provided.     

GazeAlyze: a MATLAB toolbox for the analysis of eye movement data

This article presents GazeAlyze, a software package, written as a MATLAB (MathWorks Inc., Natick, MA) toolbox developed for the analysis of eye movement data. GazeAlyze was developed for the batch processing of multiple data files and was designed as a framework with extendable modules. GazeAlyze encompasses the main functions of the entire processing queue of eye movement data to static visual stimuli. This includes detecting and filtering artifacts, detecting events, generating regions of interest, generating spread sheets for further statistical analysis, and providing methods for the visualization of results, such as path plots and fixation heat maps. All functions can be controlled through graphical user interfaces. GazeAlyze includes functions for correcting eye movement data for the displacement of the head relative to the camera after calibration in fixed head mounts. The preprocessing and event detection methods in GazeAlyze are based on the software ILAB 3.6.8 Gitelman (Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput 34(4), 605-612, 2002). GazeAlyze is distributed free of charge under the terms of the GNU public license and allows code modifications to be made so that the program's performance can be adjusted according to a user's scientific requirements.     

Interference with spatial working memory: An eye movement is more than a shift of attention

In the present experiments, we examined whether shifts of attention selectively interfere with the maintenance of both verbal and spatial information in working memory and whether the interference produced by eye movements is due to the attention shifts that accompany them. In Experiment 1, subjects performed either a spatial or a verbal working memory task, along with a secondary task requiring fixation or a secondary task requiring shifts of attention. The results indicated that attention shifts interfered with spatial, butnot with verbal, working memory, suggesting that the interference is specific to processes within the visuospatial sketchpad. In Experiment 2, subjects performed a primary spatial working memory task, along with a secondary task requiring fixation, an eye movement, or an attention shift executed in the absence of an eye movement. The results indicated that both eye movements and attention shifts interfered with spatial working memory. Eye movements interfered to a much greater extent than shifts of attention, however, suggesting that eye movements may contribute a unique source of interference, over and above the interference produced by the attention shifts that accompany them.