Efficacy of eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing for patients with posttraumatic-stress disorder: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Ying-Ren Chen; Kuo-Wei Hung; Jui-Chen Tsai; Hsin Chu; Min-Huey Chung; Su-Ru Chen; Yuan-Mei Liao; Keng-Liang Ou; Yue-Cune Chang; Kuei-Ru Chou

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0103676

Efficacy of eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing for patients with posttraumatic-stress disorder: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 7;9(8):e103676. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103676. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Ying-Ren Chen¹, Kuo-Wei Hung², Jui-Chen Tsai³, Hsin Chu⁴, Min-Huey Chung¹, Su-Ru Chen⁵, Yuan-Mei Liao¹, Keng-Liang Ou⁶, Yue-Cune Chang⁷, Kuei-Ru Chou⁸

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Institute of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, and Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, Longtan, Taiwan.
² Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yuan's General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
³ Department of Nursing, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Institute of Aerospace and Undersea Medicine, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Neurology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ School of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Research Center for Biomedical Devices and Prototyping Production, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Research Center for Biomedical Implants and Microsurgery Devices, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Dentistry, Taipei Medical University-Shuang-Ho Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Mathematics, Tamkang University, Tamsui, Taiwan.
⁸ Graduate Institute of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, and Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, Longtan, Taiwan; Department of Nursing, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Psychiatric Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: We performed the first meta-analysis of clinical studies by investigating the effects of eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy on the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and subjective distress in PTSD patients treated during the past 2 decades.

Methods: We performed a quantitative meta-analysis on the findings of 26 randomized controlled trials of EMDR therapy for PTSD published between 1991 and 2013, which were identified through the ISI Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature electronic databases, among which 22, 20, 16, and 11 of the studies assessed the effects of EMDR on the symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and subjective distress, respectively, as the primary clinical outcome.

Results: The meta-analysis revealed that the EMDR treatments significantly reduced the symptoms of PTSD (g = -0.662; 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.887 to -0.436), depression (g = -0.643; 95% CI: -0.864 to -0.422), anxiety (g = -0.640; 95% CI: -0.890 to -0.390), and subjective distress (g = -0.956; 95% CI: -1.388 to -0.525) in PTSD patients.

Conclusion: This study confirmed that EMDR therapy significantly reduces the symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and subjective distress in PTSD patients. The subgroup analysis indicated that a treatment duration of more than 60 min per session was a major contributing factor in the amelioration of anxiety and depression, and that a therapist with experience in conducting PTSD group therapy was a major contributing factor in the reduction of PTSD symptoms.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing*
Humans
Middle Aged
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Regression Analysis
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / therapy*
Treatment Outcome

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Taiwan National Science Council (project no. NSC102-2314-B-038-036) and Yuan's General Hospital (103YGH-TMU-03). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.