Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing as a Complimentary Treatment for Clients with Addiction and Comorbid Trauma

<p>Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate eye movement desensitization reprocessing for those with substance use disorders and comorbid trauma. The research question is, how does the addition of eye movement desensitization reprocessing intervention assist treatment of those diagnosed afflicted with addiction and comorbid trauma as opposed to the treatment without eye movement desensitization reprocessing? Method: A quantitative study consisted of 24 participants consisting of 12 men and 12 women ages 18 years and older diagnosed with substance use disorder and comorbid trauma. Participants were recruited from an outpatient treatment substance use disorder facility where they were randomly assigned into two groups: treatment as usual or eye movement desensitization reprocessing and treatment as usual. Pretest and posttest measures were conducted to measure severity of trauma, anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. The intervention, eye movement desensitization reprocessing included 8 weekly 60-minute sessions. The treatment as usual treatment group received an additional weekly session to counter variance. A one-way analysis of variance for means was used as parametric analysis to examine eye movement desensitization reprocessing’s effectiveness. Results: The treatment as usual and eye movement desensitization reprocessing group showed significant reduction in all measures trauma severity, anxiety, depression, and increased self-esteem. The treatment as usual group also showed improvement and reduction in symptoms from trauma and depression, however showed no improvement in anxiety and self-esteem. Conclusions:<em> </em>The results of this study suggest eye movement desensitization reprocessing protocol can successfully treat symptoms from posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and increase self-esteem with patients diagnosed with substance use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.<strong><br /> </strong></p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D. Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - Public Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counselor Education and Supervision

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Kutsukos, JoAnn

Contributors dc:contributor

• Joffrey S. Suprina PhD
• Marguerite Chabau PhD

• substance abuse
• treatment
• trauma
• emdr
• traumatic memory
• Counselor Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/617

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.nl.edu:diss-1663