Objective: To demonstrate the efficacy of EMDR in complex multiple psychological
trauma after failed drug treatment from selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) in a
diagnosed case of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Material and method: Single participant of this case study, a sitting session judge of
judicial governmental scaffold reported to this mental health tertiary care facility at his own
accord with features of intense anxiety, depression, maladjustment issues and posttraumatic
stress for a duration of several months. As a partial responder to full trial of SSRI
he was enrolled for EMDR therapy to address his symptoms of intense anxiety, panic
attacks, being overwhelmingly fearful, depressed, low self-esteem, inappropriate feelings
of guilt, flashbacks, avoidance, nightmares, hyper-arousal and inability to perform as a
judicial head in active war stricken area of northern Pakistan. Complete psychiatric
evaluation was carried out and after the discontinuation of SSRIs he was scored on Impact
of Event Scale (IES). He fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for PTSD as evaluated by the
English version of the PTSD module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV
administered once before commencement of EMDR. Safe place of the client was
established and 8 staged protocol of EMDR was started with him. Multiple EMDR sessions
were conducted.
Result: The case presented in this paper had multiple psychological trauma forms and
failed drug treatment and yet it was observed that EMDR provided marked improvement in
all the domains of his deficits and this was at a prompt speed as compared to cognitive
behavioural therapy (CBT) which usually takes longer duration of therapy to achieve
similar results.
Conclusion: EMDR provides marked improvement in all domains of complex mental
trauma and traumatic memories. Improvement attained was prompt and enduring as
compared to other forms of established therapies and drug treatment indicating permanent
changes happening at neurobiological levels of brain.
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