A Single-Case fMRI Study: EMDR Treatment of a Patient With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

PC Richardson; SR Williams; S Hepenstall; LJ Gregory; S McKie; F. Corrigan

doi:10.1891/1933-3196.3.1.10

A Single-Case fMRI Study: EMDR Treatment of a Patient With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

PC Richardson, SR Williams, S Hepenstall, LJ Gregory, S McKie, F. Corrigan

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We report the results of a case study of a therapist who was herself suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a severe assault. Her first reprocessing session was recorded in the fMRI brain scanner with auditory alternating bilateral stimulation (ABS) added after periods, for comparison, of safe place imagery and of attention to the trauma memory without bilateral stimulation. Addition of ABS was associated with a marked change in brain activation within the prefrontal cortex demonstrating a ventromedial shift. We argue that the structure of the eye movement desensitisation reprocessing (EMDR) protocol encourages such a ventromedial activation which is then intensified by ABS to overcome the block to information processing which has been preventing natural healing from occurring spontaneously.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	10-23
Journal	Journal of EMDR Practice and Research
Volume	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1891/1933-3196.3.1.10
Publication status	Published - 2009

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title = "A Single-Case fMRI Study: EMDR Treatment of a Patient With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder",

abstract = "We report the results of a case study of a therapist who was herself suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a severe assault. Her first reprocessing session was recorded in the fMRI brain scanner with auditory alternating bilateral stimulation (ABS) added after periods, for comparison, of safe place imagery and of attention to the trauma memory without bilateral stimulation. Addition of ABS was associated with a marked change in brain activation within the prefrontal cortex demonstrating a ventromedial shift. We argue that the structure of the eye movement desensitisation reprocessing (EMDR) protocol encourages such a ventromedial activation which is then intensified by ABS to overcome the block to information processing which has been preventing natural healing from occurring spontaneously.",

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AU - Gregory, LJ

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AU - Corrigan, F.

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AB - We report the results of a case study of a therapist who was herself suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a severe assault. Her first reprocessing session was recorded in the fMRI brain scanner with auditory alternating bilateral stimulation (ABS) added after periods, for comparison, of safe place imagery and of attention to the trauma memory without bilateral stimulation. Addition of ABS was associated with a marked change in brain activation within the prefrontal cortex demonstrating a ventromedial shift. We argue that the structure of the eye movement desensitisation reprocessing (EMDR) protocol encourages such a ventromedial activation which is then intensified by ABS to overcome the block to information processing which has been preventing natural healing from occurring spontaneously.

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ER -

A Single-Case fMRI Study: EMDR Treatment of a Patient With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

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