Abstract:
The aim of the current study was to investigate the efficacy of Eye Movement
Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) psychotherapy in treating depression
caused due to trauma experienced in the past or present, and that was affecting the
quality of life. It was hypothesized that there would be significant reduction in the
level of depressive and trauma symptoms of the participants after taking Eye
Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Treatment and the quality of
life of participants would improve. A sample of 26 participants was purposively taken
from psychiatric referrals and mental health clinical settings and was assigned
randomly to treatment and waiting list control groups after they were screened for
dissociative symptoms through Dissociative Experience Scale- II (Bernstein &
Putnam, 1986). Dissociative Experience Scale- II (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986)
used for screening purpose only. Participants scoring higher than 35 on Dissociative
Experience Scale- II (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986) were not included in the study. The
age limit for the particular sample was from 18 to 60 years and their educational level
was
was metric onwards. Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Brown 1996), Trauma
Symptom Checklist (Briere & Runtz, 1989) and Quality of Life Index Inventory
(Ferrans & Powel, 1984) were used to measure, depressive symptoms trauma
symptoms, and quality of life of the participants. Paired sampled t-test and
independent sample t-test were applied using SPSS to analyse the data statistically.
The results of the study supported the research hypothesis at 95% confidence interval
and found EMDR as an effective treatment for significantly reducing depressive
symptoms experienced due to past or present trauma. The quality of the life of the
participants also improved as a result of diminished depressive and trauma symptoms.
