Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Comparison of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)
Hui-Wen Lo
San Jose State University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for PSY190
Nancy L. Eldred
12-08-09
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Comparison of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been studied by researchers. PTSD is a common disorder in our society because of the increase in expose to traumatic event such as war, crimes, and motor vehicle accident (Bisson, Ehlers, Matthews, Pilling, Richards, and Turner, 2007). PTSD is a disorder that an individual suffers from after having experienced a serious life event, which causes distressful symptoms (Brom, Kleber, and Defares, 1989). Treatment for PTSD varies. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and supportive counseling (SC) are treatments for PTSD. In this paper, I am going to compare CBT with EMDR. Both CBT and EMDR have been considered by psychologist as effective treatments for PTSD. I will explain the procedure of CBT and EMDR as well as the similarities or differences between CBT and EMDR. Finally, I will discuss the efficiency of these treatments.
CBT
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment recommended by psychologists for PTSD. In the study of Blanchard, Hickling, Devineni, Veazey, Galovski, Mundy, Malta, and Buckley (2003), researchers conducted an experiment on motor vehicle accident survivors to compare the effectiveness of CBT and other treatments. The use of CBT, essentially, is a combination of different cognitive and behavioral procedures (Blanchard et. al., 2003). Relaxation training is required for every patient. After patients have successfully