Efficacy of EMDR Therapy in the Treatment of Depression

Abstract

Eye movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is well established treatment for post-traumatic stress disorders. The literature review emphasizes that Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is also effective in treating depression, making it a promising intervention for mental health challenges. Among Bangladeshi population the prevalence of depression is 57.9%. The effectiveness of EMDR Therapy within the context of Bangladeshi culture stays underexplored. This gap in knowledge is a core motivation for investigating the efficacy of EMDR therapy in treating patients with depression in Bangladesh. The Current Research purpose is to investigate whether EMDR Therapy is effective in treating clients with Depression And also to Compare EMDR with CBT and TA as comparative approaches to see whether they are equally effective in treating Depression clients. To collect data the convenience and purposive sampling techniques were used. In this study 21clients participated in total. Among 21 participants, 9 were receiving EMDR therapy, 6 were receiving CBT and 6 were receiving TA. A total of 16 Therapists participated for data collection from clients and for providing data (both Quantitative & Qualitative data) to researcher. Informed Consent was taken from participants and therapists. In data collection purpose researcher was also included in EMDR therapy group and TA group. The 3 groups were assessed with Bangla PHQ-9 scale and Bangla Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS). The scales were applied with clients in 1st, 3rd and 6th session with every participant. The Result shows The EMDR group had a continuous decrement of depression over time, and the CBT and TA groups had a high but sometimes irregular pattern in reducing depression. EMDR reduced depression to the greatest extent, CBT reduced depression to the second greatest extent, and TA reduced EFFICACY OF EMDR THERAPY ON DEPRESSION XIII depression to the least extent. As a result, the findings appear to be utilized for treatment purposes in psychotherapy for depression and for future research. This study confirms previous studies about Depression treatment with EMDR therapy to some extent although it has some different outcomes adjacent with Bangladeshi culture and perspectives.