Effects of an EMDR Intervention on Traumatic and Obsessive Symptoms

Randomized Trial on the Effects of an EMDR Intervention on Traumatic and Obsessive Symptoms During the COVID19 Quarantine: a Psychometric Study

The Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Protocol (EMDR) was first developed by Francine Shapiro in 1987 and can be adapted for online and in presence administration. The aim of this study is to assess if a EMDR program (administered both online and in presence, depending on different conditions of patients) may help people recruited from general population suffering from COVID19 second (November 2021 to February 2022) and third (March 2022 to May 2022) quarantine in improving post-traumatic stress (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive-related (OCD) symptoms, as well as disgust, guilt, shame and their subjective unit of distress (SUD) and validity of cognition (VoC) levels.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Participants aged 18 to 75 years
2. Participants experienced a full COVID19 pandemic-related quarantine during red zones of the second and third lockdowns in Italy
3. Participants have reasonable comprehension of spoken and written Italian language
4. Participants have an adequate understanding of Italian

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Concurrent enrollment in other intervention trials
2. Participants that already experienced EMDR therapy in the past