Depression
Symptoms include…
eating or sleeping too much or too little
pulling away from people and usual activities
having low or no energy
feeling numb or like nothing matters
feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried or scared
thinking of harming yourself or others
When someone is depressed, they might think…
- “I am worthless”
- “I am inadequate”
- “I am a failure”
- “People cannot be trusted”
- “The world is dangerous/scary”
But somewhere, deep down inside, they know things could be different. Maybe that is why they’re reading around for help.
They want to be able to enjoy their life again and believe…
- “I am worthwhile”
- “I am good enough”
- “I am safe”
Depression and trauma go hand in hand.
Many people who have experienced trauma have symptoms of depression. When the body and mind are overwhelmed by a traumatic event its natural response is to shut down emotions and feelings…both good and bad.
If the depression is trauma based then EMDR clears the trauma and the depression goes away. EMDR can heal trauma based depression whether it is related to PTSD or smaller ”t” trauma such as relational injuries. Some trauma causing depression is subtle. We work with clients to identify even subtle traumas that could be causing or affecting depressive states.
EMDR therapy is highly effective for PTSD and trauma based depression. It can also be helpful for relieving symptoms and improving stabilization from other causes of depression such as Bipolar Disorder, genetic major depression and low grade depression called Dysthymia.
EMDR therapy does not alleviate mood disorders but can help people to manage their mood and affect and increase coping skills and positive thoughts and feelings about themselves. It can also help to increase their internal resources and allow them to envision a future that they can feel positive and confident about.
Even if depression is not originally caused by trauma people can develop trauma related symptoms with ongoing stress or chronic medical situations. EMDR can relieve the trauma and lessen the symptoms. Some individuals experience depression from non traumatic events such as medical issues or from situational stress.
If you, or someone you know, are having thoughts of harming yourself, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Call 988 OR 1-800-273-8255
References & Research showing the effectiveness of EMDR on depression
In the US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health a 2015 article showed sixty-eight percent of the patients in the EMDR group showed full remission at end of treatment. In a follow-up period of more than 1 year the EMDR group reported less problems related to depression and less relapses than the control group. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4467776/)
Systematic studies have demonstrated the effects of EMDR therapy on PTSD-related depression. Renowned trauma specialist Besel van der Kolk and colleagues in a randomized clinical trial compared the effectiveness of fluoxetine (Prozac) treatment with EMDR therapy and placebo in a PTSD population (van der Kolk et al. 2007). (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4467776/#b15)
After the intervention the EMDR group had significantly lower BDI scores than the fluoxetine group. This led the authors of this study to conclude that, “once the trauma is resolved, other domains of psychological functioning appear to improve spontaneously.”
Bae, H., Kim, D. & Park, Y.C. (2008). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for Adolescent Depression Psychiatry Investigation, 5, 6065. Processing of etiological disturbing memories, triggers and templates resulted in complete remission of Major Depressive Disorder in two teenagers. Treatment duration was 37 sessions and effects were maintained at followup. (http://dx.doi.org/10.4306/pi.2008.5.1.60)
Raboni, M.R., Tufik, S., and Suchecki, D. (2006) Treatment of PTSD by eye movement desensitization and reprocessing improves sleep quality, quality of life and perception of stress. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1071, 508513. Specifically citing the hypothesis that EMDR induces processing effects similar to REM sleep (see also Stickgold, 2002, 2008), polysomnograms indicated a change in sleep patterns post treatment, and improvement on all measures including anxiety, depression, and quality of life after a mean of five sessions. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1196/annals.1364.05)
In 2014, Hoffman et al published in the Journal of EMDR Research and Practice a study using EMDR Therapy as an adjunctive treatment for unipolar depression, adding six sessions of EMDR Therapy to 47 sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Their results follow.
Depression is a severe mental disorder that challenges mental health systems worldwide. About 30% of treated patients do not experience a full remission after treatment, and more than 75% of patients suffer from recurrent depressive episodes. Although psychotherapy and medication can improve remission rates, the success rates of current treatments are limited.
In this nonrandomized controlled exploratory study, 21 patients with unipolar primary depression were treated with a mean of 44.5 sessions of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) including an average 6.9 adjunctive sessions of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). A control group (n=21) was treated with an average of 47.1 sessions of CBT sessions alone.
The main outcome measure was the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDIII). The treatment groups did not differ in their BDIII scores before treatment, and both treatments resulted in significant improvement. There was an additional benefit for patients treated with adjunctive EMDR (p=.029). Also the number of remissions at posttreatment, as measured by a symptom level below a BDIII score of 12, was significantly better in the adjunctive EMDR group, the group showing more remissions (n=18) than the control group (n=8; p<.001).
This potential effect of EMDR in patients with primary depression should be examined further in larger randomized controlled studies.
- Hofmann, A., Hilgers, A., Lehnung, M.,Liebermann, P., Ostacoli, L., Schneider, W., & Hase, M. (2014). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing as an adjunctive treatment of unipolar depression: A controlled study. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 8(3), 103112. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/19333196.8.3.103).