PMID: 9167862May 1, 1997Paper

Eye-movements and visual imagery: a working memory approach to the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder

The British Journal of Clinical Psychology
Jackie AndradeA Baddeley

Abstract

It has been claimed that the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be ameliorated by eye-movement desensitization-reprocessing therapy (EMD-R), a procedure that involves the individual making saccadic eye-movements while imagining the traumatic event. We hypothesized that these eye-movements reduce the vividness of distressing images by disrupting the function of the visuospatial sketchpad (VSSP) of working memory, and that by doing so they reduce the intensity of the emotion associated with the image. This hypothesis was tested by asking non-PTSD participants to form images of neutral and negative pictures under dual task conditions. Their images were less vivid with concurrent eye-movements and with a concurrent spatial tapping task that did not involve eye-movements. In the first three experiments, these secondary tasks did not consistently affect participants' emotional responses to the images. However, Expt 4 used personal recollections as stimuli for the imagery task, and demonstrated a significant reduction in emotional response under the same dual task conditions. These results suggest that, if EMD-R works, it does so by reducing the vividness and emotiveness of traumatic images via the VSSP of working m...Continue Reading

Citations

Dec 19, 2001·Journal of Clinical Psychology·Francine Shapiro
Dec 19, 2001·Journal of Clinical Psychology·Susan Rogers, Steven M Silver
Oct 30, 2009·The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis·E Hollander Harriet
Apr 4, 2013·Neuropsychobiology·Ramon Landin-RomeroBenedikt L Amann
May 28, 2010·PloS One·Zoi KapoulaJean Sandretto
Jan 1, 2010·European Journal of Psychotraumatology·Iris M EngelhardMarcel A van den Hout
Aug 16, 2012·European Journal of Psychotraumatology·Iris M Engelhard
Dec 17, 2014·Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry·Avia TadmorIris M Engelhard
Mar 24, 2005·Psychological Review·David J KavanaghJon May
Sep 2, 2011·Psychological Reports·Junichi Takahashi, Takao Hatakeyama
Feb 8, 2008·Pain Medicine : the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine·Jens SchneiderFrancine Shapiro
May 17, 2011·Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry·Marcel A van den HoutArne Leer
Nov 16, 2010·Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry·Iris M EngelhardMonique A M Smeets
Mar 2, 2010·Behaviour Research and Therapy·Jon MayDavid Kavanagh
Sep 8, 2009·International Journal of Psychophysiology : Official Journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology·Andrew B McClellandM Elizabeth Douglas Gregg
Jul 21, 2009·Clinical Psychology Review·Roos RodenburgGeert Jan Stams
Oct 1, 2008·International Journal of Psychophysiology : Official Journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology·Eduardo Paulo Morawski ViannaDaniel Tranel
Jun 21, 2008·Behaviour Research and Therapy·Raymond W Gunter, Glen E Bodner
Apr 29, 2008·Journal of Psychosomatic Research·Katriina L WhitakerMaggie Watson
Sep 25, 2007·Journal of Anxiety Disorders·Christopher W Lee, Peter D Drummond
Jun 24, 2015·Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry·Sophie R HomerJackie Andrade
Jul 3, 2007·Journal of Anxiety Disorders·Ulf O E ElofssonHans Peter Söndergaard
Mar 22, 2016·Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry·Anne A CuperusIris M Engelhard
Feb 4, 2009·The British Journal of Clinical Psychology·Steven A LilleyEmily A Holmes
Nov 22, 2005·Journal of Clinical Psychology·Andrew McClellandMarika Tiggemann
Oct 15, 2013·British Journal of Psychology·Jackie AndradeGiorgio Ganis
Mar 28, 2016·L'Encéphale·F Haour, C de Beaurepaire
Jul 31, 1998·Behaviour Research and Therapy·J Haw, M Dickerson
Sep 25, 2016·Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry·Ella L JamesEmily A Holmes
Aug 23, 2005·Appetite·M Tiggemann, E Kemps
Apr 20, 2016·Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience·Olivier A Coubard
Apr 3, 2010·Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry·Corin BourneEmily A Holmes
Dec 24, 2003·Journal of Traumatic Stress·Howard Lipke
Aug 21, 2014·Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry·Adam Michael StewartAllan V Kalueff

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Anxiety Disorders

Discover the latest research on anxiety disorders including agoraphobia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder here.