Effectiveness of an EMDR Intervention for Perinatal Loss

Hospital Clinic of Barcelona

Status: Completed

Conditions: PTSD; Pregnancy Loss

Treatments: Other: TAU; Other: EMDR-RTE

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT05701137

2022-03

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators objectives is to assess the effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing - recent traumatic episode (EMDR-RTE) as a preventive intervention for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms after perinatal loss.

The hypothesis is that EMDR-RTE treatment may prevent post-traumatic and depressive symptoms in women who suffered perinatal loss.

Full description

Perinatal loss is a general term that refers to a loss from conception to one month postpartum. It is a grief that is still socially unauthorized, however, it is a situation with significant traumatic potential. However, there are no studies evaluating the effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for the prevention or treatment of perinatal loss. We propose an one-site, open label, randomized controlled trial with the aim of assessing the effectiveness of EMDR recent traumatic episode (EMDR-RTE) as a preventive intervention for PTSD symptoms after perinatal loss. A total of 40 women who have suffered a perinatal loss from the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Service of a tertiary university hospital will be recruited. Women will be randomized to EMDR-RTE or treatment as usual (TAU). Researchers will compare EMDR-RTE and TAU to see if women receiving EMDR-RTE treatment had lower levels of post-traumatic and depressive symptoms.

Enrollment: 40 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• be over 18 years old
• agree to participate and sign the informed consent
• request psychological treatment

Exclusion criteria

• active substance use disorder
• cognitive disability
• language barrier

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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40 participants in 2 patient groups

EMDR-RTE

Experimental group

Description:

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing in its recent traumatic episode version.

Treatment:

Other: EMDR-RTE

TAU

Active Comparator group

Description:

Usual treatment by a psychologist.

Treatment:

Other: TAU