Publication of Study with Survivors of a Natural Disaster

A study of Hurricane Andrew victims receiving one session of EMDR resulted in both SUD and Impact of Event scale reductions. The Impact of Event Scale started at severe clinical levels before treatment and reduced to below clinically significant cutoffs at one and three month follow-ups. The following is the abstract:

Controlled studies of treatments effective with victims of natural disasters are almost nonexistant. This is a small study conducted under difficult conditions to test the effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in treating trauma related reactions following Hurricane Andrew. The results were positive in that EMDR produced significant improvement over wait list controls in perceived posttraumatic avoidance behavior and thoughts as measured by changes in the Impact of Event Scale and significant improvement in subjective aversive reactions to representative experiences of the hurricane. These results suggest and support other studies that EMDR can be an effective therapeutic intervention for trauma reactions.

Grainger, R.D., Levin, C., Allen-Byrd, L., Doctor, R.M. & Lee, H. (1997) An empirical evaluation of eye movment desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) with survivors of a natural disaster. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10, 665-671.

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