Important controlled study related to traumatized adolescents

Scheck, M.M., Schaeffer, J.A. & Gillette, C.S. (1998) Brief psychological intervention with traumatized young women: The efficacy of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 11, 25-44.

Sixty females ages 16-25 screened for high-risk behavior and traumatic history were randomly assigned to two sessions of either EMDR or active listening. There was substantially greater improvement for EMDR as independently assessed on the Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Penn Inventory for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Impact of Event Scale, and Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. Although the treatment was comparatively brief (only two sessions), the EMDR treated participants came within the first standard deviation compared to non-patient norm groups for all five measures.

Considering that the literature on early victimization clearly indicates the propensity for high risk behavior and later revictimization, it is important to consider the possibility of early intervention for prevention, as well as the alleviation of suffering. Further, this study has important implications for the possibility of helping to end the cycle of violence, as early victimization is often clinically implicated in perpetrator behavior.

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