Clinical efficacy of EMDR in unipolar depression: Changes in theta cordance

Joyce Baptist; David E Thompson; Chelsea Spencer; Md Rakibul Mowla; Heather A Love; Yile Su

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113696

Clinical efficacy of EMDR in unipolar depression: Changes in theta cordance

Psychiatry Res. 2021 Feb:296:113696. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113696. Epub 2020 Dec 29.

Authors

Joyce Baptist¹, David E Thompson², Chelsea Spencer², Md Rakibul Mowla², Heather A Love³, Yile Su⁴

Affiliations

¹ Kansas State University, USA. Electronic address: jbaptist@ksu.edu.
² Kansas State University, USA.
³ The University of Alabama, USA.
⁴ Florida State University, USA.

PMID: 33387752
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113696

Abstract

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has demonstrated efficacy in treating major depressive disorder. EMDR increases cerebral perfusion in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Activity in the ACC and dlPFC can be measured by theta cordance (TC) but has not been examined in EMDR. Ten participants (3 men, 7 women, M age = 42.31 ± 15.03) received ten 75 ± 15 minute EMDR sessions over 6.5 ± .5 weeks. Results indicated that PHQ-9 depression scores reduced from T1 (M = 13.9 ± 3.31) to T11 (M = 6.30 ± 3.23) with EMDR (SMD = 2.30), and that fTC but not pfTC was significantly related to this change. Depression declined as fTC declined. EMDR may engage the dlPFC or ACC that modulates depression and aid in reducing fTC and thus depression levels.

Keywords: Depression; EMDR; Theta cordance.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Depression
Depressive Disorder, Major / therapy*
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing*
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Prefrontal Cortex
Treatment Outcome