The Effect of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) on Depression in Spinal Cord Injury Patients

Depression is the most common psychological consequences of spinal cord injury. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of eye movement desensitization and reprocess (EMDR) on depression in patients with spinal cord injury.

In this clinical trial study, 40 patients with Spinal cord injury (SCI) who were treated at Hadith Rehabilitation Center of Qazvin in 2018-2019 were selected by random sampling and randomly divided into two groups. The methods of eye movements and reprocessing were performed for experimental group in five sessions of 90 minutes. The research instruments included demographic characteristics form and Beck’s depression inventories that were completed by patients in both groups. Depression was measured before, one, three and six months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS 23, by descriptive and inferential statistics proportional to the data. The data was analyzed with, Chi-square, independent t-test, Paired t-test and ANOVA.

The results of this study showed that before intervention the mean depression score was not significantly different between the control and experimental groups (31.4 ±10.4), (30.5 ±6.3((P=0.7, t=-0.3). After intervention, the experimental group had a significant increase in the mean score of depression compared with the control group (22.3±7.7), (30.3±6.6) (P<0.001, t=-4.1. (The mean depression score in the experimental group showed statistically significant differences three and six months after the intervention (P=0.001, t=-4.05).

Considering that EMDR, as a non- pharmacological intervention, reduced depression in patients with spinal cord injury.