Effect of early postpartum EMDR on reducing psychological complaints in women with a traumatic childbirth experience

Abstract

This pilot study investigated the feasibility of postpartum Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for improving posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and its association with work absence, relationship difficulties, and development of psychiatric disorders in women with a traumatic childbirth experience who do not meet all criteria for PTSD. A randomized controlled study was conducted among 20 women (EMDR (N=11) vs. care as usual (CAU) (N=9)) who reported a traumatic birth. Outcomes were measured by questionnaires and a semi-structured interview. The results showed improvement of trauma-related psychological complaints for all women. EMDR appears to be more effective in reducing PTSD symptoms than CAU. Moreover, EMDR showed a small positive effect on work absence due to factors related to the traumatic childbirth experience. Results from the questionnaires were substantiated by interviews. However, due to the small size of the study, no statistically significant differences were found. In addition, no differences were found for relationship difficulties and development of psychiatric disorders. In conclusion, women with a traumatic birth experience may benefit from EMDR, even if they do not qualify for a diagnosis of PTSD. This study could be a starting point for future research aimed at early treatment that reduces trauma-related psychological complaints in postpartum women.

Keywords:

• EMDR
• traumatic
• PTSD
• childbirth
• postpartum

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all women who participated in this study.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was conducted in accordance with the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act (WMO) and approved by the local Central Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (CCMO, Nijmegen/Arnhem, study number: 2019-5177). In addition, this study was conducted according to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Author’s contributions

Martine Hollander managed the study conception and design. Data analysis was performed by Emma Kopmeiners. The manuscript was written by Emma Kopmeiners and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. The final version of the article was read and approved by all authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data used in this analysis are stored digitally in a password-protected University database. Contact Dr. Martine Hollander ([email protected]) if you wish to request the data.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support was received from Radboudumc by means of a grant awarded to Dr. Hollander.