Imagery rescripting and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing as treatment for adults with post-traumatic stress disorder from childhood trauma: randomised clinical trial
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Investigation of treatments that effectively treat adults with post-traumatic stress disorder from childhood experiences (Ch-PTSD) and are well tolerated by patients is needed to improve outcomes for this population. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two trauma-focused treatments, imagery rescripting (ImRs) and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), for treating Ch-PTSD. METHOD: We conducted an international, multicentre, randomised clinical trial, recruiting adults with Ch-PTSD from childhood trauma before 16 years of age. Participants were randomised to treatment condition and assessed by blind raters at multiple time points. Participants received up to 12 90-min sessions of either ImRs or EMDR, biweekly. RESULTS: A total of 155 participants were included in the final intent-to-treat analysis. Drop-out rates were low, at 7.7%. A generalised linear mixed model of repeated measures showed that observer-rated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms significantly decreased for both ImRs (d = 1.72) and EMDR (d = 1.73) at the 8-week post-treatment assessment. Similar results were seen with secondary outcome measures and self-reported PTSD symptoms. There were no significant differences between the two treatments on any standardised measure at post-treatment and follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: ImRs and EMDR treatments were found to be effective in treating PTSD symptoms arising from childhood trauma, and in reducing other symptoms such as depression, dissociation and trauma-related cognitions. The low drop-out rates suggest that the treatments were well tolerated by participants. The results from this study provide evidence for the use of trauma-focused treatments for Ch-PTSD.
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The results of this case are in line with studies into the effectiveness of ST and ImRs in adjacent populations.
“These results are in line with studies into the effectiveness of ST and ImRs in adjacent populations (17, 30).”
From Schema therapy for Dissociative Identity Disorder: a case report (2023) · cites this paper as [17]
The Discussion reports that imagery rescripting (ImRs) reduced PTSD symptoms in adults with PTSD arising from childhood trauma, supporting the ImRs part of the comparison with an adjacent population. This trial compares ImRs with EMDR, not schema therapy (ST), so it does not support the ST part of the sentence. The supplied passages have section labels but no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredST and its trauma processing component ImRs are effective for disorders resulting from interpersonal trauma in childhood, including complex PTSD and personality disorders.
“First, ST as a whole, as well as its trauma processing component, Imagery Rescripting (ImRs), are effective for disorders that result from interpersonal trauma in childhood, including complex PTSD and personality disorders [e.g., (13–17)].”
From Schema therapy for Dissociative Identity Disorder: a case report (2023) · cites this paper as [17]
The Discussion (page not provided) reports that ImRs reduced PTSD symptoms in adults whose trauma occurred in childhood. The trial did not evaluate schema therapy (ST) as a whole or establish effectiveness for complex PTSD or personality disorders, so those parts of the citing sentence are not supported by this paper. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Boterhoven de Haan, K. L., Lee, C. W., Fassbinder, E., van Es, S. M., Menninga, S., Meewisse, M.-L., Rijkeboer, M., Kousemaker, M., & Arntz, A.
- Affiliations
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- University of Lübeck (DE)
- Parnassia Groep (NL)
- Maastricht University (NL)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- ORCID
- Venue
- The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2020-09-07
- Volume
- 217
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 609-615
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W3083844386
- Cited by
- 129
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 14
- FWCI
- 4.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (submittedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- EMDR Research Foundation (PG10400309)
- Australian Government
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- childhood trauma, imagery rescripting, EMDR, trauma-focused psychotherapy, treatment comparison, depression, dissociation, trauma-related cognitions, treatment tolerability
- MeSH terms
- Adverse Childhood Experiences, Adult, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Imagery, Psychotherapy, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
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