The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 44 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Efficacy of Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for Patients with Posttraumatic-Stress Disorder: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: We performed the first meta-analysis of clinical studies by investigating the effects of eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy on the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and subjective distress in PTSD patients treated during the past 2 decades. METHODS: We performed a quantitative meta-analysis on the findings of 26 randomized controlled trials of EMDR therapy for PTSD published between 1991 and 2013, which were identified through the ISI Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature electronic databases, among which 22, 20, 16, and 11 of the studies assessed the effects of EMDR on the symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and subjective distress, respectively, as the primary clinical outcome. RESULTS: The meta-analysis revealed that the EMDR treatments significantly reduced the symptoms of PTSD (g = -0.662; 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.887 to -0.436), depression (g = -0.643; 95% CI: -0.864 to -0.422), anxiety (g = -0.640; 95% CI: -0.890 to -0.390), and subjective distress (g = -0.956; 95% CI: -1.388 to -0.525) in PTSD patients. CONCLUSION: This study confirmed that EMDR therapy significantly reduces the symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and subjective distress in PTSD patients. The subgroup analysis indicated that a treatment duration of more than 60 min per session was a major contributing factor in the amelioration of anxiety and depression, and that a therapist with experience in conducting PTSD group therapy was a major contributing factor in the reduction of PTSD symptoms.
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“Additionally, multiple studies have established EMDR as an efficacious therapeutic approach for PTSD.”
From Clinical Efficacy of Psychotherapeutic Interventions for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Analysis. (2024) · cites this paper as [71]
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Cites
Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses
Higgins, J. P. T., Thompson, S. G., Deeks, J. J., & Altman, D. G. (2003) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7414.557 · Cited by 63,139 · cited 1×
“75%, 50%, 25%, and 0% indicating high, moderate, low, and no heterogeneity, respectively [24].”
Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test
Egger, M., Smith, G. D., Schneider, M., & Minder, C. (1997) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.315.7109.629 · Cited by 56,722 · cited 1×
“The ORs reported in the selected RCTs were subjected to Egger’s test [21], which uses linear regression on a natural logarithmic scale to assess funnel plot asymmetry, with the level of significance set at p,0.”
MethodA Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales
Cohen, J. (1960) · Educational and Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/001316446002000104 · Cited by 42,398 · cited 1×
“65 indicating acceptable consistency between raters and registrants [18].”
BackgroundCochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions: Cochrane Book Series
(2008) · doi:10.1002/9780470712184 · Cited by 25,048 · cited 4×
“The research quality of the study design, patients, outcome measures, statistical analysis, and results of the selected RCTs were assessed using the approach described by Brodaty, Green, and Koschera [19], according to the guidelines established by the Cochrane Collaboration, with a total research-quality score of six…”
MethodInfluentialBorenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2021) · doi:10.1002/9781119558378 · Cited by 9,799
Summing up: The Science of Reviewing Research
Wilkinson, I., Light, R. J., & Pillemer, D. B. (1987) · Journal of Educational Statistics · doi:10.2307/1164691 · Cited by 1,486
Cognitive Therapy vs Medications in the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Depression
DeRubeis, R. J., Hollon, S. D., Amsterdam, J. D., Shelton, R. C., Young, P. R., Salomon, R. M., O’Reardon, J. P., Lovett, M. L., Gladis, M. M., Brown, L. L., et al. (2005) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.4.409 · Cited by 989 · cited 1×
“These findings are generally consistent with those of previous studies [29,36], which have reported that patients exhibited greater reductions in the symptoms of depression following cognitive therapy when treated by a therapist experienced in group therapy, compared with those treated by therapists without group-ther…”
ResultMeta‐Analysis of Psychosocial Interventions for Caregivers of People with Dementia
Brodaty, H., Green, A., & Koschera, A. (2003) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1034/j.1600-0579.2003.00210.x · Cited by 952
Taylor, S. J., Thordarson, D. S., Maxfield, L., Fedoroff, I. C., Lovell, K., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2003) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.71.2.330 · Cited by 563 · cited 1×
“Thirteen studies [6,9,14,15,16,25,26,30,32,34,35,41,42] involved the use of blinded outcome assessors, whereas 13 studies [5,7,8,10,12,13,27,28,31,37, 38,39,40] did not report blinding.”
BackgroundProlonged Exposure versus Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for PTSD rape victims
ROTHBAUM, B. O., Astin, M. C., & Marsteller, F. (2005) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.20069 · Cited by 458 · cited 3×
“Our findings are consistent with those of other studies on depression, which have demonstrated that EMDR group therapy significantly reduced the symptoms of depression, compared with control groups [5,7,12,30].”
BackgroundMethodResult
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 44 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- S Wilson, 2001, Stress Management with Law Enforcement Personnel: A Controlled Outcome Study of EMDR Versus a Traditional Stress Management Program, International Journal of Stress Management, 8, 179, 10.1023/A:1011366408693 · DOI
- GJSS Devilly, 1998, The relative efficacy and treatment distress of EMDR and a cognitive-behavior trauma treatment protocol in the amelioration of posttraumatic stress disorder, Journal of anxiety disorders, 29, 435
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–222 of 222
L’EMDR dans l’œil de la clinique de l’activité : le métier de psychothérapeute
Machado, J., Rotonda, C., & Tarquinio, C. (2025) · Annales Médico-psychologiques revue psychiatrique · doi:10.1016/j.amp.2025.10.010
Testing Wong’s Theory on the Flash Technique with Published Timing Data for Healthy Subjects
Wong, S.-L., Ling, H., & Liu, Y. (2025) · Journal of EMDR Practice and Research · doi:10.34133/jemdr.0020
Conijn, T., de Roos, C., Vreugdenhil, H. J. I., van Dijk‐Lokkart, E. M., Wijburg, F. A., & Haverman, L. (2022) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.20861133
Cotardo, F., Koumantakis, E., Rossini, P. G., Malandrone, F., Berchialla, P., Ostacoli, L., & Carletto, S. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1688526
Is EMDR an Alternative Therapy for Adolescents With Social Anxiety Disorder?
İzmir, S. B. İ. (2026) · Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/13591045251413046
“EMDR can increase self-awareness, alter beliefs and behaviors, and reduce anxiety and leading to positive emotions (Chen et al., 2014).”
de Azevedo, D. C., Bicudo, M. A. V., & Konstantyner, T. (2026) · Revista Pesquisa Qualitativa · doi:10.33361/rpq.2026.v.14.n.38.1241
Harris, A. (2026) · Journal of EMDR Practice and Research · doi:10.34133/jemdr.0024
Pape, V. R., Barczyk, F., von Klitzing, C., Fitting, C., Stingl, M., Schäflein, E., & Olaf Wolkenhauer, A. (2026) · medRxiv · doi:10.64898/2026.01.08.26343688
Impact of childbirth Post-traumatic stress disorder on the Mother-Infant Bond: a systematic review
Prado, M., & Orriols, M. C. (2026) · Psychology Health & Medicine · doi:10.1080/13548506.2026.2628980
Authorship network bias in meta-analysis
Rieck, M., Mupepele, A., & Dormann, C. F. (2026) · Research Synthesis Methods · doi:10.1017/rsm.2025.10063
“32 The comparison of our proposed method to the multilevel approach used by Moulin and Amaral (2020) 17 showed similar results for Chen et al. (2014), 29 Kredlow et al. (2016), 33 Mathie et al. (2017), 34 and Munkholm et al. (2015).”
Psychiatrie et psychopathologie périnatales
Binet, É. (2025) · Dunod eBooks · doi:10.3917/dunod.bayle.2025.01.0522
Saguin, E. (2023) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/820b81b5zdd45z43a6zb36az8344c91402bd
Comparison of Psychotherapies, Pharmacotherapies and Neurotherapies for PTSD
Bennett, M. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-95-9594-5_16
Merg-Essadi, D., Resch, V., Bacque, M., & Voillequin, S. (2026) · European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation · doi:10.1016/j.ejtd.2026.100703
Judicial assessment of testimonial reliability after EMDR therapy: a case-series analysis
Pacchioni, F., Flutti, E., Ballabio, M., Giovannelli, M. E., Magatti, C., & Travaini, G. V. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1809865
Peji, R. G. A., Lipat, D. D., & Rojas, A. M. D. (2026) · Cureus · doi:10.7759/cureus.111244
“These findings are consistent with prior meta-analytic evidence demonstrating that EMDR is a robust and effective trauma-focused intervention [30,31].”
Yıldız, N., & Hüseyin Zahid, K. A. R. A. (2026) · Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment · doi:10.1080/10911359.2026.2714458
Farfan, C. H. V., Monzón, A. I. C., Siancas, L. A. C., & Huari, C. E. C. (2026) · Gaceta Médica Boliviana · doi:10.47993/gmb.v49i1.1198
Murphy, T. J., Jung, M., Hsiao, A., Martin, N. M., Jimenez, A. J., Munoz, A., Lai-Trzebiatowski, J., Smith, T. C., & Hollifield, M. A. (2026) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph23091159
Metadata
- Authors
- Chen, Y.-R., Hung, K.-W., Tsai, J.-C., Chu, H., Chung, M.-H., Chen, S.-R., Liao, Y.-M., Ou, K.-L., Chang, Y.-C., & Chou, K.-R.
- Affiliations
- Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital (TW)
- Yuan's General Hospital (TW)
- Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital (TW)
- Tri-Service General Hospital (TW)
- Taipei Medical University (TW)
- Tamkang University (TW)
- Taipei Medical University Hospital (TW)
- Corresponding author
- Chou, Kuei-Ru
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2014-08-07
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- e103676
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4125321
- OpenAlex
- W2069381491
- Cited by
- 222
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 6
- FWCI
- 1.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Taipei Medical University Repository (submittedVersion)
- Tamkang University Institutional Repository (TKUIR) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Science Council
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- EMDR, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, subjective distress, treatment duration, therapist experience, group therapy, psychotherapy efficacy
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Humans, Middle Aged, Regression Analysis, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
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