EMDR combined with treatment as usual for comorbid substance use disorder and PTSD

¶ … EMDR combined with TAU will lead to a significantly greater reduction of PTSD symptoms than TAU alone, when comparing PTSD symptoms from baseline to 6-month follow-up. There are also secondary concerns that the research sought to answer, the research examined the effectiveness of EMDR on substance use-related outcomes, depressive symptoms, dissociative symptoms, emotion dysregulation and quality of life.

To investigate the hypothesis, this study will take a rater-blinded 2-arms RCT. Assessments for the participants were scheduled at the pre-treatment (T0), post-treatment (T1), at 3-month (T2) and at 6-month (T3) follow-up. Participants are meant to be randomly assigned to either the EMDR plus TAU group or the TAU group. Data will then e assessed at an inpatient rehabilitation center in Germany (AHG Clinic Dormagen). The research intends to recruit 158 adult patients with SUD and comorbid PTSD attending inpatient rehabilitation treatment from September 2015 to December 2017.

Several inclusion criteria will be used and are as follows;

(1) Age between 18 and 65 years;

(2) DSM-5 diagnosis of a substance use disorder;

(3) DSM-5 diagnosis of PTSD or subsyndromal PTSD (criteria A and B. and at least one of the criteria C. to E)

(4) Capable to comprehend and speak German;

(5) Informed consent to participate in the study.

The exclusion criteria will be;

(1) Severe dissociative symptoms according to the Dissociative Experience Scale

(2) Acute suicidal tendencies;

(3) Acute psychotic symptoms;

(4) Severe cognitive impairments.