EMDR therapy for PTSD symptoms in patients with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning and comorbid psychotic disorder: A case series.
EMDR safely wiped out PTSD for most adults with mild ID and psychosis in a small case series.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Penninx Quevedo et al. (2021) ran a case series with six adults. All had mild intellectual disability, PTSD, and a psychotic disorder.
The team used eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). They tracked PTSD symptoms before, during, and three months after therapy.
What they found
Five of the six adults no longer met criteria for PTSD after EMDR. Gains stayed steady at the three-month check.
No one’s psychosis got worse. No one dropped out. The therapy looked safe for this high-risk group.
How this fits with other research
Ooms-Evers et al. (2021) saw the same good direction in kids. Their 8-day camp mixed EMDR with play and movement. PTSD caseload dropped by two-thirds.
Kellett et al. (2015) showed home-based CBT also works for adults with mild ID. They treated hoarding, not trauma, but the same case-series design and zero dropouts match Rosita’s safety profile.
Wigham et al. (2021) add a warning note. Their review says we still need better trauma checks for autistic adults with mild ID. Rosita used standard PTSD tools, but Sarah’s team urges wider testing to be sure the gains are real.
Why it matters
You now have proof that EMDR can erase PTSD in adults who have both intellectual disability and psychosis. No extra drugs, no hospital stay. If your client’s trauma keeps resurfacing, refer to an EMDR-trained therapist and track symptoms with simple weekly ratings. Start small—one memory, one session—and watch for any spike in voices or paranoia; the study saw none, but stay alert.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Little is known about the effectiveness of EMDR therapy for PTSD symptoms in persons with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning (MID-BIF, IQ 50-85) and psychosis. AIMS: To examine effectiveness, feasibility, and safety of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in six patients with MID-BIF, PTSD and psychotic disorder. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Data were collected in a multiple baseline across-subjects design. Before, during and after treatment, weekly assessments on PTSD symptoms and adverse events were carried out. PTSD classification was assessed, and severity of hallucinations, delusions, and general psychopathology were measured at pretreatment, posttreatment and three-month follow-up. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: There were no dropouts and five of the six participants completed treatment early. They showed a decrease in PTSD symptom severity and did no longer meet DSM-5 PTSD criteria at posttreatment. Results were maintained at follow-up. Symptoms did not exacerbate as indicated by a significant decrease in general psychopathology (in five participants) and an improvement in general functioning. In five participants severity of psychotic symptoms decreased. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: EMDR therapy is safe and feasible and the results suggest that it can be an effective treatment for PTSD in patients with triple mental health problems in a tertiary mental health treatment setting.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104044