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Our Next Lecture

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to Treat PTSD

Marianne Silva, LCSW and Sonya Norman, PhD

Wednesday, May 18 at 2:00pm ET

patient with therapy thinking about trauma, negative thoughts, and stress level

From EMDR for PTSD whiteboard video at https://www.ptsd.va.gov/appvid/video/index.asp

VA Providers: Register in TMS

Non-VA Providers: Register in TRAIN

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About the Presenters

SONYA NORMAN, PhD, director of the PTSD Consultation Program and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, is a clinical psychologist and a researcher in the treatment of PTSD and addictions, applications of Prolonged Exposure therapy, implementation of evidence based treatments for PTSD, and novel treatments to address the kinds of problems recently deployed Veterans report. She is based at the VA San Diego Healthcare System where she previously directed the PTSD treatment program for Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and served as a consultant for the VA Prolonged Exposure therapy rollout. She recently served as a member of the VA/DoD PTSD Clinical Practice Guideline workgroup. Dr. Norman has over 100 publications related to PTSD and associated problems. She received her PhD from Stanford University.

About the Topic

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a standardized, trauma-focused psychotherapy for PTSD that aims to help patients resolve unprocessed traumatic memories. Rather than focusing on changing emotions, thoughts, or behaviors resulting from trauma, EMDR focuses directly on the memory with the intention of changing the way the memory is stored in the brain. The EMDR model postulates that when this change occurs, distress, negative beliefs and physiological arousal related to the trauma memory are reduced. EMDR is recommended as a first-line treatment for PTSD in numerous clinical practice guidelines, including the 2017 VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline. This presentation will provide an overview of the evidence showing its effectiveness, and will review the 8-phase protocol and mechanisms of EMDR. Strategies and resources for including EMDR within shared decision-making will be discussed.

See the article below to read about EMDR before the lecture.

MARIANNE SILVA, LCSW is a consultant in the PTSD Consultation Program and a clinical social worker at VA Connecticut (VACT) where she has extensive experience delivering Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in both residential and outpatient settings. Ms. Silva is certified in EMDR and is a consultant-in-training through the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). She served many years in VA Connecticut's PTSD Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program before transitioning to a senior role in the outpatient PTSD and Anxiety Firm, where she continues to be involved in the education, supervision, and delivery of evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD. Ms. Silva facilitates a peer-mentoring group for EMDR-trained clinicians at VACT. She is a clinical supervisor for post-graduate social workers and often delivers trainings and lectures throughout the VA and local community. Ms. Silva also works in private practice serving clients in both Connecticut and New York. Her current interests include expanding the availability of evidence-based psychotherapies through program development in the implementation of massed EBP protocols as a specialized treatment track for Veterans with PTSD. Ms. Silva is an avid believer in shared decision making and educating Veterans and families on treatments that are founded in research and clinical expertise. Ms. Silva received her MSW from Columbia University.

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Featured Article

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for PTSD

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a trauma-focused psychotherapy that is one of the most studied treatments for PTSD. A large number of studies demonstrate it is effective to treat PTSD when administered over approximately 3 months. EMDR has the strongest recommendation for being an effective treatment in most clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of PTSD...

Read more about the theoretical model and session content of EMDR, including a review of effectiveness research studies among different populations or those with comorbidities.

Free Resources

Tools to Help Your Clients Learn about EMDR

The follow free tools are available to assist with shared decision-making for PTSD treatment and to help your clients and their loved ones learn about EMDR.

EMDR for PTSD: Our webpage written in plain language with video clips.

EMDR: Helping During Treatment: Our webpage for loved ones of those in EMDR.

Whiteboard Video: An illustrated 4-minute video that introduces EMDR.

Podcast: The latest episode of PTSD Bytes includes an interview with our consultant Marianne Silva, LCSW who explains EMDR in plain language. (12 minutes)

AboutFace EMDR Story: Through a series of brief videos, follow Rogelio “Roger” Rodriguez through his experience with EMDR. Hear about why he chose EMDR, what it was like, and how it changed his life. You can also search AboutFace and use the filter to find more videos of Veterans who have completed EMDR.

PTSD Treatment Decision Aid: An online tool to help people compare the recommended treatments for PTSD, including EMDR.

For Providers Using EMDR to Treat Veterans

The PTSD Consultation Program is available to answer questions and discuss cases. Any provider treating a Veteran in any context can reach out to our team of experts anytime.

Learn about what the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for PTSD says about EMDR and other psychotherapies for PTSD in our Overview of Psychotherapy for PTSD page.

Learn to Administer CAPS-5

The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) is the gold standard for PTSD assessment and diagnosis for both military and civilian trauma survivors. The courses in our CAPS-5 Training Curriculum allow clinicians, trainees and researchers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the measure and its administration.

The courses are free and offer continuing education credits. Learn more and get started:

Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 Training Curriculum

Includes an introductory course and two interactive virtual patient simulators that allow you to practice interviewing a client and scoring the CAPS-5.

See the Guidance PDF which includes crucial information for navigating the course, working with the virtual patients and scoring the measure.

Non-VA users should contact us for the codes which will allow access to the courses in this curriculum.

Introducing CPT Coach 2.0

Join a webinar on June 6 at 3:00pm ET to learn more about the newly updated CPT Coach 2.0 mobile phone app for Cognitive Processing Therapy. See our April newsletter for more details about the app. Non-VA employees Register in TRAIN. VA employees click Register in TMS.

Are you treating U.S. Veterans?

Are you treating veterans? We can help. PTSD Consultation Program

Our team of expert clinicians is available to consult with any healthcare provider treating U.S. veterans in any setting.

We can discuss assessment, diagnosis, psychotherapy, medications, collaborating with VA care, patient and family education, continuing education, and just about anything else related to veterans and PTSD.

No question is too big or too small.

www.ptsd.va.gov/consult

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