RESUMO
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy targets emotionally disturbing visual memories of traumatic life events, and may be deployed as an efficacious treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. A key element of EMDR therapy is recalling an emotionally disturbing visual memory while simultaneously performing a dual task. Previous studies have shown that auditory emotional memories may also become less emotional as a consequence of dual tasking. This is potentially beneficial for psychotic patients suffering from disturbing emotional auditory memories of auditory hallucinations. The present study examined whether and to what extent emotionality of auditory hallucination memories could be reduced by dual tasking. The study also assessed whether a modality matching dual task (recall + auditory taxation) could be more effective than a cross modal dual task (recall + visual taxation). Thirty-six patients suffering from auditory hallucinations were asked to recall an emotionally disturbing auditory memory related to an auditory hallucination, to rate emotionality of the memory, and to recall it under three conditions: two active conditions, i.e., visual taxation (making eye-movements) or auditory taxation (counting aloud), and one control condition (staring at a non-moving dot) counterbalanced in order. Patients re-rated emotionality of the memory after each condition. Results show the memory emotionality of auditory hallucinations was reduced and the active conditions showed stronger effects than the control condition. No modality-specific effect was found: the active conditions had an equal effect.
RESUMO
Introduction: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an evidence-based treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A key element of this therapy is simultaneously recalling an emotionally disturbing memory and performing a dual task that loads working memory. Memories targeted with this therapy are mainly visual, though there is some evidence that auditory memories can also be targeted. Objective: The present study tested whether auditory memories can be targeted with EMDR in PTSD patients. A second objective was to test whether taxing the patient (performing a dual task while recalling a memory) in a modality specific way (auditory demanding for auditory memories and visually demanding for visual memories) was more effective in reducing the emotionality experienced than taxing in cross-modality. Methods: Thirty-six patients diagnosed with PTSD were asked to recall two disturbing memories, one mainly visual, the other one mainly auditory. They rated the emotionality of the memories before being exposed to any condition. Both memories were then recalled under three alternating conditions [visual taxation, auditory taxation, and a control condition (CC), which comprised staring a non-moving dot] - counterbalanced in order - and patients rerated emotionality after each condition. Results: All three conditions were equally effective in reducing the emotionality of the auditory memory. Auditory loading was more effective in reducing the emotionality in the visual intrusion than the CC, but did not differ from the visual load. Conclusion: Auditory and visual aversive memories were less emotional after working memory taxation (WMT). This has some clinical implications for EMDR therapy, where mainly visual intrusions are targeted. In this study, there was no benefit of modality specificity. Further fundamental research should be conducted to specify the best protocol for WMT.