EMDR and the Treatment of Complex PTSD: A Review

Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, Volume 3, Number 4, 2009 © 2009 EMDR International Association DOI: 10.1891/1933-3196.3.4.264 As research data on traumatic stress and posttraumatic adaptations have accumulated over the past several decades, it has become increasingly evident that the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as currently delineated in the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), fails to account for the complex symptomatology that emerges following chronic interpersonal traumatization. Chronic abuse, often coupled with failures in attachment, appear to have a profound effect on cognitive, affective, and psychosocial development, leading to an inadequate sense of self, impaired schemas, defi cits in affect regulation and impulse control, and problems in forming and maintaining healthy, secure attachments in adulthood.