MANAGING TRAUMATIC SYMPTOMS AMONG ADULTS BY USING EMDR THERAPY: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF WITHIN-TREATMENT CHANGE

Abstract

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively validated trauma treatment, yet the shape and consistency of within-treatment symptom change, and whether this change is moderated by participant age, remain underexamined using growth curve methodology. This study examined trauma symptom change across an eight-session EMDR protocol among 40 Pakistani adults with clinically significant trauma symptoms, and tested whether this change was moderated by participant age group. Participants completed the Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 (TSC-40) at five occasions (T1 baseline through T5 three-month follow-up). Repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant multivariate effect of time across the six TSC-40 symptom domains, Wilks' Λ = .500, F(24, 629.16) = 5.76, p < .001, with significant univariate declines for all seven outcomes (Total Traumatic Symptoms and six subscales; all p < .001, η² = .127 to .452). Linear mixed-effects growth curve models confirmed significant linear decline for every outcome (e.g., Total Traumatic Symptoms: B = -5.17, SE = 0.53, t = -9.85, p < .001), with retention of 90% at three-month follow-up. Neither the main effect of age group nor the Time × Age Group interaction reached significance for any outcome, and post hoc pairwise comparisons of age-group slopes were uniformly non-significant, indicating that symptom decline during treatment was consistent across the 18-to-65 adult age range. These findings demonstrate that EMDR produces robust, statistically significant, and age-invariant trauma symptom reduction across the course of treatment, supporting its applicability as a uniform protocol across