Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) in the treatment of sex offenders.

Psychotherapy

May 2021

Full Citation

Finley, P. A. (2003). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) in the treatment of sex offenders. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 63(10-B), 4899. Retrieved from http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&PAGE=reference&D=psyc4&NEWS=N&A… 003-95008-281

Abstract

Affective issues of adult male sex offenders were examined by employing Eye

Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), a therapeutic intervention that

assists in rapidly resolving troubling thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations.

Incorporating EMDR into the current cognitive/behavioral/relapse prevention (RP)

treatment model for sex offender treatment opens the possibility of reducing the reoffense

rate by addressing offenders’ own emotional wounding from early trauma and

victimization. The experimental group of offenders (n = 27) received a pretest, three

EMDR sessions, and a posttest over an average time o f 3.8 months. The Multiphasic Sex

Inventory (MSI) was the measure used for this research. The three scales on that test

designed to measure for thinking errors were the Cognitive Distortion and Immaturity

(CDI) Scale; the Justification (Ju) Scale; and the Treatment Attitudes (TA) Scale.

Archived pretest/posttest scores of randomly selected and anonymous adult male sex

offenders comprised the control group (n = 27). This group was tested on the MSI and

MSI 2 before entering Module 4 and after finishing Module 5, representing 22.5 months

of treatment pretest/posttest. All control and experimental group subjects took part in a

mandated cognitive/ behavioral/relapse prevention (RP) program. The independent twosample t test was used to compare two means using the rate o f change between the

experimental and control group. EMDR treatment was found to be no better than RP

treatment in addiressing issues on the CDI and TA scales. A statistically significant

reduction was found in justifications for offender behavior in the experimental group on

the Ju scale (p-value = 0.008), suggesting further research is needed on the effect o f

offender victimization issues on reducing justifications for victimizing others.