Parent-Child EMDR therapy for children aged 0–4 years: Protocol, pilot-data, and case study

Abstract

This article describes the Parent-Child EMDR protocol for children (0–4 years) and provides a summary of treatment data of an explorative pilot study with 18 children aged 0–4 years, illustrated with a case study. The Parent-Child EMDR protocol follows the EMDR standard protocol with adaptations only where imperative due to the age of the child and integrating research in the field of infant mental health, attachment, memory, and EMDR and its working mechanisms. As such, it provides an alternative to Storytelling (Lovett, 1999, 2015), which uses a preconstructed narrative predominantly focusing on resourcing and cognitive information. The brief customized treatment consists of a combination of the following components: preparation, EMDR with child and parents, EMDR for the parent, if necessary, parent-child interaction sessions, and parental guidance sessions. Focus lays on the child and parents’ internal associative processes after maximum activation of the child and parent's traumatic material, to allow the child's and parent's inherent capacity to integrate, through associations and by using the adaptive information experienced in their interaction during the session. Through this process, the parent-child interaction and attachment relationships improve, as well as the parent's mentalizing ability and confidence.

In an explorative pilot study, treatment data of 18 children between 0 and 4 years were gathered to obtain insight into the Parent-Child EMDR protocol and its effect on PTSD symptoms. Therapists scored PTSD symptom clusters of the DC 0–5 criteria. All children lost their PTSD diagnosis after treatment. A case example illustrates the use of this protocol in more detail. The Parent-Child EMDR protocol is a promising short and customized treatment to help child and parents overcome their trauma symptoms, resume normal development, and build healthy attachment relationships.