Trauma Resolution Using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing With an Incestuous Sex Offender

Trauma Resolution Using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing With an Incestuous Sex Offender

This case describes the use of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) to reduce reactivity to childhood trauma in an incestuous sex offender. It explores the relationship between desensitization and reprocessing of traumatic memory and how this may promote sex offender treatment progress as an enhancement of, not a replacement for, the cognitive-behavioral or relapse prevention treatment of sexual offenders. Pretreatment and posttreatment self-report and other-report instruments and semistructured interviews are employed to explore the results of this intervention. Implications and suggestions for this treatment protocol are suggested.

Childhood trauma, EMDR, Sex offender, Treatment