Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) to Improve Mental Health Following Intensive Care Admission

Launched by UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL SOUTHAMPTON NHS FOUNDATION TRUST · Oct 19, 2022

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is exploring a therapy called Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) to help improve the mental health of patients who have just come out of intensive care. The focus is on survivors who may be experiencing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, or depression after their critical illness. The researchers want to see if it's possible to recruit these patients for a study to evaluate the effectiveness of EMDR alongside regular care. They will also gather feedback from patients and healthcare providers to better understand what makes the study acceptable and feasible.

To be eligible, participants need to be adults aged 18 or older who have spent more than 24 hours in intensive care. They should be able to understand the study and give their consent. After leaving the hospital, participants will undergo a psychological assessment a couple of months later. If they show signs of PTSD, they will be randomly assigned to either receive standard care or standard care plus EMDR. Everyone will have another assessment a year after their hospital discharge. The study aims to find out how well this approach works and to gather important information that could help in future studies.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Survivors of an intensive care admission, who have received level 3 care for \>24 hours.
• • Aged ≥18 years
• • Capacity to provide informed consent and complete trial interventions and assessments.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Pre-existing cognitive impairment such as dementia
• • Pre-existing diagnosis of psychosis
• • Not expected to survive post-hospital discharge
• • Traumatic brain injury