Neural processing of emotions in traumatized children treated with EyeMovement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy: A hdEEG study

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has been proven efficacious in restoring affective regulation in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) patients. However, its effectiveness on emotion processing in children with complex trauma has yet to be explored. High density Electroencephalography (hdEEG) was used to investigate the effects of EMDR on brain responses to adults' emotions on children with histories of early maltreatment. Ten school-aged children were examined before (T0) and within one month after the conclusion of EMDR (T1). hdEEGs were recorded while children passively viewed angry, afraid, happy, and neutral faces. Clinical scales were administered at the same time. Correlation analyses were performed to detect brain regions whose activity was linked to children's traumatic symptom-related and emotional-adaptive problem scores. In all four conditions, hdEEG showed similar significantly higher activity on the right medial prefrontal and fronto-temporal limbic regions at T0, shifting towards the left medial and superior temporal regions at T1. Moreover, significant correlations were found between clinical scales and the same regions whose activity significantly differed between pre- and post-treatment. These preliminary results demonstrate that, after EMDR, children suffering from complex trauma show increased activity in areas implicated in high-order cognitive processing when passively viewing pictures of emotional expressions. These changes are associated with the decrease of depressive and traumatic symptoms, and with the improvement of emotional-adaptive functioning over time.

Tipo Pubblicazione: 
Articolo
Author or Creator: 
Cristina Trentini
Marco Pagani
Piercarlo Fania
Anna Maria Speranza
Giampaolo Nicolais
Alessandra Sibilia
Lucio Inguscio
Anna Rita Verardo
Isabel Fernandez
Massimo Ammaniti
Publisher: 
Frontiers Research Foundation, Switzerland
Source: 
Frontiers in Psychology 6 (2015). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01662
info:cnr-pdr/source/autori:Cristina Trentini, Marco Pagani, Piercarlo Fania, Anna Maria Speranza, Giampaolo Nicolais, Alessandra Sibilia, Lucio Inguscio, Anna Rita Verardo, Isabel Fernandez, Massimo Ammaniti/titolo:Neural processing of emotions in traum
Date: 
2015
Resource Identifier: 
http://www.cnr.it/prodotto/i/336410
https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01662
info:doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01662
Language: 
Eng
ISTC Author: 
Ritratto di Marco Pagani
Real name: