The effect of online EMDR (Eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing) on traumatic stress symptoms, levels of psychological resilience and cognitive flexibility

According to the DSM-5, a traumatic event is defined as "experiencing or witnessing actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence." However, research has expanded the boundaries of the trauma concept to include stressful events that can be encountered on a daily basis. It is known that stressful life events outside the trauma definition provided by the DSM can also have a traumatic impact. This study aims to examine the effects of online EMDR intervention on university students who have experienced traumatic events within the past year, in terms of their traumatic stress symptoms, psychological resilience, and cognitive flexibility levels. The study group consists of eight Bahçeşehir University students who have experienced traumatic events in the past year. A quasi-experimental design using a single-group pre-test/post-test method, which is a quantitative research method, was employed in the research. Open-ended questions, suitable for qualitative analysis, were asked to support the research findings and understand the content and effectiveness of online EMDR intervention according to the participants' perspectives. Content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data obtained from the open-ended questions. The Trauma Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale, Traumatic Stress Symptom Scale, Brief Symptom Inventory, Cognitive Flexibility Scale, and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale were used as quantitative data collection tools in the study. Based on the qualitative findings, five categories defining the scope and effectiveness of EMDR intervention were obtained (core elements of EMDR intervention, the importance of the therapeutic relationship in EMDR intervention, therapist competence in EMDR intervention, outcomes of EMDR intervention, limitations of experimental application), along with main and sub-themes related to these categories. According to the quantitative findings, it was found that the participants' traumatic stress symptoms decreased, while their psychological resilience and cognitive flexibility levels significantly increased after an average of seven sessions of online EMDR intervention.