Do Negative Self-Beliefs Predict EMDR Therapy Outcomes? Insights from a Pilot Study

This study aims to assess the impact of negative cognitions on treatment generalization within the standard eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment protocol. In an office setting, an EMDR-trained practitioner provided EMDR treatment to her clients ( N = 6). In this quasi-experimental design, the experimental group had no negative cognitions assessed, while the control group did have negative cognitions assessed. The Symptom Checklist and PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 measures were used to determine the change from baseline to sessions 6 and 8. We present and discuss the implications of the findings, including how they might affect the assessment and desensitization phases. No significant differences were found between groups, suggesting that assessing negative cognitions may not be essential to treatment efficacy. However, further investigation is required due to the small sample size ( N ), and it remains to be seen whether results will hold with a larger N . Nonetheless, this study lays the groundwork for future research.