4 ms·

Some of what they're saying reminds me of EMDR therapy which is also used (with mixed success) to treat PTSD, and is briefly mentioned in the underlying paper:

Some of what they're saying reminds me of EMDR therapy which is also used (with mixed success) to treat PTSD, and is briefly mentioned in the underlying paper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_a...

animal_spirits 2y ago
This was my first thought when I saw the title. Lots of rapid eye movement and stimulation alongside therapy might release some of the stored trauma.
radlad 2y ago
From your link: > There is debate about how the therapy works and whether it is more effective than other established treatments.[3][9] The eye movements have been criticized as having no scientific basis.[10] The founder promoted the therapy for the treatment of PTSD, and proponents employed untestable hypotheses to explain negative results in controlled studies.[11] EMDR has been characterized as a pseudoscientific purple hat therapy (i.e., only as effective as its underlying therapeutic methods without any contribution from its distinctive add-ons).[12] I always assumed EMDR's effectiveness had nothing to do with eye movements.
- REDS1736 2y ago
  I support your assumption. The mechanisms of how EDMR affects the PTSD symptoms are still debated, but indeed a quite prevalent opinion (which i also subscribe to) is that EMDR is not at all about the eye movements but about the exposition therapy happening concurrently. Exposition has been robustly proven to be effective at PTDS treatment and as far as i know, there is no rigorous evidence for EMDR having more effect than standalone exposition, highly suggesting that the exposition part is what makes EMDR work.
- petercooper 2y ago
  I'm only an educated reader, not a doctor, but I think the role of eye movements (or Tetris!) in these types of therapies is simply to consume the patient's full attention and brain power without being tiring or frustrating in the short term - those things just happen to be quite effective at it.

animal_spirits 2y ago

This was my first thought when I saw the title. Lots of rapid eye movement and stimulation alongside therapy might release some of the stored trauma.

radlad 2y ago

From your link: > There is debate about how the therapy works and whether it is more effective than other established treatments.[3][9] The eye movements have been criticized as having no scientific basis.[10] The founder promoted the therapy for the treatment of PTSD, and proponents employed untestable hypotheses to explain negative results in controlled studies.[11] EMDR has been characterized as a pseudoscientific purple hat therapy (i.e., only as effective as its underlying therapeutic methods without any contribution from its distinctive add-ons).[12] I always assumed EMDR's effectiveness had nothing to do with eye movements.

REDS1736 2y ago
I support your assumption. The mechanisms of how EDMR affects the PTSD symptoms are still debated, but indeed a quite prevalent opinion (which i also subscribe to) is that EMDR is not at all about the eye movements but about the exposition therapy happening concurrently. Exposition has been robustly proven to be effective at PTDS treatment and as far as i know, there is no rigorous evidence for EMDR having more effect than standalone exposition, highly suggesting that the exposition part is what makes EMDR work.
petercooper 2y ago
I'm only an educated reader, not a doctor, but I think the role of eye movements (or Tetris!) in these types of therapies is simply to consume the patient's full attention and brain power without being tiring or frustrating in the short term - those things just happen to be quite effective at it.