7 Aug 2025 • In postpartum women with traumatic birth experiences, early eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy significantly reduced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms by 9 weeks.

Key Findings:

• The EMDR group showed an 8.7-point greater drop in PCL-5 scores and a 3.8-point improvement in CAPS-5 scores.
• Probable PTSD incidence fell from 39.2% to 11.1%, outperforming usual care (44.9% to 29.2%; aOR 0.32).
• EMDR also led to reduced depression, improved mother-infant bonding, less fear of childbirth, and better psychological quality of life, with no impact on breastfeeding.

Findings support early EMDR as an effective postnatal intervention for trauma recovery.

Source: Science Direct | Read Full Story