The EMDR approach used as a tool to provide psychological help to refugees and asylum seekers in Rome

Journal title PSICOBIETTIVO
Author/s Antonio Onofri, Paola Castelli Gattinara, Alessandra Ciolfi, Marta Lepore, Silvia Ventriglia
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/1
Language Italian Pages 21 P. 75-95 File size 571 KB
DOI 10.3280/PSOB2014-001006
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The Authors briefly describe the most common psychiatric symptoms in a specific sample of immigrants, the Refugees and the Asylum Seekers. They remind the high frequency of complex posttraumatic reactions (Herman, 1997) in this clinical population, characterized by multiple, prolonged and often interpersonal traumatic events. Quite important seem to be the Somatization Disorders and those therapeutic interventions capable to pay particular attention to the body. After a short review of the psychotherapy for Refugees and Asylum Seekers, the Authors report first the institutional story of a Clinic for Posttraumatic Stress Disorders and of a Service of Psychological Aid specifically directed to this clinical population; then, they describe a therapeutic protocol with the EMDR approach, phase oriented, initially centered on the patient’s stabilization, on the activation of individual resources, on the control of the dissociative and anxious symptoms, on the improvement of the bodily symptoms, and only in a second moment on the reprocessing and integration of the traumatic memories (Shapiro, 2012). The paper ends with the report of three exemplificative single cases.

Keywords: EMDR; Refugees; Asylum Seekers; PTSD; Complex Trauma; Somatization Disorders

  1. Aragona M., Colosimo F. (2000) “Le sindromi da somatizzazione in un ambulatorio di medicina generale per gli immigrati in Italia”, Psichiatria e Territorio, 17: 1-6
  2. Aragona M., Tarsitani L., Colosimo F., Maisano B., Geraci S. (2005) “Somatization in primary care: a comparative survey of immigrants from various thnic groups in Rome, Italy”, International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 35: 241-248
  3. Aragona M., Catina E., Pucci D., Carrer S., Colosimo F., Lafuente M., Mazzetti M., Maisano B., Geraci S. (2010) “The relationship between somatization and posttraumatic symptoms among immigrants receiving primary care services”, Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23 (5): 615-622
  4. Aragona M., Pucci D., Mazzetti M., Geraci S. (2012) “Post-migration living difficulties as a significant risk factor for PTSD in immigrants: a primary care study”, Italian Journal of Public Health, 9 (3)
  5. Aragona M., Pucci D., Mazzetti M., Maisano B., Geraci S. (2013) “Traumatic events, post-migration living difficulties and post-traumatic symptoms in first generation immigrants: a primary care study”, Annali Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 49 (2): 169-175
  6. Caizzi C., Ciambellini S. (2008) “An ethnopsychiatric approach to healing trauma in involuntary immigrants and torture victims: a clinical case”, Transactional Analysis Journal, 38 (4): 273-284
  7. Cardozo B.L., Bilukha O.O., Crawford C.A., Shaikh I., Wolfe M.I., Gerber M.L. et al. (2004) “Mental health, social functioning, and disability in postwar Afghanistan”, Journal of the American Medical Association, 292: 575-584
  8. Commissione Nazionale per i Diritti di Asilo, Ministero dell’Interno-EUROSTAT (2013) Cirnotizie, XXII, 5-6 Dworkin M. (2005) EMDR and the Relational Imperative: The Therapeutic Relationship in EMDR Treatment, Routledge, New York (trad. it. La relazione terapeutica nel trattamento EMDR, Raffaello Cortina, Milano 2010)
  9. Ekbland S., Prochazka H., Roth G. (2002) “Psychological impact of torture: a 3-month follow-up of mass-evacuated Kosovan adults in Sweden. Lessons learnt for prevention”, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 412: 30-36
  10. Fazel M., Wheeler J., Danesh J. (2005) “Prevalence of serious mental disorder in 7000 refugees resettled in western countries: a systematic review”, Lancet, 365 (9467): 1309-1314
  11. Heptinstall E., Sethna V., Taylor E. (2004) “PTSD and depression in refugee children: association with pre-migration trauma and post-migration stress”, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 13: 373-380
  12. Herman J.L. (1992) “Complex PTSD: a syndrom in survivors of prolonged and repeated trauma”, Journal of Traumatic Stress, 5, 377-391
  13. Herman J.L. (1997) Trauma and recovery. The aftermath of violence from domestica buse to political terror, Basic Books, London (trad. it. Guarire dal trauma, Magi, Roma 2005)
  14. Miti G., Onofri A. (2011) “La psicoterapia dei disturbi dissociativi: dalle tecniche cognitivo-comportamentali all’approccio EMDR”, Cognitivismo Clinico, 8, 1: 73-91
  15. Nickerson A., Bryant R.A., Silove D., Steel Z. (2011) “A critical review of psychological treatments of posttraumatic stress disorder in refugees”, Clinical Psychology Review, 31: 399-417
  16. Nicolais G. (2011) “EMDR e Attaccamento”, Congresso Nazionale della Associazione Italiana per l’EMDR, Roma 23, 24 e 25 settembre
  17. Ogden P., Minton K., Pain C., Siegel D.J., Van der Kolk B. (2006) Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy, Norton, New York (trad. it. Il trauma e il corpo. Manuale di terapia sensomotoria, Istituto di Scienze Cognitive Editore, Sassari, 2012)
  18. Oras R., Cancela De Ezpeleta S., Ahmad A. (2004) “Treatment of traumatized refugee children with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in a psychodynamic context”, Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 58 (3): 199-203
  19. Palic S., Elklit A. (2011) “Psychosocial treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in adult refugees: a systematic review of prospective treatment outcome studies and a critique”, Journal of Affective Disorders, 131: 8-23
  20. Papadopoulos R.K. (2002) Therapeutic care for Regugee. No place like home. Karnac Books, London (trad. it. L’assistenza terapeutica ai rifugiati, Magi, Roma, 2006)
  21. Rasmussen A., Rosenfeld B., Reeves K., Keller A.S. (2007) “The subjective experience of trauma and subsequent PTSD in a sample of undocumented immigrants”, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195: 137-143
  22. Robiant K., Fazel M. (2010) “The emerging evidence for Narrative Exposure Therapy: a review”, Clinical Psychology Review, 1030-1039
  23. Sabin M., Sabin K., Kim H.J., Vergara M., Varese L. (2006) “The mental health status of Mayan refugees after rempatriation to Guatemala”, Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica, 19: 163-171
  24. Santone G. (2010) La dimensione del disagio mentale nei rifugiati e richiedenti asilo, SPRAR, Fondazione Cittalia – ANCI Ricerche
  25. Saxena S., Nepal M.K., Mohan D. (1988) “DSM III: Axis I diagnosis of Indian psychiatric patients presenting with somatic symptoms”, American Journal of Psychiatry, 145: 1023-1024
  26. Shapiro E., Brurit L. (2012) “The Recent Traumatic Episode Protocol (R-TEP) for Early EMDR Intervention (EEI) Revised”, Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 2: 113-115
  27. Shapiro F. (2001) Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: Basic Principles, Protocols and Procedures, Guilford Press, New York
  28. Shapiro F. (2012) Getting past your past: take control of your life with self-help techniques from EMDR Therapy, Rodale, New York (trad. it. Lasciare il passato nel passato. Tecniche EMDR di aiuto-aiuto, Astrolabio Ubaldini, Roma 2013)
  29. Siegel D. (1999) The Developing Mind, Guilford Press, New York (trad. it. La mente relazionale, Raffaello Cortina, Milano, 2001)
  30. Silove D., Sinnerbrink I., Field A., Manicavasagar V., Steel Z. (1997)
  31. “Anxiety, depression and PTSD in asylum-seekers: associations with premigration trauma and post-migration stressors, British Journal of Psychiatry, 170: 351-357
  32. Silove D., Steel Z., Miles V., Drobny J. (2002) “The impact of torture on posttraumatic stress symptoms in war-affected Tamil refugees and immigrants”, Comprehensive Psychiatry, 43: 49-55
  33. Sjolund B., Kastrup M., Montgomery E., Persson A.L. (2009) “Rehabilitating Torture Survivors”, Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 41: 689-696
  34. Spitzer C., Barnow S., Wingenfeld K., Rose M., Lowe B., Grabe H.J. (2009) “Complex post-traumatic stress disorder in patients with somatization disorder”, The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43: 80-86
  35. Ter Heide F.J.J., Mooren T.M., Kleijn W., De Jongh A., Kleber R.J. (2011) “EMDR versus stabilization in traumatised asylum seekers and refugees: result of a pilot study, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 2: 5881
  36. Tinker R.H. (2002) “EMDR for traumatised children around the world”, in J. Morris-Smith (ed.), EMDR: Clinical Applications with Children, Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry, London, 9-14
  37. Van der Haart O., Brown P., Van der Kolk B.A. (1989) “Pierre Janet on posttraumatic stress”, Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2 (4): 365-378
  38. Van der Haart O., Nijenhuis E.R.S., Solomon R. (2010) “Dissociation of the Personality in Complex Trauma-Related Disorders and EMDR: Theoretical Considerations”, Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 4, 2: 76-92
  39. Van der Kolk B.A., Pelcovitz D., Roth D., Mandel F.S., McFarlane A.,
  40. Herman J.L. (1996) “Dissociation, somatization and affect dysregulation: the complexity of adaptation to trauma”, American Journal of Psychiatry, 153: 83-93
  41. Van der Kolk B.A. (2005) “Developmental trauma disorder: toeard a rational diagnosis for children with complex trauma histories”, Psychiatric Annals, 35: 401-408
  42. Van Waning A., Groenenberg M., Den Brok B., Kleijn W. (2001) “EMDR integrated in a (psychoanalytic) psychotherapeutic approach in the treatment of traumatized refugees: discussion of a pilot project, unpublished manuscript
  43. Wilson S., Tinker R., Hofmann A., Becker L., Marshall L. (2000) “A field study of EMDR with Kosovar-Albanian refugee children using a group treatment protocol”, Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Traumatic Stress, San Antonio, Texas

Antonio Onofri, Paola Castelli Gattinara, Alessandra Ciolfi, Marta Lepore, Silvia Ventriglia, L’approccio EMDR in un servizio di aiuto psicologico per rifugiati e richiedenti asilo a Roma in "PSICOBIETTIVO" 1/2014, pp 75-95, DOI: 10.3280/PSOB2014-001006