After listening to the Case Studies in Non-evidence Based Treatment Part One, I have selected the case study of Ivan S. Ivan is from the Navajo decent and is between the ages of 20-26 years old. He wa

After listening to the Case Studies in Non-evidence Based Treatment Part One, I have selected the case study of Ivan S. Ivan is from the Navajo decent and is between the ages of 20-26 years old. He was deployed to Iraq a few times to fight in the war. Upon returning from his first departure, there were obvious changes in his behavior and mood. He began struggling with anger management as he had squabbles with his wife and children. This behavior was different than before his departure. He was then deployed again and upon return of his second departure, it was obvious he was affected by the war. He went to the Naval Hospital where he indicated the following symptoms: stoic mood, aggressive behavior by beating his wife, recurrent nightmares, night sweats, and drinking alcohol. There were no changes or relief to his symptoms after going to the hospital and taking medication. In addition, there were no changes or relief to his symptoms after seeing a counselor. Based on this information, I would make a provisional diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

According to Maier (2012) evidence-based practice is a general plan that strives to improve the way decisions are made amongst professionals with the intentions to implement the best strategy specific for the situation. An evidence based treatment for PTSD is the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). EMDR is a therapy treatment that consists of eight phases. The therapy treatment is designed to desensitize traumatic experiences by combining exposure and side to side eye movements or other stimulation including hand tapping, tones, or buzzers (Jowett et al., 2016). The EMDR psychotherapy does not use verbal communication or psychopharmacology, but rather the patient’s eye movements and recalling emotions related to the event aim to decrease memory of prior traumatic experiences. Jowett et al. (2016) conducted a study on EMDR in adults with PTSD and intellectual disability. It was discovered during post treatment that PTSD symptoms improved amongst all patients. In addition, another study was conducted on active duty service members with PTSD and the effectiveness of EMDR. The PTSD Checklist Military (PCL-M) version was used as a measurement tool in the study.  It was concluded that PCL-M significantly improved as a result of using EMDR therapy and individuals who received EMDR treatment received fewer therapy sessions (McLay et al., 2016). Based on this information, EMDR is an effective evidence-based treatment plan that is shown to improve the well-being of individuals with PTSD. Thus, this research evidence assists in improving the outcomes for clients, service providers, and society (Mudford, McNeill, Walton & Phillips, 2012).

References

Jowett, S., Karatzias, T., Brown, M., Grieve, A., Paterson, D., & Walley, R. (2016). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) for DSM–5 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults with intellectual disabilities: A case study review. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 8(6), 709–719. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.1037/tra0000101 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Maier, T. (2012). Limitations to evidence-based practice. In P. Sturmey & M. Hersen (Series Eds.). Handbook of evidence-based practice in clinical psychology: Vol. 2. Adult disorders (pp. 55-69). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

McLay, R. N., Webb-Murphy, J. A., Fesperman, S. F., Delaney, E. M., Gerard, S. K., Roesch, S. C., … Johnston, S. L. (2016). Outcomes from eye movement desensitization and reprocessing in active-duty service members with posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 8(6), 702–708. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.1037/tra0000120 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Mudford, O. C., McNeill, R., Walton, L., & Phillips, K. J. (2012). Rationale and standards of evidence-based practice. In P. Sturmey & M. Hersen (Series Eds.), Handbook of evidence-based practice in clinical psychology: Vol. 1. Child and adolescent disorders (pp. 3-26). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

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