Addiction-focused EMDR in Inpatients Who Use Non-opioid Drugs: a Multiple Baseline Study

Rationale: It is well established that Substance Use Disorders (SUD) have severe health consequences. Despite behavioral and pharmacological treatment options, relapse rates remain high. In particular, for non-opioid drugs, such as amphetamines, cocaine, base-coke and cannabis, established, evidence-based pharmacological options to reduce craving, to substitute substance use or to enforce abstinence are lacking. Therefore, there is a need for effective interventions for patients who use non-opioid drugs to reach and maintain long-term abstinence.

A potential interesting intervention is addiction-focused Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (AF-EMDR) therapy. However, the limited research on AF-EMDR therapy and mixed findings thus far prohibit clinical use. Recently, on the basis of diverse findings thus far, an adjusted AF-EMDR therapy protocol has been developed.