Clinical trial NCT01207960: Efficacy of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in Dental Phobia
Official title: A Randomized Wait-list Control Study of the Efficacy of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in Patients With Dental Phobia
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Dental Phobia
Keywords: dental phobia
psychotherapy
eye movement desensitization and reprocessing - EMDR
efficacy
wait-list control
Lead sponsor: University Hospital Muenster
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2010-09-23
Enrollment: 24
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 75
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to find out whether Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is effective in the treatment of patients with dental phobia.

Detailed description: Dental phobia represents a clinical condition that affects 5-15% of the community and is characterized by severe anxiety of dental treatment which leads to avoidance of treatment and, as a consequence, severe dental as well as psychosocial problems.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has been developed for the treatment of patients with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Its efficacy in PTSD patients has often been demonstrated in randomized controlled trials.

Recently it has been demonstrated that dental phobia is often induced by traumatic events during dental treatment and goes along with symptoms of PTSD in numerous patients.

A pilot study (de Jongh et al. 2002) gave hints on the efficacy of EMDR in four dental phobia patients with a history of traumatization during dental treatment.

This randomized wait-list control study aims to evaluate the efficacy of EMDR in a larger sample of dental phobia patients.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* dental phobia according to the World Health Organization´s International Classification of Diseases, ICD-10 (F40.2)

Exclusion Criteria:

* schizophrenic disorder
* severe depression
* severe dissociative disorder
* organic brain disease
* anorexia nervosa (body mass index, BMI \< 17)
* suicidality
* severe cardio-vascular disease
* ophthalmic disease
* pregnancy and lactation
* psychopharmacological treatment
* substance abuse

Primary outcomes:
measure: Dental anxiety
timeFrame: 4 weeks
measure: Dental anxiety
timeFrame: 3 months
measure: Dental anxiety
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: General psychopathology
timeFrame: 4 weeks, 3 months, 12 months
measure: Anxiety and depression
timeFrame: 4 weeks, 3 months, 12 months
measure: Behavioral test
timeFrame: 4 weeks
measure: Dental treatment
timeFrame: 3 months, 12 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Muenster
country: Germany
facility: Psychosomatics in Dentistry, Dept. of Prosthodontics & Material Science, University Hospital Muenster
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Muenster, Germany
name: Stephan Doering, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: De Jongh A, van den Oord HJ, ten Broeke E. Efficacy of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing in the treatment of specific phobias: Four single-case studies on dental phobia. J Clin Psychol. 2002 Dec;58(12):1489-503. doi: 10.1002/jclp.10100.
citation: de Jongh A, Fransen J, Oosterink-Wubbe F, Aartman I. Psychological trauma exposure and trauma symptoms among individuals with high and low levels of dental anxiety. Eur J Oral Sci. 2006 Aug;114(4):286-92. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0722.2006.00384.x.