Matthijssen Suzy J M A, Brouwers Thomas C, van den Hout Marcel A, Klugkist Irene G, de Jongh Ad
Altrecht Academic Anxiety Centre, Altrecht GGz, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2021 Apr 9;12(1):1883924. doi: 10.1080/20008198.2021.1883924.
: Visual Schema Displacement Therapy (VSDT) is a novel therapy for the treatment of fears and trauma-related mental health problems including PTSD. VSDT proved to be effective in reducing emotionality of aversive memories in healthy individuals in two previous randomized controlled trials and outperformed both a non-active control condition (CC) and an abbreviated version of EMDR therapy, a well-established first-line treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. : In an effort to enhance the understanding concerning the efficacy of VSDT, and to determine its active components, a dismantling study was conducted in individuals with disturbing memories in which the effects of VSDT were tested against EMDR therapy, a non-active CC and three different VSDT-protocols, each excluding or altering a hypothesized active component. : Participants ( = 144) were asked to recall an emotional aversive event and were randomly assigned to one of these six interventions, each lasting 8 minutes. Emotional disturbance and vividness of participants' memories were rated before and after the intervention and at one and four-week follow-up. : Replicatory Bayesian analyses supported hypotheses in which VSDT was superior to the CC and the EMDR condition in reducing emotionality, both directly after the intervention and at one week follow-up. However, at four-week follow-up, VSDT proved equal to EMDR while both treatments were superior to the CC. Concerning vividness the data also showed support for hypotheses predicting VSDT being equal to EMDR and both being superior to the CC in vividness reduction. Further analyses specifying differences between the abbreviated VSDT protocols detected no differences between these conditions. : It remains unclear how VSDT yields its positive effects. Because VSDT appears to be unique and effective in decreasing emotionality of aversive memories, replication of the results in clinical samples is needed.
视觉模式置换疗法（VSDT）是一种用于治疗恐惧及与创伤相关的心理健康问题（包括创伤后应激障碍）的新型疗法。在之前的两项随机对照试验中，VSDT被证明能有效降低健康个体中厌恶记忆的情绪性，且其效果优于非活性对照条件（CC）以及眼动脱敏再处理疗法（EMDR）的简化版，EMDR是一种成熟的创伤后应激障碍一线治疗方法。
为了增进对VSDT疗效的理解，并确定其有效成分，对有困扰记忆的个体进行了一项拆解研究，在该研究中，将VSDT的效果与EMDR疗法、非活性CC以及三种不同的VSDT方案进行了对比，每种方案都排除或改变了一个假定的有效成分。
参与者（n = 144）被要求回忆一个情绪性厌恶事件，并被随机分配到这六种干预措施中的一种，每种干预持续8分钟。在干预前后以及干预后1周和4周的随访中，对参与者记忆的情绪困扰和生动程度进行了评分。
在干预后直接以及干预后1周的随访中，VSDT在降低情绪性方面优于CC和EMDR条件。然而，在4周的随访中，VSDT被证明与EMDR相当，而两种治疗均优于CC。关于生动程度，数据也支持了预测VSDT与EMDR相当且两者在降低生动程度方面均优于CC的假设。进一步分析特定简化VSDT方案之间的差异未发现这些条件之间存在差异。
目前尚不清楚VSDT如何产生其积极效果。由于VSDT在降低厌恶记忆的情绪性方面似乎是独特且有效的，因此需要在临床样本中复制这些结果。
