Young children with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) require interventions tailored to their unique trauma reactions and their cognitive, social, and emotional development. While both EMDR therapy and TF-CBT are highly recommended for PTSD treatment and seem developmentally appropriate for early childhood, neither is yet evidence-based for children under 6 years with PTSD, and EMDR has not been evaluated in this population through a randomized group comparison. To describe the design of a French assessor-blinded randomized trial comparing EMDR and TF-CBT efficacy in young children (aged 3 to 6 years) with PTSD, which notably considers both the child's level of cognitive development and parental symptomatology in addition to the child's symptoms. This study includes children aged 3 to 6 years and 11 months with a diagnosis of PTSD and no other specific pathological condition. After recruitment, the study takes place in three stages: 1/ assessment of the child’s various cognitive functions and symptomatology, and the parents’ distress and PTSD; 2/ either EMDR or TF-CBT treatment is administered over 6 to 12 sessions; 3/ reassessment of the symptomatology (at end of treatment and three months later). This paper describes the study design of the first assessor-blinded randomized trial comparing EMDR therapy and TF-CBT in French children aged 3 to 6 years. The findings of this study, once completed, may offer support for the efficacy of EMDR and TF-CBT, potentially paving the way for future recommendations in the treatment of PTSD in young children.
Nina et al. (Fri,) studied this question.