Affrontare il trauma per gestire la disabilità: risultati preliminari di un intervento di gruppo per genitori

Families are really challenged by the communication of a disability of a child. They need to recreate a new balance to face a difficulty with such an overwhelming emotional impact. The acceptance of the disability of one’s child is the result of a process that does not happen automatically. Parents of children with medium and severe disabilities experience high levels of stress and burden, with effects comparable to those of a traumatic event. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) allows the reorganization of memories in a functional and adaptive way according to the principles of Adaptive Information Processing reducing its emotional impact. EMDR promote an adaptive processing of the traumatic experience of receiving a disability diagnosis and negative prognosis of a child. We aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing with this population with the Integrative Group Treatment Protocol (EMDR-IGTP). Thirty-nine parents entered in the study. The treatment consisted of ten group sessions. Emotional distress, coping and post-traumatic growth were measured before the treatment, and three months post-intervention, using several clinical scales. Preliminary results show that parents increase scores in the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory at post-intervention. We will illustrate the intervention protocol and outcomes.