COVID-19 Emergency: emotional decompression interventions towards healthcare professionals at Udine Hospital (Italy) through EMDR technique

Background and objective. The present work aims at describing our experience in psychological support of healthcare professionals from Udine Hospital (Italy) during COVID-19 pandemic through EMDR-IGTP (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing-Integrative Group Treatment Protocol) intervention technique aimed at reducing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms in participants from Emergency, Intensive Care and Infectious Disease/Pneumology Units. Methods/intervention. Between April-September 2021, 23 group meetings (117 participants) were organized. Psychological intervention was performed through EMDR-IGTP protocol. IES-R (Impact of Event Scale-Revised) was administered to assess PTSD symptoms. Preliminary efficacy analysis of EMDR was performed by comparing intensity of subjective disturbance of trauma related images (Subjective Units of Disturbance – SUD) at the beginning and at the end of intervention. Moreover, IES-R data from a subset of 17 participants who took part to more than one meeting were longitudinally compared to explore changes in IES-R scores. Results. Mild to severe PTSD symptoms were present in 79% of the participants. Prevailing symptom was “Intrusivity” (persisting/intrusive thoughts and images related to trauma) which was significantly higher than “Avoidance” (attempts to avoid reminders/situations/thoughts) and “Hyperarousal” (hyperactivation, anger, irritation, sleep difficulty). SUD levels comparison showed that 42.7% of participants reported 8-to-10/10 SUD levels at the beginning, but only 10.9% at the end of the intervention. A significant reduction in Hyperarousal levels was found between first assessment and follow-up in the 17 participants taking part to more meetings. Conclusions/lessons learned. Results show high incidence of PTSD symptoms in healthcare professionals exposed to high levels of stress during pandemic emergency. Preliminary analyses suggest that EMDR approach to trauma reduction can be effective, both immediately and also in the longer period.