Cooling the craving
Project leader: Eline Borger Rognli
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. The method aims to reduce the emotional response to alcohol-related triggers. First, situations, feelings, and thoughts that create cravings are identified. Then, the therapist and patient work together to reduce the activation associated with these triggers, one by one. The patient is asked to vividly imagine a trigger while simultaneously following a light or the therapist’s fingers moving rapidly from side to side, a process known as Bilateral Stimulation (BLS). By alternating between focusing on an external stimulus and the mental image of the trigger, the emotional activation is reduced.
Participants are offered rapid access to AF-EMDR. They receive AF-EMDR over a three-week period, with two sessions per week. The goal is to reduce the patient’s cravings for alcohol and decrease alcohol consumption. After the three weeks of intensive work targeting alcohol-related triggers, regular treatment begins as usual.
The information from this pilot project will form the basis for a possible larger study. Eight patients who are eligible for treatment at the Substance Use Outpatient Clinics Section at Oslo University Hospital (OUS) are offered three weeks of AF-EMDR before starting their standard treatment.
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