Studying the Effect of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing on Improvement of Active Memory in Patients with Myocardial Infarction: A Randomized Clinical Trial Study

Patients with myocardial infarction experience trauma. This physical damage accumulates and consolidates anxiety and negative death–related thoughts in the patient's memory, leads to changes in their thinking and cognition process, and provides grounds for memory failure and cognitive deficits. Strengthening active memory can play an essential role in improving the quality of life, adaptation, and coping of patients with myocardial infarction in stressful and difficult conditions, reducing the probability of subsequent myocardial attacks, accelerating the return to work, and strengthening mental health. However, there has been little research on strengthening the active memory of this group. In this regard, the challenge of desensitization with eye movements and reprocessing is a cognitive method that can strengthen cognitive functions as a challenging stimulus. So, this study investigated the effect of the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) method on the active memory of patients with myocardial infarction.

This clinical trial was conducted in 2021–2022. Using the convenience sampling method, sampling started after obtaining the code of ethics from Yasuj Islamic Azad University, Ethics Committee. Also, the study was registered in the Clinical Trial Center of Iran. A total of 60 patients with myocardial infarction who were eligible volunteers were selected from the medical centers of Yasuj City, Iran. They were randomly selected and divided equally into two groups: intervention and control, using random block allocation. The demographic information questionnaire and the Wechsler Working Memory Scale (Wechsler, 1945) were used for data collection. The EMDR method was implemented for the intervention group during six treatment sessions. The control group patients received only the usual medical care and no therapeutic intervention. The EMDR was performed in the consultation room of the cardiac department and the therapeutic and educational environment of the hospital and counseling centers with the consultation and coordination of the treatment group of the researcher and consultant cardiologist. Data analysis was performed using descriptive (mean, standard deviation, table, graph) and inferential statistics (univariate and multivariate covariance) in SPSS software version 21 at a significance level of 0.05.

The results indicated that after removing the pretest effect, there was a significant difference in the working memory variable between the two groups in the posttest (p<0.001). The analysis of each dependent variable (direct and reverse memory) was determined alone after removing the effect of the pretest. In the posttest, these two variables showed significant differences between the two groups. As the comparison of means showed, the mean of direct memory (p<0.001) and reverse memory (p<0.001) were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group.

Based on the findings of the study, the desensitization treatment with EMDR is effective in strengthening and increasing active memory and its components, including direct memory and reverse memory in patients with heart attack.