In
this study, the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing was used with a 26
years old, blind male university student. Because of his visual handicap, knee
tapping procedure has been used as an alternative to the EMDR. After his
brother?s death he attempted to suicide and then the client had a therapy in a
crisis center. His psychological distress related to specific memories (e.g.,
after his brother?s death, being forced to the morgue to see and touch him, and
his sensations about coldness and scent of the death body) was bothering him in
his daily life. His memories about his brother?s death, suicidal history,
guiltiness, helplessness, and his thoughts that he disappointed the others were
evaluated throughout the sessions. Cognitive-weave technique was also utilized
during the sessions. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) was applied as a pre and
post test measures. After the two sessions and one-month and three-month
follow-up, it was found that the BSI scores were generally lowered. In addition,
he reported that he had a progress in his personal growth. The case reported
here was interesting in the sense that it was the first successful application
of knee tapping form of the EMDR technique with a blind person. The results of
this study showed that the vividness of traumatic images due to hearing,
smelling and touching would be reduced as in the EMDR studies. This article also
includes the negative results about EMDR method and its efficacy.
Keywords: Blind person, EMDR with knee tapping, traumatic memories