Effects of Stabilization Techniques in Managing Psychological Distress

Abstract

Study shows that psychological distress is a prevalent issue in Bangladesh, with a significant portion of the population experiencing mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, stress, trauma and PTSD etc (GBD, 2017; WHO, 2020; Banna, et al., 2020; Cai et al., 2021; Rozario & Islam, 2022; Riaz, Islam, Ahmed, et al, 2023; Chowdhury, 2023). Based on the research gap and the potential benefits of stabilization techniques with bilateral stimulation (BLS), the present study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of stabilization techniques (with and without BLS) in managing psychological distress (depression, anxiety and stress) and their effects on self-esteem and mental well-being among the Bangladeshi citizens. Thus, to provide valuable insights about the effectiveness of stabilization techniques, the current study aimed to- a) investigate the effectiveness of stabilization techniques in managing psychological distress such as depression, anxiety and stress of adult population b) examine the effectiveness of stabilization techniques on self-esteem and mental well-being, c) compare the effectiveness of stabilization techniques with and without BLS in managing psychological distress (depression, anxiety and stress), d) examine the impact of stabilization techniques on psychological distress regarding different demographic variables such as gender, educational level and age, e) investigate the effectiveness of the stabilization techniques (with and without BLS) through online platform, f) inquire about the stabilization technique practices in Bangladesh of EMDR therapy practitioners and g) provide recommendation for the integration of stabilization techniques with and without BLS in clinical practices. A sample of 61 took part in this present study. The samples were collected through the purposive sampling technique. Among the 61 participants 54 were received counselling session and rest of the 7 took part xiii in in-depth interviews. The 54 participants were divided into two groups-Treatment group-1 (with BLS) consisted of 25 participants who received counselling sessions using BLS and Treatment group-2 (without BLS) comprised of another 29 participants and they received counselling sessions without BLS. The 9 out of 54 participants attended online counselling services, 4 were in Treatment group-1 and 5 participated in Treatment group-2. The 3 counsellors used abdominal breathing and container exercises for both with and without BLS group as common techniques. The rest of the four tools (Grounding Technique, Inner Garden, Resource Team Exercise and Healing Light) implemented with BLS in Treatment group-1 (with BLS group) through eye-movements and butterfly hug techniques and for the Treatment group-2 (without BLS group) these tools were administered without BLS. The researcher collected data 3 times (pre-test, post-test and follow-up test) from the total 54 participants using Bangla Warwick Edinburg Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) (Rahman & Islam, 2013), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, Bangla Version, (DASS 21V) (Alim et al., 2016), Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and Guidelines for In-depth Interviews (IDIs) and 7 in-depth interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data with 7 EMDR practitioners. One-way repeated measurement ANOVA, Post hoc comparison using Bonferroni correction, t-test, Cohen’s d size effect, Kruskal Wali's test and Mann-Whitney U test were performed within the scope of the research were carried out using SPSS 27 (IBM, 2021) for quantitative and thematic analysis for qualitative data analysis. The results showed that stabilization techniques were statistically significant in managing psychological distresses (depression F (1.301, 67.654) =131.555, p<.001, partial eta squared = 0.717; anxiety F (1.503, 78.178) = 209.616, p<.001, partial eta squared = 0.801; and stress F (1.503, 89.808) = 212.163, p < .001, partial eta squared = 0.801.) and xiv increasing self-esteem and well-being (self-esteem F (1.586, 82.497) =100.412, p<.001, partial eta squared = 0.659 and mental well-being F (1.429, 74.310) =210.926, p<.001, partial eta squared = 0.802) of the study participants. Furthermore, the pairwise comparison among the psychological distresses (depression, anxiety and stress) and time (pre, post and follow-up test) evident statistically significant differences too. The results showed that during post and follow-up test all the groups size effects are large and medium only self-esteem has small size effects. The results also revealed that stabilization techniques with BLS is more effective than without BLS. The study did not find any significant differences among gender, age and educational level regarding stress and depression. Only in case of anxiety, significant differences ((M=15.00, SD=8.587) p<.05) were found for the age range of 26-35 years. The result showed that stabilization techniques through the online platform was also significant and their partial eta squared was from medium to large. In addition to this, the Mann-Whitney U test statistics for both online with and without BLS and for post and follow-up were greater than .05 except for the self-esteem post and anxiety follow-up scores. Therefore, no significant differences were found between online with and without BLS but during post-test of self-esteem and follow-up test of anxiety with BLS is more effective than without BLS. The qualitative data highlights the positive effects and applicability of stabilization techniques. Measures should be taken to incorporate stabilization techniques in daily clinical practices, to provide more training for mental health professionals and to conducted related research for ensuring evidence-based ethical practices and thus, contribute to bring a positive change in mental health sector of Bangladesh.