Eye Movement Desentization and Reproccessing (EMDR) For Exam Anxiety : A Case Report

Exam anxiety causes poor academic performance and psychological problems for students. Those who have test anxiety; When they will take the exam, they encounter undesirable situations due to tension, anxiety and overstimulation of the central nervous system. Repetitive and self-critical thoughts that cause anxiety, physiological arousal, and marked emotional problems are associated with test anxiety. Negative experiences related to the exam before can also cause exam anxiety. It is known that various psychotherapy methods are useful for the treatment of test anxiety. There are few publications reporting that the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) method has been tried in the treatment of test anxiety. In this study, brief information about the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) method is given, and a 17-year-old case with intense test anxiety and a decrease in anxiety level as a result of the EMDR study is presented. In the counselee, who had intense anxiety and fear about the university exam, it was evaluated that this anxiety was related to the experience he had in the high school exam, and after the EMDR treatment, the counselee settled in a 4-year department of a well-established state university in Istanbul, which he targeted after the university selection and placement exam. Based on the case presented in this study, it can be said that Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) method can be used as an effective treatment technique in exam anxiety caused by trauma