Therapists and training
MDD, depression, TFT, PTSD
TAU and TFT are performed by psychologists (or psychiatrists in case of medication), recruited from participating mental health organizations, who have at least a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and clinical experience in providing evidence-based depression treatments. In addition, most of the therapists have completed a comprehensive training in cognitive behavioral therapy. TFT therapists have to be qualified to provide both EMDR and ImRs. For EMDR, therapists must have at least completed a 4-day training. In addition, therapists are required to attend a 3-h study-specific EMDR training session which focusses on factors that need to be taken into account when providing EMDR for patients with MDD instead of PTSD (i.e. concentration problems and the amount of working memory taxation). For ImRs, therapists are obligated to follow a 2-day ImRs training consisting of didactic teaching and role-playing exercises. Therapists are instructed to strictly follow the EMDR and ImRs treatment protocol and attend monthly EMDR and ImRs supervision to monitor and uphold treatment fidelity. All TFT sessions are videotaped or audiotaped if the patient explicitly consents. A sample of randomly selected taped therapy sessions will be rated using the modified ImRs Therapist Adherence and Competence Scale [