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Military Different types of therapy

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Hi @Rain. Thanks for sharing!

Ok. So. EMDR. Doesn't take the memories away but for lack of a better word "calms" them. Because they're not just memories. With them come guilt, shame, depression, anger, all of it. So if you can "calm" the memory it can pass quicker. In and out! I like it. :)

So glad you're getting the care you need and deserve. You are always so kind and helpful to everyone around here. Consider yourself appreciated!
 
I have a civilian trauma T who has done talk therapy using both Internal Family and a version of CBT. Her goal was to get me to see that my brain is still fighting to protect itself and how to discover the "parts" that keep me going. They started as defense mechanisms and now...well... not so much. Especially the "critic" who is the one who won't let me rest because its dangerous. I had a hard time with that because I was afraid the idea there were people running rampant in my brain meant I was schizophrenic - when in reality it's just an elaborate coping method. Generally civilian T helps me in day to day life, how my brain functions, what my mal adaptive coping techniques are, how to react to my symptoms, etc.

I have a VA therapist that I do EMDR with. There is some debate about if it should be used for the complex stuff, but if it's done by someone experienced it can be done successfully. EMDR helps me get to the bottom of what is causing my flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, blah blah. It digs up the traumas and walks me back through them so I can what my thoughts and reactions were then, what they are now and how to change what I believe about my role in the events. It is terrifying, awful, and physically painful and the achievements are counted in seconds rather than hours. But it is working and I am getting better. for me its an excruciatingly slow process because we are working on multiple traumas

One thing that may encourage him to look at EMDR is that it can be done fairly quickly. For people with individual traumas it can be successful in 8 to 12 sessions. So if he has gotten himself stable except for dealing with one or two bad memories/events it could be a relatively quick fix. And by fix --- it takes that horrible puking, angry, guilty, shame inducing event that seem like it is happening right now and turns it into an unpleasant memory that you can think about calmly as something in the past.
 
My T explains it like this.

You have an experience...like me answering this thread ..And it goes into present tense in the front of my brain. When I got to sleep I go into REM and that memory passes into long term memory In the back of my brain

In trauma the memory never leaves present tense. It is stuck there, so you feel it over and over again. EMDR is a way to force your brain to understand the event is in the wrong place and helps process it so it moves into long term memory where it belongs
 
I know you're in Canada @Iceman but would the VA offer this? I haven't talked to my...


I'm not sure about other places, but there is a VA center in North Chicago that does emdr and has a short term inpatient program as well. There is also a non VA inpatient program that I guess the VA pays for as well. One of the parent supporters in my service connections group mentioned them to me because they're looking into them for their son. I haven't been able to bring it up with the so right now because he's not in the best place to listen.
I know that in North Carolina there is aDr he was seeing on the AF base when he was active that specialized in biofeedback. So there are probably a lot of options, but it's hard to find without extensive research.
 
@NaeNae75. Thanks for the heads up.

I'm just gonna call the VA and Vet Center and ask. I haven't been able to find anything online. PTSD is kicking J's butt right now. We need something different. He's even said so.

We have to find all available options for him. I'm on it! The civilian T's I found didn't look promising but I'll keep looking there too.

✌ &
 
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