All Things EMDR

[Skywatcher]

I noticed a lot of mention of emdr around the community. I have been in it for a year now. I thought maybe we could post questions or some odd experiences here.

Odd experience:

I keep noticing a weird shiver feeling in my stomach later in the week when I have a thought related to my emdr session. Usually, it is trust or betrayal themed thoughts. My T says that it is the body releasing stored trauma. I actually am starting to agree with this. Have you experienced anything like this in your body?

 

[Teamwork]

I have a question. Shouldn't the t be open and honest when using aspects of emdr in therapy? Last two visits he would say can you find a safe place? Go to it. Blink three times. Asked if I would also tap each leg while in the safe place and continue blinking three times. I couldn't do the leg tapping but he knows that I have a tendency to rock side to side so he suggested that. I was curious about this so I researched it and found the tapping is a part of emdr set ups. The eye blinking may be as well. I'm not against it. When I found the safe place and did the blinking thing I did feel calmer. I just dont like that hes using this treatment without saying what he is doing. So I am curious as to whether others who are not familiar with it and have looked up things the t does as i did, also come to realize things are being used in treatment without discussion. I know he is not using the full emdr protocols, but seems to be incorporating parts of it. Any thoughts?

 

[Skywatcher]

@Teamwork
Perhaps he is using eft? Emdr follows a pretty set format, where you state a negative belief about yourself based on part of your trauma and then say what you would like to believe. The left right stimulation can be done with hand buzzers, a light or sounds that move left/right and happens as you think of the beliefs while watching your trauma in your mind.

I have been taught to do self soothing where I think of my safe space and tap left/right, so maybe it is connected? ??‍

I would just ask your therapist. I think that some people don’t mind what type of therapy is happening as long as it helps. However, I am one to research, so I would want to know.

 

[Friday]

I just dont like that hes using this treatment without saying what he is doing.

Those are parts of LOTS of different treatment paradigms. Not just EMDR.

And not just trauma & PTSD, either.

 

[Teamwork]

I have been taught to do self soothing where I think of my safe space and tap left/right, so maybe it is connected? ??‍

Glad I asked as it lends me something else to consider. Did not know that was eft. What is with the eye blinking then? do you know?

 

[Stephani8o]

Thanks for the post. I've been doing edmr a whole now. Sometimes I don't want to explain what I feel because it's more like what I see. It's hard and I'm embarrassed about my imagination. Everything is very vivid with colors that have meaning. Like today I was trying to tell myself I had worth even though nobody saved me as a kid. I followed some thoughts and then I was there as a child sitting crosslegged on the floor in a dark black room saying it doesn't matter. Is that common?

 

[Wendell_R]

Sometimes the emdr work keeps going after the session. I'll wake up anxious at night and do some of the same safe places/safe people that I do in emdr while tapping my fingers alternately. Then, I often fall back asleep and have really vivid & colorful dreams.

When I do emdr, we use finger tappers & headphones. I often, but not all the time, have my eyes closed. It's interesting that I have this sensation of a white glow alternating sides with the rhythm of the emdr.

 

[Skywatcher]

My therapist said that vivid memories are unprocessed stuff and they start to dull as your suds get down to 1. I find this to be true. This kind of guides me into other stuff that I may need to work on. My T encouraged me to get an emdr ap called anxiety release. Recently I kept having panic attacks about something I’m working on with my T. I used the ap (it guides you into releasing anxiety and bings in ear buds). I was able to self soothe and bring my comfort people in, and for the first time my therapist was pulled in. Part of the stuff we are working on is attachment, abandonment and me being apart from her. The fact that I could have her with me in my mind was so comforting.

Thanks for the post. I've been doing edmr a whole now. Sometimes I don't want to explain what I feel because it's more like what I see. It's hard and I'm embarrassed about my imagination. Everything is very vivid with colors that have meaning. Like today I was trying to tell myself I had worth even though nobody saved me as a kid. I followed some thoughts and then I was there as a child sitting crosslegged on the floor in a dark black room saying it doesn't matter. Is that common?

I think you would just need to keep going back into your memory until you can find a solution. What did your therapist say about it?

 

[Wendell_R]

for the first time my therapist was pulled in. Part of the stuff we are working on is attachment, abandonment and me being apart from her. The fact that I could have her with me in my mind was so comforting.

I bring my therapist in as a safe person, and that has been a big plus for me, too. I'm working heavily on attachment and abandonment, and the EMDR has been really helpful in creating a safe place where those things can be healed.

 

[Stephani8o]

I think you would just need to keep going back into your memory until you can find a solution. What did your therapist say about it?

She just asked what the color meant and we went from there. Maybe my imagination isn't so strange. I'm not used to describing the inner workings of my mind. Also I keep bumping into my inner child but I don't really believe in that so I don't know what to do with that.

She just asked what the color meant and we went from there. Maybe my imagination isn't so strange. I'm not used to describing the inner workings of my mind. Also I keep bumping into my inner child but I don't really believe in that so I don't know what to do with that.

Also, I haven't had to use any of my safety except to relax before leaving. I struggle getting into the memories and the feelings. They seem foggy until I can find a way in. My sister in law is like my "support" and that's been helpful bc she is the voice of reason and get things going.

 

[Skywatcher]

Also, I haven't had to use any of my safety except to relax before leaving. I struggle getting into the memories and the feelings. They seem foggy until I can find a way in. My sister in law is like my "support" and that's been helpful bc she is the voice of reason and get things going.

Thing is... is it your imagination? yes... memories are malleable, but they are memories and some say that the parts of trauma memories that are frozen in time weren’t changed over time.

With some of my emdr stuff, I feel like my younger self is trying to show me some stuff. To solve the crime so that she can be at peace. My memories were gone until the flashbacks started coming in. So we did emdr on the flashbacks and there were parts that became much worse when the details emerged.