After EMDR therapy concludes - What was it like for you & how long did it take to settle?

[Penguin79]

Hi,
I posted on here a few months when i first started EMDR therapy. Have now finished about 8 weeks ago and would be really interested to hear from others about their post treatment experiences.
I have had quite alot going on since, alot of crying, feeling like i dont know myself, feeling really different when relating to people i have known for ages etc...
Can anyone share what it was like for them and how long it to feel more settled etc...?

 

[joeylittle]

Can anyone share what it was like for them and how long it to feel more settled etc...?

I'm sorry - I personally can't, but hopefully someone will come along. Til then - I'd be interested to hear more about this:

I have had quite alot going on since, alot of crying, feeling like i dont know myself, feeling really different when relating to people i have known for ages etc...

Has your life been pretty stable, or have there been other situational things that might be contributing to some of these feelings? Do you think there have been positive outcomes as well? Are you still seeing the therapist? (wondering what they'd have to say about what you're experiencing)

Those are just some questions I had....answer if you want to, no pressure :)

 

[lostforgottensoul]

For me, I had a rare super bad experience the first time I did EMDR. It took me about a good 6 months to settle and it shot me backwards in therapy quite a ways. It took about a year to get back to where we were. I had 5 suicide attempts inside of that time and I was commonly disocciating and finding myself in places that I had no idea how I got there. It got really messy.

But, again, rare. I wasn't ready for EMDR and it ended up a perfect storm with symptoms to cause an insane mess!

It took me like years to try EMDR again. I mean, like 5 years. I became addicted to huffing for 2 of those years. Got clean. My therapist brought EMDR back up a few years later and it took him an entire year to talk to me into even trying anything remotely close to EMDR.

We are currently doing what he calls EMDR light. So, that's EMDR on something in the present. It was anxiety at work when a customer has anxiety and then once it was about dental work (as a dentist is a super big trauma trigger). So not on the trauma directly. This is helping reintroduce EMDR to me to help my current terror over it and helping me work back into it.

All that to say that I am not sure if my experiences can help at all as they are not the norm in anyway. But, with these EMDR light sessions, it takes me a few days to restabilize. My very young part has usually taken the forground or my protector part is numbing me out and/or I am off and on disocciating.

If I did the EMDR with my trauma directly, I can imagine it taking a few weeks or even a few months. You just processes and moved a lot of memories. It's gonna take a while but you will restabilize. Just keep working on coping skills. :hug:

 

[Rumors]

Hi,
I posted on here a few months when i first started EMDR therapy. Have now finished about 8 weeks ago and would be really interested to hear from others about their post treatment experiences.
I have had quite alot going on since, alot of crying, feeling like i dont know myself, feeling really different when relating to people i have known for ages etc...
Can anyone share what it was like for them and how long it to feel more settled etc...?

So I still have emdr from time to time but I can tell you that I have episodes following that leave me feeling very similar. Usually my therapist has me come in to process what we went over and that can sometimes help. I would urge you when those feeling arise to go back to basics and use your grounding techniques to settle then dissect the unraveling feelings. There is usually something underlying that is stirring. I don't cry usually but I get a tremendous amount of anxiety and that throws me off quite a bit. It leaves me feeling quite vulnerable too which isn't a good place for me either. Very sorry you are going through this but I would suggest you go in and try and do some processing of your feelings. It may mean you haven't fully put that episode away and may need to do more emdr. Good luck! PM me if you want to talk privately.

 

[joeylittle]

PM me if you want to talk privately.

Psst...we don't have a PM system for members anymore :) Just letting you know.

@Penguin79 - you might find this thread useful as well.

 

[Missycat]

I also struggled after a lot of my emdr sessions so as the therapy was coming to and end we did ‘flash’ emdr which was basically shorter processing ie look at the trauma for 6 seconds then back to safe place , then back to trauma etc . This enabled us to focus on coping strategies should i ‘process’ in between sessions. I believe doing this helped me after therapy had ended - yes it was tough at first but i believe that was in relation to ending therapy in general rather then emdr itself.
I did return to therapy about 4 months later but that was due to an event that worsened my ptsd symptoms again and was not associated to emdr.

 

[Rumors]

Psst...we don't have a PM system for members anymore :) Just letting you know.

@Penguin79 - you might find this thread useful as well.

Hahahahaha tells you how much I pay attention... ?... sorry! Lol.

 

[ground crew]

So, i have CPTSD, many episodes of assorted trauma, nothing huge, just many many little traumas. I by chance found an excellent practitioner i quickly had trust in. I had like ten sessions over several months along with weekly supportive therapy sessions with my regular therapist. After the big cathartic reveal, and some tissues, I felt light and renewed! My philosophy/meditation/personal growth group heard me brag i was ascendant. We all knew it was temporary and the gray blanket of depression trying to snuggle me into inaction was just around the corner. Awareness is half the cure. With mindfulness and monitoring my mood with positive steps to improve my mood, i can simulate that together guy i thought i was after EMDR.

 

[Freida]

I've been doing Emdr for a couple years and it still wipes me out for about 24 hours. Some sessions I can bounce back from pretty quickly...others can bother me for days. I have a pretty strict routine for when I get home...salt soak, no alchol, light dinner, meditation, yoga, then to bed or another quiet place. That seems to help a ton for getting me grounded again

 

[Sharplinda70]

Hi,
I posted on here a few months when i first started EMDR therapy. Have now finished about 8 weeks ago and would be really interested to hear from others about their post treatment experiences.
I have had quite alot going on since, alot of crying, feeling like i dont know myself, feeling really different when relating to people i have known for ages etc...
Can anyone share what it was like for them and how long it to feel more settled etc...?

How are you feeling .. I had my first session 2 days ago and feeling hollow defintely different like numb and it has given me anxiety to not feel those feelings. I hope it subsides soon and I can start feeling again