Juggling EMDR
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Couldn't work during lockdown so started reading up on EMDR/BLS, NLP, resource tapping, picked a smallish trauma and had a go and managed to unpick trauma from the 70's ... Anyone else tried DIY therapy ...?
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... I think if you can access therapy then go and be healed ... But if you can't ..? Do you just sit it out ..? I'm in the UK and although generally we don't pay for health care we do still have to wait (longest I heard was 14 years) for therapy as we don't have the funding to cope with everyone's trauma. So instead of EMDR you might get meds or CBT which don't work in general ... Also I was careful to ask if anyone else had tried rather than recommend ...I think doing EMDR on yourself is a really bad idea. I'm glad it worked for you, but I think it's irresponsible to recommend it for anyone else.
I've used EFT/Tapping on my own, though it was taught to me by my therapist. I agree with @somerandomguy that EMDR in the strictest sense isn't designed to be done on one's own. Tapping protocols allow for a do-at-home variation that is pretty benign, though I'd never recommend it to anyone who is feeling really emotionally overwhelmed. But, if you're generally functioning, and capable of calming yourself in case you start getting flooded, I personally don't see anything wrong with tapping.I was careful to ask if anyone else had tried rather than recommend ...
Nice to hear you were taught this by the therapist ... Absolutely agree about EMDR not being set up for DIY ... I self-studied NLP/counselling to help with the positive cognition ... I've been juggling for years and so pass a ball to create the bilaterals. As for calming myself I use bilaterals again ... I had the 'safe place' thing explained when I went for my first therapy session and rejected it straight away ... since then I've spoken with many who feel it's a) not possible for everyone to do the safe-place b) not as good as bilaterals for keeping the flooding at bay ... Just to clarify, I didn't just jump in and have a go, I'd been looking at the overlap between juggling and emdr and eventually started making a more realistic tool-kit for DIY sufferers ... I'd been reading scripted protocols/treatment protocols and had a good idea of where I was heading, I then had a weekend on my own when the wife was away and spent most of it in the kitchen passing a ball from hand to hand... the first attempt at the positive cognition was terrible so I kept going; it took me two days and didn't need a 'body-scan' or anything to know I'd cracked it ... The trauma incident dates back to 1979 so you can imagine how it feels to have it re-directed ... Once I'd done it I then reflected on other traumas and suddenly felt like they were wrapped presents that I could open when I want ... Great feeling ...I've used EFT/Tapping on my own, though it was taught to me by my therapist. I agree with @somerandomguy that EMDR in the strictest sense isn't designed to be done on one's own. Tapping protocols allow for a do-at-home variation that is pretty benign, though I'd never recommend it to anyone who is feeling really emotionally overwhelmed. But, if you're generally functioning, and capable of calming yourself in case you start getting flooded, I personally don't see anything wrong with tapping.
Much of the straight-up narrative exposure therapy stuff can be done completely on one's own. It's emotionally brutal, but again - if you've got the stoicism for it, and are able to carve out the time and have a good personal support system (friends, or animals, or distractions, etc.), that's also an option. I've done some of that as well.
I applaud your dedication at recovery and your courage to try alone. I think this quote touched me because at the end of every therapy - at body and mind, only the owner of the body knows when it cracks objectively speaking...so you did not need body-scan cause it is your body and you did not have the need to tell someone else what is happening in your body.I kept going; it took me two days and didn't need a 'body-scan' or anything to know I'd cracked it ...
Thanks for your reply, I'm from the UK, I'm 55 this year and have been getting worse not better, I couldn't afford to pay for therapy and so my choices were: a) continue to get worse b) try self healing ... I picked a trauma that was from my youth but deliberately chose that one as I thought it had less of the 'trigger-factor' that later ones had ... I hadn't realised how much it had affected me until I found the 'positive cognition' {the happier ending to what was previously a horror show} ...I applaud your dedication at recovery and your courage to try alone. I think this quote touched me because at the end of every therapy - at body and mind, only the owner of the body knows when it cracks objectively speaking...so you did not need body-scan cause it is your body and you did not have the need to tell someone else what is happening in your body.
I have zero emdr knowledge, experience so cannot say what it is you are doing but I felt you strength in doing what you need to find your own healing journey.
Kudos and all the best.