An Emdr Question

[Jane.l]

Just a quick question - can EMDR be successful if there is a large amount of dissociation in T sessions ?

 

[Deleted member 20280]

@ Jane.I one word from my own personal experience of being treated with EMDR...... YES.

Kindest regards and :hug:s

Laurie

 

[Leanne1]

• I disassociate during therapy as well. (EMDR)

I have a few techniques my T showed me to bring myself back.

I have an essential oil I like that I smell. Or I have an object that has a few different textures and I feel the difference in the material.

You have to be in your body and present to use your senses. Also I sometimes look around the room to remember where I am.

Then we continue with the session.

I originally started with processing traumas right away after minimal work on strengthening coping skills. Since then we are mostly focusing on coping skills. I got pretty overwhelmed and some old self harming behavior started to get really strong.

Even though disassociating can seem unproductive in therapy, I have found it valuable to recognize when it is happening, or have my T notice and point it out, and then work at coming back. So often it is just unrecognized and not worked with in my life. So now I am starting to be able to recognize it better in my life and start to notice what triggers me.

Good luck

 

[Kas_Can_Fly]

Personally for me I dissociated too much for EMDR to be of use - I wouldn't be able to concentrate or think about any trauma or feelings/emotions and I couldn't wrap my head around what I would like to feel instead (e.g. instead of feeling powerless about a situation, but now feeling in control), it just seemed like a lie and not true in the slightest.

I don't understand emotions (past or present) very well and am very cut off from them, even when I experience them, I'm confused by them nor do I recognize them correctly, so that part wasn't helpful. Then I experienced an odd combination of avoidance and dissociation, it was impossible to separate the two. It was incredibly unproductive and didn't help because I wasn't able to process anything.

Instead it's better if I just talk about things, I don't have to be connected to them.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I'm not sure how it is "processing" if you are dissociated. Processing involves putting "wise mind" feelings to the trauma and working through the feelings that arise. If you are dissociated, then you aren't dealing with those feelings and I question how effective EMDR can be if you dissociate through the whole thing.

The other thing is that if you dissociate a lot, you are probably still in the safety & stabilization part of treatment. This phase precedes processing (which is where EMDR would fall). If you aren't safe & stable, then you probably shouldn't even be starting to process. I would go back and work on mastering your dissociation and then go into EMDR.

The other thing is that EMDR isn't meant for everyone. I practically gave up on processing as all methods I tried put me into a horrible dissociative state. I finally found a process that was designed specifically to eliminate/minimize the dissociative aspects, and it worked wonders for me as I was able to fully process multiple traumas.

Good Luck!

 

[Jane.l]

Thanks for your replies - it seems to make sense that you need to be present to process. My T is really good at spotting when I start to zone out now and although I do it a lot I am starting to be able to come back a little more easily.

@KAS can fly - totally know what you mean about the avoidance and dissociation and the problem with emotions and not knowing how to reframe something - that would make me dissociate before I even started ! I also find trying to put a number on my anxiety impossible - but then I get 'brain freeze ' and become mute if I try and talk .

@Solara I hope I am in a better, safer mindset than I was - though I know it's a very fragile thing - I actually got stronger taking a break from therapy but came to realise that avoidance is a short term fix. We tried gradual exposure therapy last time and although in many ways it's worked for that particular flashback I very nearly didn't make it through the process and I am scared to go back to that.

I guess maybe I will give it a try and see what happens

 

[BloomInWinter]

Absolutely yes. I have a diagnosis of Disassociative Disorder of Extreme Distress Not Otherwise Specified (DDNOS) and PTSD.

I use a digital recorder for all my therapy sessions with full permission from my therapists. Though I do dissociate somewhat during every single session, as long as I have it recorded, I can go back and listen. The listening, as many times as necessary, to finally "hear" and "feel" the feelings appropriate to the trauma helps me in processing.

Several of my traumas have taken several weeks of weekly sessions to finally stay with one foot in the present enough to release the trapped memory fragments, face them, introduce my experience and understanding from my life now, and allow them to finally take the place in the past where they belong.

It's not fun, but I'm so very grateful it's possible. It requires a lot of trust. I'd identify the place where I dissociated, then report it back to my trauma therapist. As we'd approach that "place" in the next session, she'd slow the process down, keeping me grounded in the present, and keep backing up as necessary. This allowed me to gain a lot of trust in both her, myself, and the process.

 

[Jane.l]

@BloomInWinter thank you for your reply - it's good to hear you found a way to work with this - it makes me feel more hopeful .

I think the problem is that I dissociate with any thing that makes me feel threatended - anything to do with emotions - not just related to the traumas - as an example something as simple as my T asking me where in my body I feel the anxiety will make me zone out . I guess I just need to focus on the fact that I am getting better at getting out of it .
And give it a try.

 

[BloomInWinter]

The brain's plasticity is truly amazing and forming new neural pathways is a function of time, opportunity, and practice.

I did do a lot of Cognitive-Behavioral-Therapy and Dialectical-Behavioral-Therapy before it was considered to be safe for me to begin trauma processing. I was essentially shut down with an inability to feel anything but very strong emotions.

The process of just talking current things in my life over with my therapists helped me extend my trust in myself and them. Every small issue I was able to talk about and hear some feedback about helped break a lot of the rigid thinking that my defensive structures had locked me in to in order to allow me to survive. But they also kept me locked inside my own head, increasing my retreat from society and other human beings more and more.

EMDR is never as hard as living through those traumas was, but it's very uncomfortable. The good thing about the discomfort, well, at least a silver lining, is that every time we're uncomfortable in therapy, our therapist helps us learn how to tolerate and manage the distressing feelings.

We take that learning out into our life, increasing our quality of life in all areas over time.

 

[Jane.l]

I have been doing mainly CBT for the past year and found it helpful in someways and almost unbearable in others .

I have a T session in the morning - will give you an update - fingers crossed

 

[Jane.l]

Well that went pretty well ! We focused mostly on doing EMDR on feeling safe and the physical surroundings of my t office and did a few sets just dipping into a traumatic image for a few seconds and then back focussing on the things that are present now - I did drift off but with some help got back again !!
Feeling hopeful - have next appointment Monday.

 

[Lucycat]

I was dissociating a lot in the beginning. EMDR took quite a long time because ( after the stabilisation and safety sessions) I only went into a traumatic memory for a few seconds at a time. T judged how much I could tolerate without zoning out. Of course sometime I lost it and he had to pull me back, but with practice it got easier for both of us. I recently had a further EMDR session and he commented on how different it is now, compared to the beginning, in that I have built up my tolerance and stayed with a memory for minutes rather than seconds.

I had years of trauma to process, so it is not easy. However for me, it has certainly been worthwhile!