EDMR ? Help me understand how this works & pros/cons?
- Thread starter skipP
- Start date
Freida
MyPTSD Pro
long story short ---
It helps you reframe how you think of things. It doesn't erase the memory, it changes how you feel about the memory
Take a mid level bad memory. When you think about it now it makes you want to puke, scares the crap out of you, makes you want to cry, blah blah. After emdr it becomes just a sad event in your past that you can think about without reacting
That's the good news
The bad news is that it can be brutal and takes some pre-planning to be successful.
You are going to be looking at memories - kind of like watching a movie that smacks you in the head. So first your t will help you create a safe place in your brain so if things get rough you can escape there. Someplace like a beach, or safe house, or a comfy room, any place that makes you happy.
It can be really overwhelming at times so it is critical that you are honest with your t. Not necessarily about the memory itself, but about how the processing is making you feel both during the session and afterwards. If it's too much she can tweak it down a few notches. You never want to try to white knuckle thru emdr - it will just make you miserable and slow the process down. It's good to try to plan no or only low key things to do for the next 12 hours or so, because your brain will keep processing even after the session and that can be freaking exhausting
So if it tough why do it?
Because when it works it is amazing!!!
All those things just .... no longer matter.
They go from being todays nightmares to being things that happend a long time ago.
It helps you reframe how you think of things. It doesn't erase the memory, it changes how you feel about the memory
Take a mid level bad memory. When you think about it now it makes you want to puke, scares the crap out of you, makes you want to cry, blah blah. After emdr it becomes just a sad event in your past that you can think about without reacting
That's the good news
The bad news is that it can be brutal and takes some pre-planning to be successful.
You are going to be looking at memories - kind of like watching a movie that smacks you in the head. So first your t will help you create a safe place in your brain so if things get rough you can escape there. Someplace like a beach, or safe house, or a comfy room, any place that makes you happy.
It can be really overwhelming at times so it is critical that you are honest with your t. Not necessarily about the memory itself, but about how the processing is making you feel both during the session and afterwards. If it's too much she can tweak it down a few notches. You never want to try to white knuckle thru emdr - it will just make you miserable and slow the process down. It's good to try to plan no or only low key things to do for the next 12 hours or so, because your brain will keep processing even after the session and that can be freaking exhausting
So if it tough why do it?
Because when it works it is amazing!!!
All those things just .... no longer matter.
They go from being todays nightmares to being things that happend a long time ago.
This ☝️
While I have yet to really open up and face the memories of what feel is the most painful / terrifying part of my thing, there are other parts around it that WERE big things and are now much, much smaller things that I can see in my head and not go into a total panic about. An odd way to put it but.....it's almost like it took a 3D memory full of panic and fear and raw body emotions, and made it into a 2D image on paper. Still there. Still in full color. Still a bad memory. But......No longer as vibrant and all encompassing in my head. It's strange how it works, but it has for me so far. My T uses paddles and I've vocalized numerous times that I "despise those stupid paddles" because of the feelings that they bring up in me. It's hard and I find it emotionally draining and hate how I feel the following day whenever we delve into newer territory, but there's no denying that it works. The pace is slow, but I think that it's mainly due to my continued resistance to each new part of the memory that we must deal with. Adult me knows it works for me. And yet child me fights facing the memories every step of the way.
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