Emdr After Effects?

[Donnas]

Yesterday, my therapist and I did our first EMDR session. It went well, though I was exhausted after. S...

I've had one session and feel the same. Overly emotional and set off very easily. I felt like I was on a rampage. It's been 2 days and I still feel emotionally raw.

 

[anthony]

Welcome to therapy :)

 

[538899245]

I know this is a really old thread that has been resurrected, but even now I don't know what a 'litteral...

I know it's been a while since you responded but a hot flash is when you feel really hot all of a sudden. She probably meant it literally as in she felt very hot all of a sudden, sweaty etc.

 

[Yinka]

I am looking into EMDR therapy. Right now I do cognitive behavioral therapy. This past week has been...

Listening to lisa A romano
healing the child within on youtube has helped me massive with a similar childhood trauma as you. There are lots of postive stuff to listen to on youtube which can also help with attacks & understanding your trauma. It has helped me quieten my mind when i am feeling completely overwhelmed by my trauma. Hope this helps you too while your finding a therapist.

 

[Kisha]

Have you had the EMDR? Any bad experiences I have multiple severe traumas and have been informed by several Drs not to have hypnosis done it could put me back in the state of mind as a child

 

[anonymous]

Have you had the EMDR? Any bad experiences I have multiple severe traumas and have been informed by several Drs not to h...

EMDR is not hypnosis. It's completely different as I understand. I've went to a doctor who I thought was doing EMDR following my severe traumas and I was completely dissociated and it triggered me back into a childlike state which caused me so many more problems.

It's difficult to begin to describe what my mind was going through. I had just been through being completely brainwashed before going to this 'doctor'. I was in an extremely vulnerable state of mind, but desperate to get help and it was like this 'doctor' used me to be her guinea pig. I became terrified of everything after that and extremely cautious of people playing mind games with me. There are a very select few that I trust and I'm extremely careful of who I allow to influence my mind in any way.

It took me years to try therapy again, because I no longer believed in counseling and to me it wasn't worth the risk of further damage to my mind. When someone I'd known for awhile and I trusted referred me to a therapist, because of my PTSD, which is complex, I decided to try and go to a few sessions. I've had far more success with her than any other therapist. I trust her completely, she's a very safe person for me. There have been difficult times, but we work through them and I believe she's committed to my healing. She does emdr with me and it gets pretty tough at times, but that is part of the process. She is careful and I haven't been triggered back to a childlike state like I was with that one 'doctor'.

You're wise to be cautious, but if you can find the right therapist for you, it can really help.

 

[anthony]

EMDR is very similar to PE. You focus upon a traumatic incident and then you process that one incident thoroughly, until a resolution is found by neutralising the impact of symptoms when recollected. EMDR adds a method of distraction, which has no science to date that it actually works (eye movements, beeps, lights, et cetera). PE does not use any distraction method, instead it focuses on SUDS within the process, trying to achieve nothing more than an 8 or 9, then reducing that level to a 5 or less.

Both do the same thing. PE has some statistically better results than EMDR, yet PE is older, and honestly, I don't trust either's statistics because the average model is not added with all the failed, unpublished study results.

 

[Deleted member 34328]

@anthony if EMDR or PE are not methods you would trust in statistics, what form of therapy would you encourage as a trauma therapy? and what statistics would back up your opinion?

 

[anthony]

I would encourage PE and EMDR -- regardless of the dicey statistics. Statistics are relevant across all therapy models. They all have unpublished data not included. Take the law of averages, the statistic percentage would still hold true against other therapies. It just isn't accurate if you included all the unpublished data.

I would also encourage people to try many different modalities, as it is likely you will use a combination to treat yourself, not a single approach. No single approach caters all the symptoms of PTSD and trauma.

 

[Jenn68]

So the Wiki article is incorrect: EMDR does NOT attempt to FORCE the brain at all. While there are s...

Huge Thank you for the advice and expert info.
Started therapy after my mother died in my arms while having a massive heart attack, the so called 'widow maker'.
Before I started with EMDR, I've had cognitive therapy.
Yesterday was my third EMDR session. The mentioned effects were the worst after the first EMDR session (first one was the intake). A few hours after the session I've had to lecture at the Business school. This was the case after all three sessions. (My therapist is aware of this.) Got through the lectures and relaxed afterwards. But, it took me 3 days to recover after the first session. Good thing there was a weekend between the first and second session. Did not have that luck after the second and third session; had to work/lecture. Moreover, I have 2 - 3 days between sessions.
Reading your response I'm wondering if the set up of our sessions and short period between sessions does affect my progress?

We do have breaks during the sessions, where I'm asked what I'm noticing, but will definitely add the deep breath at our next session during those breaks. And although I've learned to use some of the techniques by doing research and reading many articles, the book would be of much help. Still miss certain steps/techniques during and between sessions..., especially techniques to calm myself during the waving hand, breaks and between sessions.

 

[Ruby Rose]

Yesterday, my therapist and I did our first EMDR session. It went well, though I was exhausted after. S...

Hi I've just done an EMDR session and felt like it was going well then I started to feel really spaced out and had a real heavy feeling in my head.
I still feel that way 2 hours later. Feeling really hesitant to continue.
Told my T hold I was feeling and we stopped and then tried to go to the safe place. This was really hard to get too. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[anthony]

I still feel that way 2 hours later. Feeling really hesitant to continue.

Normal. You don't go into therapy aiming to walk away feeling fuzzy and warm. Processing trauma is as hard, if not harder, than enduring it to begin with, as its had all this time to stir and stew within your mind.

If you don't walk away from therapy feeling like shit, then having a good range of symptomatic experiences between sessions, then you aren't participating hard enough and your therapist sucks. Seems like you and your therapist are doing everything right.

Once processing is complete, then sure... therapy gets easier. But the pain and symptoms get worse before they get better once you start processing them.

Don't f*ck it up by walking away because its hard. You must go through trauma to get out the other side of it. Running away will just make this worse for you.

Doing well... keep going.