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EMDR and CBT - Do they work well together? At what point are you doing too much therapy?

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Sadielady3

MyPTSD Pro
Hi all. I just started EMDR (I've had one session so far).

Here's my therapy breakdown:

  • Mondays- IOP graduation group, we discuss a variety of different topics, sometimes process group.
  • Tuesdays- Coping skills group, a small amount of room for processing
  • Every other Friday- EMDR
Mondays are sun by a different T than my own. Tuesdays are run by my T.

My T is starting a new group on Thursdays for CBT. I'm seriously debating this. Here are my thoughts:

  • Do I really need a third group? At what point are you doing too much therapy?
  • If I don't need a third group, which group do I not do? (I have no obligations to any group)
  • CBT is something that is useful for me and learning more could be useful but will it work well with EMDR?
  • Is there a point where my T will get a bit burnt out on me? Not sure he's my biggest fan in the first place. Might destroy the relationship and screw me over.
  • Would it be better to work with just one T or is having two Ts better?
I do think coping skills is probably important to stick with while doing EMDR. The IOP grad group is good and I often get a lot out of it. It's good for examining deeper issues. A CBT group might be helpful for challenging thoughts, especially as I process the trauma and may have more success changing my thinking when the trauma itself is less of an issue.

My friends suggest I just do all three. They see someone who is in rough shape a lot of the time and they have seen therapy help me. Most of them are not therapy goers so they may mean well but I'm just not sure that more is necessarily beneficial.

Any and all thoughts are welcomed and appreciated.
 
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I think this is up to you. Your therapist wont get tired of you if he/she has offered it's okay and I hope you will get the help you deserve. I go to my one on one therapy every two weeks and day program 4 or 5 days of the week. I also am taking a therapy group for wellness and mental health and Nidra Yoga group too.

Everyone is so different. You can always try it out and if it's too much you can back out. I don't think there is such a thing as too much therapy because you are looking after your mental health. It's no different then going to the gym to exercise and looking after your physical health.

Therapist are used to seeing there clients one on one and groups too so for them it's normal for them
 
I did end up going to the group and was the only person who showed up, lol. I ended up getting a free mini-session with my T. He could have very easily told me that he didn't think it was a good idea. During that conversation, he expressed that he wishes he could see me more often as I am motivated and wanting to work on things. So, I'll keep showing up and hope that it's useful as I do EMDR.
 
@joeylittle , I'm pretty familiar with it as a special educator but I've never been good at applying it inward. It doesn't hurt to give the group a shot as my T is running it and definitely had a chance to discourage me from doing it if he thought it wouldn't be beneficial.
 
Yeah - it's interesting how we can know things but not have much practice in applying them to ourselves. I found a lot of CBT and DBT were like that, for me. Good job, for being aware of that. Also, your T sounds really supportive which is awesome.
 
@joeylittle , yeah, he's amazing. I've been through a lot of counselors/therapists over the years and he's the only one who has seemed to "get me" enough to actually help me in any way. I still have a long way to go but I like that he seems to have new different ideas then I've heard before.
 
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