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Emdr and cptsd

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Draiocht

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Does anyone have any experience with treating CPTSD through EMDR? I get how it would work for discrete traumas but not sure on how it would work for more nebulous trauma. I read a Q&A with Francine Shapiro someone linked on here where she says it's possible, but I just wondered if anyone has experience of it.

Now I'm stable (ha) my therapists have discharged me to give me time to get used to trusting I can look after myself and said they will fast track me to get trauma focused therapy when I'm ready. They said I should consider the different types available. I'm intrigued by EMDR but how would it work for example with things like emotional neglect/abuse, what do you focus on? I do have some discrete trauma that would benefit from it I think. But do I need another type of trauma therapy as well for the other stuff?
 
When I first went into therapy I started EMDR for PTSD as I witnessed a incident on a train but once I started my psychologist realized that I also had deep rooted problems from my childhood and that he diagnosed CPTSD and we tried carrying on with the EMDR but I kept getting stuck so we moved onto to CBT instead.
I think with anything in therapy different things work for different people and maybe you should give it a try and see how you get on.Who knows it might be the best treatment for you and might help you to move forward.
 
This is exactly why I haven’t tried it. I don’t see how it could possibly help long term, more subtle abuse. Plus I can’t remember all the fine details of everything as I was a kid so I wouldn’t have much to say...
 
I prefer Brain spotting by David Grant, PhD, twice a day, twelve hours apart, with stereo headphones. CD set available on Amazon, Walmart, etc. Don't overdo. I got physical reactions from it, but at least I didn't have to recall past trauma.
 
I have cPTSD and do EMDR.

It's very difficult, but I've found long term effects, personally.

I can now go to grocery store, even out to dinner most times, and movie theatres.. stressed, but I can!

I'm also less paranoid unless triggered.

EMDR in my experience is difficult but doable. And once done for a while, you can get some surprising and great results :)
 
I have CPTSD and have done EMDR. It was difficult at times and many times in session we would have to ditch the emdr as i would dissociate . We found that doing the emdr in small manageable chunks ie bringing the memory forwwards for 6 seconds and then increasing gradually allowed me to continue. I got some really positive results and it helped me process some extremely difficult stuff. I certainly saw an improvement in my symptoms.
 
Yep -- I've been doing emdr for about a year now. It's horrible but when it works it is so very worth it. I've dug up alot of memories that I really could have lived without --- but the emdr makes them more tolerable. I also have a second T I work with to keep me grounded and help me cope with what I'm digging up.
 
Does anyone have any experience with treating CPTSD through EMDR? I get how it would work for discrete...

I've tried EMDR (8 months) . Although it helped, it was far from being enough...

I am now trying the Lifespan Integration Therapy (LIT), which seems to work better to clear past trauma related to long-term abuses of my younger years. It does have its limits, though, and unlike what I could read, LIT is not "gentle" but I admit that contributes in helping leave the past behind for good (ie. the memory rapes seem to be now processed). That is already relieving.
 
Thanks for all the replies :) I think I'm keen to see how I do with it. I'm certainly not in any place to do this kind of work yet, but when I get to more stable footing I think I'll look into it.
 
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