Emdr - Anyone Who Has Experience?

[Trembling]

Hi!
I dont know if I am in the correct category, so please if not, move this thread.

My fiance and I were told about EMDR, Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing treatment.
I read a few things on the internet about it, but would like to know if maybe someone already had experience with it.

As far as I know its a not everywhere excepted treatment for PTSD, as far as you can say treatment - its sort of a re-living of what happened.

Please give me your input on this one! Thanks.

 

[cherryblossom]

There is already a lot of information in this forum about EMDR. I suggest you use the 'search' box - top right of every forum page (just below the Title "Self Help").

Whilst I have no doubt that other members will respond here, you might get get more insight, more quickly by reading threads which already exist.

Even just looking down the first couple of pages in this therapy forum, I can see several EMDR related threads.

[DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/threads/emdr-therapy-counsellor.23367/[/DLMURL]
[DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/threads/emdr-lashback-when-emdr-goes-wrong.1388/[/DLMURL]
[DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/threads/emdr-limitations.22455/[/DLMURL]
[DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/threads/does-anyone-have-experience-of-emdr.4139/[/DLMURL]

I hope this helps. Good luck :)

 

[Trembling]

Cherryblossom, thanks a lot, I was searching in the wrong area for EMDR.
I read through a couple of the threads now, and it sounds somehow scary but also hopeful.
How can I know if the person who was recommended to us is good? We live in an area where you dont have many possibilities to research a doctor.

How does someone know if there are multiple traumas or if its one huge one?
I might sound weird, but I only know bits and pieces of what my fiance had to go through, and the last thing I would want is to make it worse for him.

Thanks for the info, and I d be happy bout every response I get.

 

[freefloat]

I’ve done a lot of EMDR and had people that worked for me use that technique. I believe there are levels the T will meet the qualification of and be certified in the higher levels. So look for that when T shopping for EMDR. Its a fairly new technique that has been gaining more and more validity. I’ve been out of it awhile so I'm not sure what the current level of acceptance is.

Basically when we are traumatized we try and make sense of what is happening to us. Justify the action by creating belief about ourselves that validate the abuse. When a loved one abuses us we don’t stop our love for them. But how do we make sense of the action that feels bad to us? By bringing in understandings of ourselves that reconcile the situation to some from of normalization. I am bad therefore i was abused. There are other constructs that we will also create. Such as: I am not safe, therefore i will never feel safe. The list of beliefs is as varied as people are.

Through repeated traumatizes the same beliefs will get reenforced. This is why EMDR seeks to treat the chronologically older traumas first. As by treating the earlier traumas we are in fact treating the effects similar traumatic situations.

Different therapists use different techniques and or equipment in the EMDR process. I’ve used lights, hand buzzers and tapping. Lats I looked at it it was felt that by stimulating the eyes or through touch we some how process those experiences and emotions differently in our brain. Creating new pathways that are free of the non-beneficial thoughts.

The T that developed did so by wondering hwy she was able to better process things while driving. I think most of us can relate to that. She felt that it was due to the increased amount of eye movement you experience when driving. Therefore processing the thoughts differently.

Personally I found it very powerful and very freeing. Was able to discard some inaccurate thought of myself and the world in the process. It also doesn’t take long to reap the rewards and is therefore financially more efficient. Its not for everyone. The T will asses you for suitability before proceeding. I found it emotionally draining but in a good way. Very freeing in allowing one to be who they are and not how others made us think we were. Your results may vary!

 

[Hashi]

I think freefloat gives a very useful description and explanation.

EMDR isn't for everyone, as freefloat says. It's not for me because I wouldn't be able to cope with this type of direct re-experiencing. Instead I have a somatic therapy (craniosacral therapy), traditional counselling/behaviour therapy and do a lot on my own to process what happened, for example with art and journalling.

Some people find EMDR helpful, and what will be useful is a very individual thing.

The decision here is about two things - what type of therapy to try and which therapist. If the therapy is for your fiance then he's the only one who can judge those.

If OK to ask, is your fiance also doing research on the options? As someone with PTSD, I know that it needed to be me looking at what's available and asking questions in order to make a good decision on what therapy/therapist to try, and to have the commitment to do it. It's been important that the research and the decision were my own, because therapy is a rough ride and there are many temptations to give it up or fight the process. Taking ownership of it from the beginning helps with staying with it through the difficult times and it helps with accepting that no-one else can do this for you - although caring and support are invaluable, and it sounds like your fiance is very lucky to have you supporting him.

 

[Trembling]

Hashi, at the moment he is restricted with research, but did before he went to the clinic. When he comes out he will consider it as an option to work on the PTSD, though we hope and somehow believe that the worst things happened already, due to the drinking issue he had. He re-lived the situation quite often, and still wanted to go through with it again.
I would never even dare to tell him what to do, as only he knows how much he can take.

His therapist suggested to at least go to the specialist in EMDR, and if my fiance still sees this as an option for him, I will support him, as much as possible. He would never go to a doc again, if he did not like her/him, what I think is quite good.

Freefloat - when I read your reply and how EMDR was sort of discovered, I found a possible slight connection with my fiance - he had his "flashbacks" or the ignition of flashbacks while driving.
I really appreciate your response, it is very interesting and helps to understand a bit more. My fiance has to decide himself, and then we ll see.
The last thing is me wanting him to feel as terrible as he felt for the rest of his life.

I will try to find out more about the T, which was suggested to us.
Thanks.

 

[Lucycat]

I have found it very hard work, pretty unpleasant but very effective. Just be prepared for the fall out - extreme tiredness afterwards.

Good luck
Lucy x

 

[Helliepig]

EMDR in the right hands in phenomenal. I honestly think I would not have made a fraction of the progress i have were it not for this. It allows you to move through memories, processing them and experiencing progressively different experiences and really understanding what was going on - and then the pain of the memory has gone. You really somehow look deeply into yourself and KNOW, and it teaches you so much about how your PTSD is constructed and how the brain processes things.

My experience is different to the chronological progression of Freefloat - my earliest, most life threatening abuse memories have not yet been dealt with but we have knocked off so many other "less" severe abuse memories and healed a great deal - bit like peeling layers off an onion skin. Reducing the "load", and building up familiarity with the process so that the progressively more painful and dangerous experiences can be tolerated.

Sometimes it can stir up a lot of confusion and painful feelings for a couple of days after, although somehow it allows part of your brain to stay present and understand what is happening. I do think it is important that someone really knows what they are doing as you can get "flooded" if too much is bitten off in one chew, and there are other techniques that need to be employed alongside because they are aimed at slightly different ways of processing and healing- especially for very early child stuff that EMDR might be too aggressive for. I'd pick a "consultant" grade EMDR therapist.

Until you try it you cannot really comprehend what it does.

 

[Trembling]

Helliepig, thank you too for the advice, and sharing your own experience. I dont know how my fiance will decide, but I will let him read all these posts as soon as possible, so he gets a bigger picture of all of the possible outcomes and reactions.
How long have you been seeing an EMDR specialist?

 

[Helliepig]

I started with a guy who was a consultant in EMDR ( specialised in train and mining accidents, RTA's and so on), and it was during this time he diagnosed that I dissociated. Soon it became clear I needed something more to help me to deal with this so i did some research and came across someone who specialised in dissociative disorders - she is skilled in child development psychology, transactional analysis, psychotherapy and EMDR. She has been amazing, knowing how to stabilise the inner child systems and ego systems and using a range of therapies as well as getting at the nitty gritty with EMDR.

I've been seeing her roughly once a fortnight for 18 months so far, for CPTSD starting with abuse as a baby in a very dysfunctional family, and the progress I have made is stellar. I know she will get me the whole way, it is just a matter of time and now we are facing some of the real big stuff, pacing it slowly so it doesn't become too hard to bear.

I do think you have to be careful because the first specialist didn't have the other techniques and knowledge around healing child abuse, so even though we did quite a bit of EMDR, we never made progress with the deeper stuff. I wasn't even aware I'd been abused til I worked with my current T yet this is the basis of it all. These things are powerful tools but like anything they need to be applied with skill and experience.

 

[Darmay]

I've had EMDR myself and I found someone great using the EMDRIA website. You can find it right at emdria.org and you can see the button for "Find a Therapist" right across the middle near the top of the homepage. What was great about using this site to find someone was that in order to be included in EMDRIA's list, you have to be properly trained, meaning a multi-part training with supervision too. I know I felt much better knowing that my therapist was certified by them. I wouldn't have had it if she wasn't.

So Helliepig is exactly right in the last post in that these things need to be applied with skill and experience.

Just googling EMDR and see that there's a documentary film about it now. The website is EMDRmovie.com. I'm glad to see that because EMDR can help a lot of people out there who just haven't heard of it yet. Maybe this can help spread the word.

 

[Trembling]

Dear Darmay,

I checked and read through both pages, it is amazing just seeing the short clips and to listen to the positive side of EMDR.

I definitely will check the name of the therapist on the EMDRIA website. This was really great help.