EMDR for PTSD-SP?

[Robert Johnson]

Hello, I suspect that I have the PTSD-SP sub-type as my psychosis began the morning after my first night of trauma and am diagnosed with PTSD. Unfortunately, I'm unable to afford the private therapy that I desperately need at this time.

I've heard about EDMR, read a bit into it and have one of the at home videos on Youtube saved. For those who've done it, I'm wondering if you think my following plan would work or in your opinion not help or make things worse even.

My biggest trigger is hearing noise while I'm inside my apartment, especially if people are talking. I also have thought-broadcasting which makes matters even worse. If I did at home EMDR while these sounds are triggering me, do you think it would help? If I've totally misunderstood EMDR, sorry about that.

 

[Friday]

In the early years of EMDR, before the risks were well understood by practitioners? EMDR CAUSED psychosis -and worse- on such a consistent basis that a)practitioners learned how to avoid scrambling people’s brains & b)practitioners became limited to those with not only years of advanced psych training, but also when studying EMDR went right back into supervision by colleagues whose accreditations far exceeded their own. (Last I checked it was 1,000 hours of EMDR to even take the courses to become certified to supervise/teach? It’s a lot. And the lowest level of accreditation is very limited in the types of trauma & clients that can be worked with.)

Also known as “at home EMDR is stupid”. In the same vein as at home surgery is stupid.

Can it be done? Sure. Will it end well for most people? Nope. It will end badly. With things being worse than they were before.

Are there techniques used in EMDR that are safe/useful/effective at home? Yep, yep. Taught to nearly every client on day 1 of EMDR therapy, and reinforced along the way, under greater levels of distress. But that’s not EMDR. They’re primarily bilateral & multisensory grounding, emotional monitoring & regulation, TF-CBT, & directed disassociation tricks …in order to both allow a client to better tolerate some pretty intense exposure therapy (EMDR), & to provide some life skills.

 

[Robert Johnson]

In the early years of EMDR, before the risks were well understood by practitioners? EMDR CAUSED psychosis -and worse- on such a consistent basis that a)practitioners learned how to avoid scrambling people’s brains & b)practitioners became limited to those with not only years of advanced psych training, but also when studying EMDR went right back into supervision by colleagues whose accreditations far exceeded their own. (Last I checked it was 1,000 hours of EMDR to even take the courses to become certified to supervise/teach? It’s a lot. And the lowest level of accreditation is very limited in the types of trauma & clients that can be worked with.)

Also known as “at home EMDR is stupid”. In the same vein as at home surgery is stupid.

Can it be done? Sure. Will it end well for most people? Nope. It will end badly. With things being worse than they were before.

Are there techniques used in EMDR that are safe/useful/effective at home? Yep, yep. Taught to nearly every client on day 1 of EMDR therapy, and reinforced along the way, under greater levels of distress. But that’s not EMDR. They’re primarily bilateral & multisensory grounding, emotional monitoring & regulation, TF-CBT, & directed disassociation tricks …in order to both allow a client to better tolerate some pretty intense exposure therapy (EMDR), & to provide some life skills.

Well, I guess that settles it then. What can I be doing on my own seeing as I have no access to formal therapy?

 

[Friday]

Well, I guess that settles it then. What can I be doing on my own seeing as I have no access to formal therapy?

(Roughly speaking) 94-99% of what you’d be doing in formal therapy, you’d be doing on your own, anyway.

- Stress Management >>> The ptsd cup explanation
- Symptom Reduction
- Working with Triggers & Stressors >>> How to use triggers as a means to recovery? & Working with triggers
- Exposure Therapy / Trauma Processing >>> Guidance for using a trauma diary for exposure therapy (cbt) <<< whilst this is specific to using a diary? It also discuses other means/methods, such as in vivo, etc.
- CBT & Negative Thinking Styles (cognitive distortions & core beliefs) >>> Solving the problem: reframing negative thoughts & Primary cognitive distortions (negative thinking styles)

You may notice one of these doesn’t have a “getting started” link to it. That’s 50% because most symptoms will become waaaaay more manageable/reduced/eliminated by way of the other links, and 50% because symptoms are so varied AND ALSO so fluid/changeable. You’ll find a rather large percentage of threads on this site devoted to members looking at ways to manage different symptoms… and none of them have a “just do XYZ” answer. Instead? Dozens of different answers for what works best, for different people, in different situations. Yep, there is a lot of crossover, BUT there’s also a lot of 180 degree different answers.

 

[Robert Johnson]

(Roughly speaking) 94-99% of what you’d be doing in formal therapy, you’d be doing on your own, anyway.

- Stress Management >>> The ptsd cup explanation
- Symptom Reduction
- Working with Triggers & Stressors >>> How to use triggers as a means to recovery? & Working with triggers
- Exposure Therapy / Trauma Processing >>> Guidance for using a trauma diary for exposure therapy (cbt) <<< whilst this is specific to using a diary? It also discuses other means/methods, such as in vivo, etc.
- CBT & Negative Thinking Styles (cognitive distortions & core beliefs) >>> Solving the problem: reframing negative thoughts & Primary cognitive distortions (negative thinking styles)

You may notice one of these doesn’t have a “getting started” link to it. That’s 50% because most symptoms will become waaaaay more manageable/reduced/eliminated by way of the other links, and 50% because symptoms are so varied AND ALSO so fluid/changeable. You’ll find a rather large percentage of threads on this site devoted to members looking at ways to manage different symptoms… and none of them have a “just do XYZ” answer. Instead? Dozens of different answers for what works best, for different people, in different situations. Yep, there is a lot of crossover, BUT there’s also a lot of 180 degree different answers.

Exposure therapy, that's amazing! I could definitely do that one on my own over time. Sitting at home without earplugs (coping method) and going to the grocery store are my two biggest stressful places.

This is really gonna help, thank you so much.

 

[Friday]

Exposure therapy, that's amazing! I could definitely do that one on my own over time. Sitting at home without earplugs (coping method) and going to the grocery store are my two biggest stressful places.

This is really gonna help, thank you so much.

That’s what I did, my first time through. Zero therapy, still got my symptoms down to 0… although it took me awhile, and I had no idea it -exposure therapy- had a name. Was taught to me by a few blokes in the same sitch. So. Freaking. Effective.

It IS still worth it to fully process trauma. But in the interim? Zero symptoms? Bliss.