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EMDR Lashback - When EMDR Goes Wrong
- Post starter becvan
- Start date
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- Admin
- #38
anthony
Founder
Hi John, welcome to the forum. Yep, plenty of people get great success from it, then plenty also don't, then some get permanent brain impairment. I truly believe every person has to simply research the topic, then trust their gut on the person delivering it, knowing inside yourself that they show confidence in their ability, and aren't unsure of one single aspect. If your happy with it, then do it, if not, there are plenty of other methods to achieve the desired outcome.
People become fixated on one method, which really shouldn't be done, instead you should continuously be trying different methods, finding which works best for you. A person will generally find one type of treatment may work on x symptom for them better than another, combine them and you can exist whilst dealing with the trauma.
Regardless what you do, you must heal your initial trauma. Even with successful EMDR you will still have to learn how to manage PTSD itself, because EMDR doesn't teach you that, only therapists basically teaching you CBT will achieve that. Either way, you still have to learn CBT, its simply which treatment you take in order to get through your past trauma proficiently.
People become fixated on one method, which really shouldn't be done, instead you should continuously be trying different methods, finding which works best for you. A person will generally find one type of treatment may work on x symptom for them better than another, combine them and you can exist whilst dealing with the trauma.
Regardless what you do, you must heal your initial trauma. Even with successful EMDR you will still have to learn how to manage PTSD itself, because EMDR doesn't teach you that, only therapists basically teaching you CBT will achieve that. Either way, you still have to learn CBT, its simply which treatment you take in order to get through your past trauma proficiently.
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I have multiple traumas and I've had success with EMDR. From the literature I've read, it should not be used on people with schizophrenia and I can understand why.
There are also studies indicating transcendental meditation is helpful for PTSD. This would be a great alternative for people who really don't want to or can't talk about their trauma.
There are also studies indicating transcendental meditation is helpful for PTSD. This would be a great alternative for people who really don't want to or can't talk about their trauma.
Meditation is a technique my therapist taught me. Almost every day begins with 30 minutes of meditation. During the day whenever my anxiety levels are high, I become aware of my breath and come back into the present moment. It is not transcedental, but it works for me. There is literature that describes how brain chemistry is affected by meditation and the effects are all good for sufferers of PTSD.
Meditation calms those "fight or flight" chemicals, which can rule my life if I let them.
I am a victim of multiple traumas and my therapist did not feel that reliving the traumas would be beneficial to my healing process. Accepting that what happened did happen was the first step to my healing.
vst
Meditation calms those "fight or flight" chemicals, which can rule my life if I let them.
I am a victim of multiple traumas and my therapist did not feel that reliving the traumas would be beneficial to my healing process. Accepting that what happened did happen was the first step to my healing.
vst
EMDR is looking at the congitive. It is great for people who doesn't dissociate. There is another technique that I learned while at the WIIT program in hollywood, florida. Called RRT which deals with emotions and is patient driven. RRT is Rapid Reducation technique. This technique is a way to remove the painful emotional conponent hurt and pain from the traumatic loss memory. I prefer the RRT to the EMDR.
D
Deleted member 93
How exactly do you go about removing pain from trauma? Sounds like removing pain from childbirth. Just does not happen without with dope, and a lot.
Whoa! I am very glad to have read all of this. My therapist states I have had multiple traumas. But has never discussed this type of treatment for me
I recently attended a CEU Seminar - speaker Jason Satterfield PhD -Institute for Brain Potential. Excellent presenter! His presentation was a brief overview of a curriculuum he teaches UCSF Medical Students to deal with their own issues etc.
Anyhoo - he skimmed over this type of therapy and I was left with the impression that he was aware of the practice, remained objective yet NOT personally invested in it either.
I recently attended a CEU Seminar - speaker Jason Satterfield PhD -Institute for Brain Potential. Excellent presenter! His presentation was a brief overview of a curriculuum he teaches UCSF Medical Students to deal with their own issues etc.
Anyhoo - he skimmed over this type of therapy and I was left with the impression that he was aware of the practice, remained objective yet NOT personally invested in it either.
leroypuppy
New Here
Emdr
My therapist keeps saying I should try EMDR. I keep telling him no. I have had many different traumas. So should I keep on resisting trying EMDR?
My therapist keeps saying I should try EMDR. I keep telling him no. I have had many different traumas. So should I keep on resisting trying EMDR?
D
Deleted member 487
I have discussed EMDR with a therapist, and I am so fed up with how everyone in the medical/psychological field is so adamant that by golly this EMDR will work with someone with multiple traumas, that I just may go ahead and do it. And have in a written/signed agreement that if it screws me up permanantly, they pay out the ass.
It's nothing to those folks if someone's life is screwed up from their therapy. Hitler's boys did that in WW2, and it was criminal. Now they can do it and get away with it? My life is already screwed up from their mistakes, what more could they want to do?
It's nothing to those folks if someone's life is screwed up from their therapy. Hitler's boys did that in WW2, and it was criminal. Now they can do it and get away with it? My life is already screwed up from their mistakes, what more could they want to do?
- Admin
- #47
anthony
Founder
CJ, it depends on what the trauma's are though.... its not just a blanket statement about multiple trauma, as every single human being suffers multiple trauma within their life. What its about is the intensity of multiple trauma. If a person was raped, that usually comes with more than just being raped, ie. beaten, bashed, any after effects physically, then the mental aspects of being raped. One trauma has multiple aspects.
Any person with complex PTSD would typically not be a candidate near immediately. Quite bold if a therapist went near someone with complex PTSD. Severe PTSD, also not a good choice as the trauma is too intensive.
If a person has multiple trauma, depending on the trauma itself, works through that trauma and openly talks about it, then maybe EMDR could be an option to find or recover any hidden aspects and bring them out. From what I am aware, there is a criteria in which must be met first to be capable of under-going EMDR. What that is I do not know, but typically a therapist must first analyse all aspects of the trauma and use commonsense as to if the person is holding out from them or not. If they are, usually they will be rejected for EMDR. If the person is quite open and talks about the worst and most secretive issues, even keeping some to themselves still, they will usually fit the mold to have EMDR because they are more open which means less surprises and less chance of something going wrong.
The problem if it goes wrong is brain impairment. This means, in a small dosage you could experience reliving your trauma on a heightened daily response. Basically your trauma is going to worse in your mind. If the damage is medium, the brain nearly fries itself, you could find some pretty serious states of shock, convulsions daily, loss of motor skills, etc etc.
If it totally went wrong, your looking at being pretty much a vegetable. The therapist would have to be a moron though to push someone who wasn't responding already to the treatment though to that level. That would be negligent on the therapist behalf if anything ever got that bad.
The person giving EMDR unfortunately cannot control your mind, nor do they know what is going to popup from within it.
You have to have some trust in your therapist, though if you personally are in doubt of the treatment, its immediately not the right treatment for you. You must be allowed to make your own decisions on what is best for you.
EMDR is a very good treatment, and it is becoming a first line of defence for therapists nowadays due to its success at helping to heal trauma. It is not a cure for PTSD. It is a cure for anxiety only disorders. It is a very good treatment for trauma. It is not a cure though, never has been. EMDR has come a long way, will continue to evolve. The facts are though, it does pose certain risks and those must be disclosed to you. If the therapist is blase about their interview process whether your viable for EMDR or not, then you will ultimately suffer, not them.
I would not say to people to be scared of EMDR, or run from it, or wipe it totally from being a viable solution to help heal your trauma... far from it. What I would say is that if you have doubts over your therapist, if you have doubts and are keeping a lot of information secret from your therapist, and I mean heavy hard hitting trauma, then you may want to make the decision for yourself and not put yourself in such a high risk because your simply not ready to heal. Once you get talking and have no more secrets, then you would be more a candidate for EMDR to work effectively for you, not against you.
Any person with complex PTSD would typically not be a candidate near immediately. Quite bold if a therapist went near someone with complex PTSD. Severe PTSD, also not a good choice as the trauma is too intensive.
If a person has multiple trauma, depending on the trauma itself, works through that trauma and openly talks about it, then maybe EMDR could be an option to find or recover any hidden aspects and bring them out. From what I am aware, there is a criteria in which must be met first to be capable of under-going EMDR. What that is I do not know, but typically a therapist must first analyse all aspects of the trauma and use commonsense as to if the person is holding out from them or not. If they are, usually they will be rejected for EMDR. If the person is quite open and talks about the worst and most secretive issues, even keeping some to themselves still, they will usually fit the mold to have EMDR because they are more open which means less surprises and less chance of something going wrong.
The problem if it goes wrong is brain impairment. This means, in a small dosage you could experience reliving your trauma on a heightened daily response. Basically your trauma is going to worse in your mind. If the damage is medium, the brain nearly fries itself, you could find some pretty serious states of shock, convulsions daily, loss of motor skills, etc etc.
If it totally went wrong, your looking at being pretty much a vegetable. The therapist would have to be a moron though to push someone who wasn't responding already to the treatment though to that level. That would be negligent on the therapist behalf if anything ever got that bad.
The person giving EMDR unfortunately cannot control your mind, nor do they know what is going to popup from within it.
You have to have some trust in your therapist, though if you personally are in doubt of the treatment, its immediately not the right treatment for you. You must be allowed to make your own decisions on what is best for you.
EMDR is a very good treatment, and it is becoming a first line of defence for therapists nowadays due to its success at helping to heal trauma. It is not a cure for PTSD. It is a cure for anxiety only disorders. It is a very good treatment for trauma. It is not a cure though, never has been. EMDR has come a long way, will continue to evolve. The facts are though, it does pose certain risks and those must be disclosed to you. If the therapist is blase about their interview process whether your viable for EMDR or not, then you will ultimately suffer, not them.
I would not say to people to be scared of EMDR, or run from it, or wipe it totally from being a viable solution to help heal your trauma... far from it. What I would say is that if you have doubts over your therapist, if you have doubts and are keeping a lot of information secret from your therapist, and I mean heavy hard hitting trauma, then you may want to make the decision for yourself and not put yourself in such a high risk because your simply not ready to heal. Once you get talking and have no more secrets, then you would be more a candidate for EMDR to work effectively for you, not against you.
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- Admin
- #48
anthony
Founder
CBT is no different to EMDR, except CBT only allows your mind to travel at what its comfortable. Slower, though has proven longer term results than other treatments to date. The problem is simply the person. If your not ready to talk, then treatment is useless. If your hiding things from your therapist when asked, your putting yourself at risk because your relying upon your therapist to gauge how much your lying to them.
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