Emdr

[Tim &Bailey]

Anybody have any experience with EMDR treatments. I have had a friend I met through some of the Service DOg work I do offer to get me into a program for free. I have heard mixed reviews any help for or against will be appreciated

Tim & Bailey

 

[Jimmy1]

Tim and Bailey,

I had a few weeks of EMDR. All I can say is that it is like medication, you have to find the right one for you.
I had better luck with Brain Spotting and the plain old CBT, yet I know some other guys where EMDR worked a treat. It is very up front though as the therapist has to get close to you. So if you can't handle that then I would avoid it. You have to be able to trust the therapist first. Then again, if your desperate for a break from torment, then its worth a shot.

Hope I am not waffling here.

 

[reddevil1111]

My therapist is pushing for me to have EMDR for childhood abuse as well as my PTSD from both childhood and Marine Corps trauma. I can let you know how things go but I think EMDR and other treaatments are like suits. What fits and looks good on one man may look like shite on another. Give it a try. The worse that can happen is what? You already have PTSD....Good Luck!-Dan

 

[James McDonald]

I just started with a new therapist and she wanted to start emdr on our second session...so far I dont think its working, im trying it but i guess your right its a trust issue. And plus she seems like a but of a f%&ktard. Im a little pissed that they would put a know nothing like here in there....idk how long she has worked there or what experience she has but its hard to deal with her, there is no "common ground" yeah im ranting....sorry

 

[Jimmy1]

James your spot on mate. You have to feel comfortable. You may never find common ground, but an experienced therapist in PTSD specifically working with veterans would understand this. Ask her what experience she has, its your right to be hesitant. Especially when working with EMDR, they have to get in your grid square and that is uncomfortable at the best of times. Sometimes like medication, you will have to keep changing therapists till you find one you like

 

[James McDonald]

I had another appointment with my threapist today, and she lucked out. here is the background; Im normally a really guarded person until someone gets to know me these days. I am on course that is done on the 3rd of Nov, so they start talking about afganistan and stuff just started flooding back into my head. I had a panic attack! so i stayed out had some ativan a smoke, then some breathing followed by more ativan and some more smokes. |So i was about halfway down when they are done and come out to the smoking area, someone starts to ask me why didnt you come back, I shrugged it off saying I didnt want to. ( not many people know of my issue) so he starts to say blah blah blah, your an instructor at the school , blah blah blah, you should know better.....so i didnt want a confrontation so i walked away...this brought on another panic attack. so we had a break i went to calm down yet again,,,,goit myself a bit down to the point where i could go back to class then we were dismissed for the day...i left immideatly. Got home and realized that i hadnt done my shrink homework....one of those feelings one....so i wrote it out ....abd guess what happened again....Panic attack....i went to see her at the pinnacle of it and she actually talked to me and helped me out with it. We did what we should have done prior to trying emdr. We got to know and trust each other.
Now she wants me to do a feelings journel by art assignment....however i feel that day i have to color, paint ect in a book. ok March on arts and crafts class!

 

[Jimmy1]

Thats actually good mate. We had to mould clay into something or a face that resembled what we were feeling.

In another instance we got clay flower pots, wrote down on bits of paper the hurt words that were affecting us, put them in the pot, put the pot in numerous hessian sacks then smashed the shit out of it.
When all this was over we did some craft work with the bits of broken pot and made something. The bits of paper were burned. It was meant to symbolise getting rid of some emotion.

I would have liked to put some C4 on mine. lmao

 

[James McDonald]

That sounds like fun. but the C-4 I do too much of that at work....well used to...now they wont even let me get issued a rifle! Yeah my days are going to be numbered soon. I think I have come to the realization that I will never deploy again, and never be back in an operational unit again! meh whatever

 

[Jimmy1]

I know where your coming from mate. I was downgraded to Med class 4 before discharge. I was not allowed to hand a weapon or ammo. Then I was not allowed at work. Then it was see ya later.

 

[EOD96]

Gents, I'll be starting EMDR this week. I'm skeptical. Can someone with experience with this describe their experience with this? I understand Jimmy's comment regarding finding the right treatment fit, I was just wanting to hear if anyone has had positive results?

Thanks

 

[Jimmy1]

I never stayed on EMDR long enough.
You need to be comfortable with the therapist or not be on edge that day. Its an up close and personal therapy where they talk you through the events leading up to the trauma. Sometimes they talk right through the trauma, but what they do is to wave their finger slowly across in front of your eyes to simulate the REM sleep. As it was described to me, after a trauma you don't sleep real well, and especially us military trained to sleep with one eye open. REM sleep is apparently the processing stage.

Hope it works mate, they have had some great success with it.

 

[EOD96]

Thanks Jimmy. At least now I know better what to expect. I've been avoiding the trauma re-visiting thing. I've been avoiding a lot of house cleaning. Hopefully this will help. If anyone has stayed on long enough to describe their experiences and feels like they can talk about it, I would be interested. In either case, I'll do a recon and report back what I find.