Help! Stopping Dissociation Quickly.

[Panda Bear]

Short....

I had a second week of EMDR yesterday and I'm struggling to stay present and accounted for. Husband an I are leaving with out kids for a few days and I can't get ahold of my self.

I don't want to ruin our kid free time away. I hate this!!! Trying like hell....

 

[Deleted member 541]

What coping skills are you trying at this time????

 

[Panda Bear]

Shoes off....
Breathing...
Interacting with people....
Talking....

Sometimes a nap will snap me out of it but I can't do that now.

 

[Silver.]

Is your therapist spending time with you at the end of the session to ground you? The key to making EDMR successful is knowing good grounding techniques, mindfulness and such. Have you tried meditation?

 

[Deleted member 541]

@Panda Bear the awakening of the senses is the thing you need to do. Taste and smell are the quickest so keep so thing with you that will keep those senses alive. Something either really sour or hot for taste. Strong scents for the sense of smell....

I agree with @Silver, that your therapist needs to teach you with grounding or help you ground after EMDR...

 

[Panda Bear]

Lots of teaching.....tons!!! I was just having a tougher time than I'd like. He's very good and we've been very diligent about being calm after sessions. Doing the emdr in 20min or so blocks of time and then taking the rest of the time to settle.

 

[Sideways]

I find it's a lot like trying to deep breathe my way out of a panic attack. Sometimes I get really stressed about how urgently I need to calm down, or ground myself. Enter disastrous thoughts about all the terrible things that will happen if I don't breathe, ground, right now, argh!

Stressing about the urgency of having to ground can make the process near impossible. The point is to get centred, back in the right here right now, regardless of the way the world is collapsing in around me. "Hello world collapsing in around me, I'm just being here, now, noticing you collapse in around me, and that's okay..."

Try not to put time frames or expectations on your grounding. It tends to be counterproductive:)

 

[Panda Bear]

@Ragdoll Circus

I think it was made worse by the stress of the kids and my husband and I needing to pack up for our trip. We were in a hurry and I was juggling a toddler while preparing food. Not enough sleep the other before and still feeling a little off because of the EMDR the day before. While I wasn't feeling horrid. It was enough to cause me to struggle and get a grip on reality.

Sometimes it's anxiety about leaving home...my safety zone. And this crossed over into blah zone. The Klonopin makes it worse(dissociation) and I had taken a small dose with my abilify earlier in the morning. Bad move...

Thank you for your perception, it really helped!!!

 

[Sideways]

Something to mull over - does hubby know that you use grounding as a form of medication? Handy if he does. Next time, "Sweetie, I know we're in a rush, but you need to take rugrat here for 10 minutes so I can take some of my grounding meds, and this process will go a whole lot faster";)

 

[Panda Bear]

@Ragdoll Circus

He had left me with the tiny person so he could go grab our other two kids from school. Taking his car(not large enough for all three kids) and left me the van so I could finish packing.

I think I may have learned a lesson here.
1. Needed to have planned better
2. I should have slowed down and expressed earlier that I was struggling to him. He would have helped better.
3. We aren't going to be late, it was my own stress placed on myself
4. We can leave the house and not have perfection.

 

[Sideways]

Leaving the house without perfection - love it! That's one of the most liberating things, when you realise that! You know, if I go buy groceries in my pjs...Nothing Happens! World keeps turning, fridge is full, no one cares. Awesome! Truly awesome:)

 

[Deleted member 541]

@Panda Bear Leave the house and not have perfection... God how I would love to do that. A bit OCD with my apartment....

@Ragdoll Circus I'm sorry, but going out with you pj's on???? Where I live soooooo many people do this that we have nicknames for them... The pajama people!!!! They are everywhere, in all the stores, winter, summer, fall and spring. I really am not being disrespectful, I honestly don't know how people do this? I could never go out in my Jammies....