My Emdr Experience

[Pizzawoman99]

Hi all, I posted back in May, asking what kinds of experiences people have had with EMDR. Over the past several weeks I have pursued this kind of therapy with a very understanding therapist (who happened to have a sliding scale, even better!). It has thus far been a very positive experience and I wanted to share it with anyone thinking of this type of therapy. The first few sessions involved taking a history, then the first EMDR session was establishing a safe space. She asked me to imagine a place where I felt very safe, with as much sensory input as possible (what would I be seeing? Smelling? Tasting, even?) as she waved her fingers back and forth, which I tracked with my eyes. She gave me a way to reinforce this by bilateral movement while envisioning this safe space, to be done daily.

Subsequent sessions have involved thinking of times I have shown certain positive traits like courage, resilience, ability to attune, etc., and going through it during the moving-fingers-back-and-forth phase.

The focus on the positive, on what I have to heal within and on feeling safe *now* was a bit unexpected but quite welcome. The only side effect has been feeling physically very tired after a session for a good while. Perhaps it takes a lot of energy to establish the new neural connections EMDR is supposed to forge.

Is it permissible to recommend my therapist to anyone on this forum who might be in my area (greater Atlanta area) and curious about EMDR...?

It seems to be helping.

 

[ground crew]

I also had good results. It helped me reorder events to give context to all the stuff that happened and pointed squarely to the prime trauma. I did find the process a bit more "bandage off FAST", but I may have been at other therapies for years before we got to the good one.

The skill of the therapist is key here, I do believe one could send a person down a dark path with this process. And I did feel the trauma again, but the sorting and reprocessing has been good, overall. And giving context to my reactions is therapeutic.

 

[hodge]

Did you guys have one trauma or multiple traumas, can I ask?

 

[ground crew]

Many events. Violence and accidents, some abuse I hesitate to mention after reading other accounts. I had some close calls as an adult too, lifetime member of unexpected events club.

 

[Pizzawoman99]

Hi, well in my case the main trauma was something that happened to me when I was just a baby, but it has colored my life since then. Only recently in midlife has the truth begun to emerge. There have been other things, growing up with an alcoholic parent, etc. The emphasis is not on recovering memories with this therapist, though; as she said, whatever happened, I survived it. The thing is to help me feel safe and secure NOW (very alien to me) and reinforce that I have the strength and skills to survive, whatever may come in the future. I haven't had any other memories come up with this therapy, but I have begun to feel more confident and stronger.

 

[ground crew]

Sounds about right. I found mindfulness to be helpful.

What happened, happened. That can't be changed. It is part of you. There was an article in huffington post on a person learning to deal with an anxiety disorder. It seems we need anxiety or we would never get out of bed! But managing it is the trick. You'll get it! And me too, one day!

 

[a3a2]

I start EMDR on Monday. Thanks for the info, very helpful.

 

[NaeNae75]

My s/o starts EMDR tomorrow (Friday) and I have my own consultation a week from Saturday. I'm very pensive and anxious.

 

[Pizzawoman99]

NaeNae75, just remember if anything feels just too weird, you can always stop. If you need more information about EMDR you can ask the therapist. If yours is anything like mine, the first few sessions are about taking a history, what your issues are, and forming a therapist/patient bond. I felt rather anxious too the first time we delved into the actual emdr, but she dealt with that, had me calm down first. It was actually on my way home that I really started to feel waves of peace, of security.

 

[NaeNae75]

NaeNae75, just remember if anything feels just too weird, you can always stop. If you need more inf...

I'm pretty blessed to have the lady I do. She's one of the pioneers and trained directly under the woman that developed the technique. She goes around the country training others. Her hubby is one of the guys that runs the inpatient clinic at the VA in North Chicago. Talking to her has already made me feel safe with her. It still is an unknown, so scary. Thanks for sharing your experience. That helps.