Not Sure About Emdr

[GardenGirl0214]

So I started seeing an EMDR therapist the beginning of May. Before I saw her, I checked to see if she was listed on the EMDR website, which she was aND it was verified that she had completed both training parts of EMDR. I definitely like her, as she is very quick to alter what isn't working. I have severe anxiety issues, and so far, we have only used EMDR to try and lower the intensity of the anxiety. I do have tworked trauma issues to address, but my therapist said we need to lower my anxiety first.

I should mention that I am also seeing a CBT therapist, who suggested I do EMDR. I have been seeing the CBT therapist for two years and didn't want to give her up because I completely trust her, and trust does not come easily to me. The EMDR therapist has said it's helpful for her to be able to get input from her.

My problem is that I don't see my anxiety getting much better. We use the tappers during emdr, as I can't do the eye movement due to migraines. I will admit that some sessions do help lower my anxiety. However, what I'm finding is that what works during our session might not work in a future session, and that is extremely frustrating to me!

Today my CBT therapist and I talked about anticipatory anxiety, specifically pertaining to the EMDR. I definitely agreed with that, and she and I decided that perhaps I should start processing one of my traumas. She was going to call my EMDR therapist today (I signed a release) to suggest this. My question is how will I know when/if EMDR is wormkmg??

 

[The ANP]

In my experience EMDR often causes my symptoms to worsen before they get better. That said since starting the process 4 years ago I have substantially less anxiety overall.

 

[GardenGirl0214]

So, how do I "trust in the process," which is what my therapist has suggested, when anxiety seems to be taking over?

 

[Silver.]

Well you just said it GG, you need to trust in the process. EDMR has been proven to be effective in people that do not have multitudes of traumas, your therapist is proper certified, and it sounds like you are just letting the worrying get the better of you.
Is the anxiety related to the process itself, or just general anxiety? If it's related to the actual EDMR, ask your therapists to talk about it more with you, the more you know, the easier it is to go on in with a positive and clearer head.

 

[GardenGirl0214]

@Silver, it's a combination of both. I have GAD and I'm anxious about doing EMDR with a new therapist. The anxiety has been so bad that I'm seriously thinking of requesting a medication change. I honestly think that if we treat the anxiety, at least temporarily, I will have a better chance of looking at this more objectively. I will be calling my nurse practioner today.

 

[Silver.]

I do hope you can get this sorted. It isn't good to go into EDMR with a lot of stress and anxiety, so good on you for wanting to be hesitant and asking the right questions x

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I was scared to death when EMDR was recommended for me. I did a lot of research and questioning on the forum. I think that I was ready for it because having gone through has totally changed my life for the better.

Before I was so haunted and tormented by intrusive thoughts and memories etc and now that is gone from my life.

But is you are stressing and not ready for it, I would make a choice not to go through it if I were in your shoes. Only you know tha answer to that one so I hope that you do the right thing for yourself in making the choice whether to explore this at this time or not.

Whatever you choose, I wish you the best.

 

[MJP]

I had EMDR yesterday with the machine with horizontally moving lights. My therapist recommended EMDR to work on anxiety, depression, and ptsd that is impacting my life and is most likely related to childhood trauma as well as my current life situation.

I feel totally betrayed and freaked out by the experience. I left feeling odd, then wandered around the grocery store in a daze for 3 1/2 hours, then went home and was too upset to even unload the groceries until close to midnight. A lot of food spoiled and I will have to throw it out. Today, I felt very weird, disassociated and could not leave the house. I felt as if I could not talk to anyone because I felt so weird. I spoke with the therapist by phone, and she was very supportive, but I really did not feel any better.

Worse, I had started feeling better in the past few weeks with acupuncture, and the EMDR brought back a lot of the fear, negativity, immobilization, and hopelessness for me. After working so hard in the past few weeks to feel better, this is very disheartening.

My therapist never warned me about the possibility of a negative reaction to EMDR and said that people generally process things pretty painlessly. Today, when I reported the outcome, she said that you have to be willing to go thru this to get the benefits. I believe her when she said that EMDR helps a lot of people, but I really don't think this treatment is right for me.

I am in a precarious situation and need to get better and get back to work. I don't think I am strong enough emotionally to deal with the EMDR and its aftermath and feel that it is too risky to continue with the treatment. I fear that continuing to have these destabilizing experiences will cause me to spiral down and everything will get worse.

I would not want to discourage anyone else from trying the EMDR because it is supposed to help a lot of people, but I would really hesitate to ever do it again.

My advice to anyone considering this therapy is talk the therapist, get as much info as possible, and then listen to your gut.

 

[The ANP]

you are describing a common experience. I do well overall with EMDR but is does make me feel worse at times. My T explained that we need to be very careful in using EMDR because I have dissociation, it can make that worse and is often contraindicated. I had to stop EMDR and work on restabilizing after my last session caused my to lose basic life coping skills. Still seeing T just not doing EMDR. Also I have heard that EMDR can be contraindicated in people who experienced trauma starting at an early age. It seems to work better on people with trauma happening in later life.