Sufferer Ptsd From Both Childhood Abuse And Adult Sexual Assult

[Deleted member 1860]

Do you know anything about EMDR?

To be honest, it sounds like what you're doing is a cheap knock-off of EMDR. However, EMDR doesn't guarantee that someone will be fixed in a few sessions. It does use the method of having someone retell a trauma while "distraction" methods are used. I think its more a matter of bilateral stimulation though. (You actually TELL your story, you don't just think of a bad memory.)

If you're a part of her master's thesis, I would ask her who her supervising faculty member is and contact this person to tell your side of the story, that is that you feel this person didn't have your best interest at heart, and to give her your opinion on this type of therapy.

It REALLY scares me that there are practitioners who are using this for trauma issues.

 

[beancat]

Thank you so much for validating my feelings. I literally thought I was going insane, but, honestly, I think this woman caused way more harm than good and has set me back quite a bit. I don't think it was malicious, I really do feel like she believed in what she was trying to do, but I think her faith in her system clouded her judgment. I am starting with a new therapist this Friday and I think he's going to be great for me. I can't believe I'm saying this, but after joining this forum and talking to all of you kind folks, I am looking forward to this new course of action. I haven't looked forward to anything besides bed in a long time. Thank you all for your help!

 

[rightkindofme]

I'm glad Solara is supporting you in your certainty that you tried something that Totally Failed For You. I'm an annoying optimist (I try hard to be at least) and for me, when I find something that totally doesn't work I feel like, "Hey! I learned something. This (whatever it is) is Not For Me. And that's ok!" I feel like learning that x, y and z don't work for me has been really useful.

That way when I talk about my issues and people say, "Well have you tried...." I can say "Yes I have! Let me tell you how that went badly so you'll stop pressuring other people to try it!"

I've shut a lot of people down that way. That's my version of "optimism". Heh.

I've had some good luck with CBT, it depends on the practitioner. I hope you find someone you click with. :)

 

[QueenPhina]

Hi there, I'm new to this site and trying to reach out, Your post got my attention and just wanted to say hang in there... things get better and things get worse, but continuing your journey to healing is of utmost importance. I'm not sure exactly what kind of therapy you were describing, but anything that forces you to "process" your trauma rapidly seems keen to fail. PTSD symptoms and triggers run deep, and I personally feel that the healing needs to be just as deep - something that can't be achieved overnight, let alone in less than a day or a few hours!

I've done EMDR when I was a teenager... I remember feeling awkward about it because it involves multiple sessions of "getting to know you" and "your story" before introducing rapid eye movement (which I guess is supposed to assist in helping you process the trauma better? "File it away" in memory sort of thing instead of floating around because it's too traumatic). So I'd look into a device that I can only explain like the eye thing they make you look in to check your sight at the DMV or DOT, except a little bigger.. and inside you're supposed to keep your eyes on like, a light or something .. while it moves back and forth (left and right). While you watch the movements, you talk about what happened to you, or answer specific questions about what happened to you, depending on the session.

As the therapist "gets to know you", later sessions involve pressing into deeper things, like the aftermath of what happened instead of just the event itself... like, for example, a feeling of insecurity, a specific trigger you have, diving into things that aren't really talked about, and therefore not processed. I felt uncomfortable, but I always do when talking about anything in my past, and like I said I was a teenager - so there was also the whole "I'm pissed off my parent dragged me here" attitude thing going on... I can't really say if I felt like it helped or not because I didn't continue long enough for some reason unknown to me. I felt better from it than I did just talking to my therapist, anyway.

I know some people have had success with hypnosis, but I think it can cause issues for other PTSD sufferers. I don't doubt that it can have benefits for some people, but on the other hand I don't think it is the kind of treatment that can truly get down to the core issues for us and cause lasting healing, at least not for those of us who have ongoing trauma or childhood trauma. Maybe its best as an adjunct therapy? I don't know...

@Solara I don't know much about hypnosis but I've occasionally heard about it. I've felt similar, that perhaps its not a lasting healing treatment. Kinda how I feel about EDMR as well.. almost like it's just a way to desensitize (more than already?!) and encourage to dissociate - which doesn't make sense to me. Just covering something up, not dealing with it sort of thing. Do you have any thoughts regarding that? I admit, I don't know much about hypnosis and even EDMR, except for the few sessions years ago.. but it seems that they rely on a dissociation sort of thing.

I wish you the best Beancat! Welcome to the site! :)

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Hi @QueenPhina,

I don't want to take over beancat's intro thread. I did try EMDR a number of years ago and it just didn't work for me. I'm not sure if it was the practitioner or me or what? There are quite a few threads here on the forum about EMDR that you can search for, or if you have other questions about how EMDR works you could also start a thread of your own so that you can get more feedback from others who have more personal experience with it.

 

[intothelight]

@beancat Welcome to the forum!

Check out the therapy section as there is a lot of information and shared experiences. Sometimes it takes a while to find the right therapist and therapy combination, but PTSD does get better and I hope you find this site helpful.