Starting Emdr For Repressed Memories Of Childhood Incest And Sexual Abuse

[shimmerz]

I actually don't feel pain, so I can't answer that. Mine issues came out somatically. Through night terrors, hypervigilance, catatonia, eating disordered, etc.

 

[alllrite]

My therapist does emdr. But i don't think he has experience with RM. Is there a resource(protocol) for it? (I am also a therapist w emdr ll)
I am just beginning this journey. It has Taken a couple of years to accept that I have repressed memonies. Not much support for it out here - one psychiatrist dismissed me with "everyone has stuff they can't remember." that was at a hospital that Treats PTSD but combat & Police.
Is there a thread that Talks about how you know you have repressed memories? It is still a bit difficult to be sure.

 

[Hopeful1973]

There's really not a lot out there as far as trying to figure out if you have repressed memories. When it happened to me last October and they just came on out of the blue I had no remembrance of my childhood sexual abuse. I've done as much research probably as anyone could on repressed memories in such a short time.your best bet is to just start surfing typing in all kinds of different scenarios. I hope that this helps. you must remember one thing trust yourself and your first instincts and that should help you. And memories like that don't just come up and not have something behind them. You can pm me if you like. Good luck

 

[samson]

I have been in emdr for 4 years now. Repressed memories came up of a sexual assault when I was in 6th grade by an older, bigger boy. I never told anyone. I suffer intense body memories. Both during emdr and in between sessions. It does eventually go away. I'm just coming off of an episode where I became too involved with my younger self during the memory of this event and it cause suicidal ideation. It's not the fault of the emdr, I haven't decided whose fault that is. My therapist and I have spent two sessions now working on grounding and making sure I'm seeing things through my adult perspective. And we added Abilify to my Zoloft. It's hard. EMDR is effective however. I have worked through some other very traumatic things using emdr - this memory just seems to be the nexus of everything that is wrong with me.

Don't mean to scare you with this - I've been doing it for a long time - it sounds like your therapist has prepared you and knows what shes doing. Feel free to im me with anything you might need.

 

[Mercy]

Yes, I feel like I have all of my skills in check for coping. My therapist has been doing EMDR thera...

The process of therapy for me needs a metaphor. So here it is. In the beginning of therapy, I was like a toddler at the beach. the slightest wave would knock me over. When the memories became more serious, I became like a three year old at the beach. Tiny waves didn't knock me down but shin high ones did. As we went further in therapy, I had to recognize that the content of my abuse was serious. But it was like I had gone to the beach as an 8 year old swimmer. I could jump up almost all the waves without being knocked down. Finally, as an 11yr old I could dive through big waves and not be hurt at all.

I understand that uncovering memories is scary since we don't know what they will be.

My flashbacks can be very painful but it helps me believe myself- part of the dance with denial.

feeling the actual physical pains of a repressed memory as if it were happening at that time do you know if this is true or not.

That is a very valid question. Can we create pain with our minds on purpose? I've tried that but I couldn't re-experience the pain of breaking my wrist. IMHO....When the pain is stored with the trauma then it is attached to the event in our survival brain.

 

[Mary Theresa]

I am beginning EM DR therapy next week. In October of last year I had repressed memories begin of my...

Hi ... I just started my first session of EMDR after living with the symptoms for more than 45 years! It was an amazing experience insofar as the morning after my first session, I actually "saw" images/faces flashing before my eyes (almost like pixels) -- NOTHING like that had ever happened to me even when I had tried EMDR at an earlier point in time (20 years ago - with no results - most likely because the therapist was inexperienced). After my recent session this week, my therapist indicated that I was a "quick study" and that based on how I responded to the first session, he predicted I could be symptom-free within a year (with weekly sessions). Hang in there and have hope ... at the age of 58, I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel! Mary Theresa

 

[SophiaWisdom]

Thank you @Hopeful1973 for starting this and sharing. I wonder how it went for you since 2015?

Hi ... I just started my first session of EMDR after living with the symptoms for more than 45 yea...

Thanks for the great share @Mary Theresa! I'm 36 now and after decades of my own work I do feel more confident my EMDR process and my ability to cope, though reading these forums makes me terrified often lol.

I also feel a time pressure because ACA might be going away in 11 months so I feel I have only these 11 months to heal before I may not be able to afford it anymore. I don't want to put pressure on my healing or treatment that way, but it is the reality of things and going into debt for my healthcare is not going to help anything either. So hopefully the process will go well as I trust it to :)