EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) is a technique to aid processing of a traumatic event. I am beyond grateful to Francine Shapiro for discovering and spreading the use of EMDR. I probably wouldn't be alive today without it.
In my case, I averaged 1-3 flashbacks (new, unprocessed repressed memories) a week for almost 10 years. I was afflicted with such a high number of flashbacks because my traumas, ages 3-6 years old, were pervasive in my life and frequent. Each flashback was not necessarily a new event. They were often a newly remembered, but nonetheless traumatizing, piece of a partially remembered event.
With EMDR, I could pull up the entire chunk of repressed memory in 15 minutes, as opposed to several weeks on my own without the technique. And the emotional pain of the remembered event was reduced, I estimate, by about 50%. What a miracle this was for me. Without the technique, after several weeks of my mind fighting to keep the memory repressed and at the same time pushing to surface it, I would end up a completely physically and emotionally spent blob.
For years, I could only use this technique with my therapist present, though I tried many times when I was alone, to no avail. (It's hard to schedule flashbacks for every Thursday at 4pm. lol) But finally, after many years of getting flashbacks, I am able to do it to a limited extent for myself. The obstacle was my subconscious fear that the memory would cause a psychotic break and I would end up wondering around in traffic naked. My subconscious mind knew that when I was with my trusted therapist, if I had a psychotic break she would take care of me and get me checked into the hospital. Finally though, I had had enough experience with bad flashbacks to know unconsciously that I most likely would not have a psychotic break during memory recall, though this fear still limited the amount of memory I could pull up by myself versus what I could pull up with my therapist.
I know from my support groups that EMDR is not for everyone. For some people, it is too intense an experience to tolerate. And EMDR can only be used when a tiny thread of the memory -- a feeling, an image, a uncomfortableness in a certain situation -- is poking out of the black box of the repressed event or emotion. It's that thread, tiny as it may be, that is focused on to begin the EMDR process.
I hope others can benefit from this testimony about EMDR. You can get a list online of local therapists who have been EMDR trained. As usual, though, there are therapists who are good at it and others who are not so good, so you might have to interview a few to find one with enough experience and/or with whom you feel comfortable. If EMDR is not for you, then I know there will be other resources and techniques offered to you that will help.
Peace and healing to all.
In my case, I averaged 1-3 flashbacks (new, unprocessed repressed memories) a week for almost 10 years. I was afflicted with such a high number of flashbacks because my traumas, ages 3-6 years old, were pervasive in my life and frequent. Each flashback was not necessarily a new event. They were often a newly remembered, but nonetheless traumatizing, piece of a partially remembered event.
With EMDR, I could pull up the entire chunk of repressed memory in 15 minutes, as opposed to several weeks on my own without the technique. And the emotional pain of the remembered event was reduced, I estimate, by about 50%. What a miracle this was for me. Without the technique, after several weeks of my mind fighting to keep the memory repressed and at the same time pushing to surface it, I would end up a completely physically and emotionally spent blob.
For years, I could only use this technique with my therapist present, though I tried many times when I was alone, to no avail. (It's hard to schedule flashbacks for every Thursday at 4pm. lol) But finally, after many years of getting flashbacks, I am able to do it to a limited extent for myself. The obstacle was my subconscious fear that the memory would cause a psychotic break and I would end up wondering around in traffic naked. My subconscious mind knew that when I was with my trusted therapist, if I had a psychotic break she would take care of me and get me checked into the hospital. Finally though, I had had enough experience with bad flashbacks to know unconsciously that I most likely would not have a psychotic break during memory recall, though this fear still limited the amount of memory I could pull up by myself versus what I could pull up with my therapist.
I know from my support groups that EMDR is not for everyone. For some people, it is too intense an experience to tolerate. And EMDR can only be used when a tiny thread of the memory -- a feeling, an image, a uncomfortableness in a certain situation -- is poking out of the black box of the repressed event or emotion. It's that thread, tiny as it may be, that is focused on to begin the EMDR process.
I hope others can benefit from this testimony about EMDR. You can get a list online of local therapists who have been EMDR trained. As usual, though, there are therapists who are good at it and others who are not so good, so you might have to interview a few to find one with enough experience and/or with whom you feel comfortable. If EMDR is not for you, then I know there will be other resources and techniques offered to you that will help.
Peace and healing to all.
