Therapy for childhood abuse

[Scott88]

I've been doing EMDR for chikdhood abuse which has been extremely hard but my last session my T asksd me why I am blocking very horrific parts of the abuse and he started asking me horrific detailed questions about it consecutively for example Did he do this... did he do that... I couldn't answer them it brought everything back and it was soo awful when he was saying it, I was a mess this is the first time he has done this in Session. I just want to know is this normal why would he do this?

 

[Jnean]

So sorry you went through what you went through. I would be uncomfortable with those kinds of questions too because I do not have much memories of my childhood or the abuse. My body knows and flashbacks tell me however my T (therapist) helps me to talk about things I feel and images I see in my head, to help me get through the pain inside. Maybe try telling your T how you feel and talk about other ways he could offer to help you. There is nothing wrong with saying what isnt working for you. Especially if it puts you in a worse state than when you went in. Therapy is hard and takes a lot of time. I needed tools to deal with life the entire time I was in therapy dealing with the childhood abuse I went through and my T helped me to find the tools that worked for me. So sorry it was so hard for you.

 

[Scott88]

Sorry to you too. What you just wrote could have been me speaking about what I can remember, and my body and flashbacks. I can't even say the actual words of it or even look when he has written it on the board he just keeps asking me to say out loud but I can't. He just kept saying these questions and he knows I wouldn't be able to answer them and he could see it was extremely hard when he was saying it, my body sensations were going mental I fealt like he was attacking me with these questions is it a type of therapy for him doing that do you know?

 

[Jnean]

I know it's not EMDR because that's what I did and it didn't look anything like that but maybe it's his way of doing talk therapy. It does seem like he wants to desensitize you from the words. I know I have only ever spoken the words outloud to one person that I trusted fully. Even with my T I haven't said the words oitloud but I did play therapy so I was able to paint something that told and I was able to use figures on a sand tray to describe where I was at. Theres all kinds of ways to express the truth. Saying the words once was powerful for me. Writing the words here in my diary helps but it's different than saying them. I just dont think I could ever be pushed into saying it.