What was your schedule like when doing EMDR?

[Nessa7]

I'm really curious about what people's schedules are like when they're doing EMDR. I pretty frequently compare therapy schedules offline with people that I know that are going through the same mental health system, but I don't know anyone that has done EMDR. I never noticed before, but I apparently find the subject very interesting.

I will be starting with a new therapist in January for EMDR and going back to my current therapist in the spring. I might go back again next winter. My insurance will pay for two sessions a week. I'll still meet with a case manager about every other week and have group therapy once a week.

Does anyone have experience doing EMDR temporarily like this?

 

[Wendell_R]

I did several months of low-key, once a month EMDR to establish resources. Now, I meet once a week to do intense EMDR, and once a week to process what came up with the EMDR session. Due to various scheduling issues, we've fit in eight of the intense sessions so far. All eight have been beneficial for me. I wouldn't have been ready to jump right in to trauma EMDR without doing some of the resourcing EMDR. So, my thoughts are ... I think a few months of EMDR can be very helpful, but be careful at how fast you ramp up and be honest with the EMDR person about anything that the EMDR stirs up.

I can imagine taking a break from EMDR and returning to it. That would be frustrating for me because EMDR has been effective, and it would be difficult to wait that long to get back to something that's working. But I can also see how a gap would prepare you for the next stage of recovery.

 

[Freida]

@Wendell_R is right when he says to start slow. It can get really intense so getting a good foundation on how it will affect you is important.

I've been doing emdr for about two years once a week, then follow up with my other T a couple days later each week to work on coping skills/general life crap. It works out pretty well. I have had breaks along the way - anywhere from two weeks to about a month but usually keep it pretty consistent. A lot of that depends on what kinds of trauma you will be working on.

Once we got to the tough stuff emdr usually knocks me on my ass for about 24 hours so when I was working I took the next day off. I worked 4 10s so had a pretty flexible schedule.

 

[Friday]

I don’t do EMDR. That said? My former T split sessions like @Freida’s for EMDR.

- 120 minutes 1 day
- Skip 1 day
- 90 minutes the day after.

 

[oakleaves]

I am in the UK and tried doing a session once a week (so a 60 minute session weekly) for resource building - which was fine, helpful -but then tried to do the same for processing and it wasn't enough to contain things for me. I process quickly apparently but they say 90 minutes is the standard recommendation. I found EMDR incredibly intense once it got to the processing stage and I don't honestly think I had built enough trust with my therapist. So when she let me down a few times (cancelling, not responding to messages) I decided to drop out. I think EMDR is great but I think it has to be done within a strong therapeutic relationship. It can't be applied like a technique (and some T's do do that) because of the stuff it has the potential to stir up. Personally I think I do better with combined EMDR and traditional talking therapy and I think that's why it felt to much to just do the EMDR on it's own. Just a warning I guess.

 

[Freida]

Personally I think I do better with combined EMDR and traditional talking therapy and I think that's why it felt to much to just do the EMDR on it's own. Just a warning I guess.

yes!!! I totally agree with that. You have to be able to do emdr, then talk about how you felt doing emdr to be succesfull

 

[Missycat]

I would agree that having a strong therapeutic relationship is key and a therapist proficient in emdr and trauma.
I had emdr weekly and had a 90 mins session as i dissociated a lot. It was hard and intense so often we would do processing in very small chunks ie 6 seconds and up to 30 seconds and then leave the memory ... i think its quite commonly used now and is called the flash technique ... you basically just flash quickly into the memory and then to safe place. You then build back up to full processing. It worked for me particularly as i would dissociate so much. I found emdr did help me and have recently returned to it , however we are building up again so whilst we meet weekly the emdr is fortnightly.
I ensure a big gap between processing and then going in to work and where possible when i can have some chill out time afterwards as i find it exhausting.

 

[Wendell_R]

Personally I think I do better with combined EMDR and traditional talking therapy and I think that's why it felt to much to just do the EMDR on it's own. Just a warning I guess

I agree!

 

[oakleaves]

I would agree that having a strong therapeutic relationship is key and a therapist proficient in emdr and trauma...I ensure a big gap between processing and then going in to work and where possible when i can have some chill out time afterwards as i find it exhausting.

Agree about the break afterwards and taking time to rest. I was absolutely wiped out after emdr sessions and in the evenings I would be able to do very little. I might go back to emdr in the future (might ask my current T what she thinks) as I didn't get anywhere really, had a rupture and that was the end of it. If I did go back to emdr I think I'd at least be going back to it with my eyes more open. I think the therapist ensuring safety around it in terms of really regular time slots, really regular sessions, lots of planning if you have to miss a session. I didn't have that and it just did not feel safe enough. I felt really destabilised by it in the end. At the moment tbh I am finding talking (with a really experienced therapist who works differently) seems to be helping more in terms of being able to get closer to allowing myself to think about it. Which is ironic when emdr is supposed to be the gold standard treatment.

 

[PTSDGuy]

I'm still at the beginning stage - I've only had 3 sessions so far, but I have EMDR on Mondays or Tuesdays, then see my regular T on Thursdays... Im still learning about my safe place, and relaxation techniques, and it's already overwhelmed me a couple of times...

 

[user27357]

I am fine with EMDR once a week, twice a week, once a month, after 6 months off, all of it except that I definitely don't want to go back to work after a session, or meet new people or get involved in anything that I can't mentally check out of for a little while. Driving home from a session is a bad idea and I try to combine the trip with a stop at a bookstore or a park or a museum for right after leaving the session.
My last EMDR therapy was an hour and a half from home and I had maybe 6 blocks from her office to the on ramp that dumped me on the freeway and across a bridge into the downtown core if I took the most efficient route back home. That didn't work. I now know most of the interesting little places near her office from walking around for an hour after each session. Schedule for Safety first after EMDR, most definitely.

 

[Tammy S]

@Nessa7, I am going thru EMDR right now. Weekly since mid Sept.

Good to hear from someone else that it knocks you on your ass. I thought it was only me.