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01:48 AM

EMDR = Eye Movement Desentization and Reprocessing therapy.

I guess I would say EMDR is more of an active/physical therapy, not a talk therapy. The therapist has you literally do specific eye movements while you are recalling you trauma. Apparently, you don't even have to discuss the specifics of your trauma, but go through a very specific set of motions. This therapy was discovered quite accidently in the 1990s by Francine Shapiro.

So, summarizng van der Kolk, the author of the book I mentioned (and I know I will not do it justice):
- You experience a trauma (abuse for example).
- You experience fight-or-flight response (also called the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response [in PTSD], hyperarousal, or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival
- Your fight-or-flight instinct is controlled by the deepest of 3 sections of your brain (called the reptilian section or reptilian brain) - I cut-and-paste as follows:
Humans have 3 independent yet interconnected sections in our brain:
1) The Reptilian section 2) The Limbic section & 3) The Neo-cortex section.
The Reptilian section (1) is the instant (no discernment) ‘survival mode’ response section of the brain. It is the oldest in terms of our human evolution, ‘The Old Brain’, The Reptilian Brain.
The Limbic section (2) is the section of the brain that first emerged in Mammals. It generates our feelings and emotions in regard to our current reality.
The Neo-cortex section (3) is the Neo-Mammalian section of the brain, the evolved section of higher order thinking. It generates creation, manifestation, imagination, awareness, development, logical thinking, objectivity, empathy and most importantly: consciousness
- You could neither fight nor give flight; you and your reptilian brain are trapped.
- You develop PTSD.
- PTSD goes deep and registers with the reptilian brain.
- Talk therapy engages the neocortex.
- Reptilian brain trumps the neocortex. Just because you consciously know the immediate danger (abuse) happened in the past does not mean your reptilian brain gets it. It keeps reacting.
- EMDR somehow engages the reptilian brain so that the trauma is processed and the continued mental suffering is alleviated.

You can find out more at http://www.emdr.com/. Poke around the site and you will find a link that sends you to a directory of EMDR professionals throughout the US and foreign countries. But I have to say that I really, really recommend the van der Kolk’s book – he really understands childhood trauma (as well as PTSD in general.) The book could be triggering for some as he does not sugar-coat some of his patient experiences. Which is a reason I love the book all the more – finally someone is willing to just say it like it is.

About treatment, relief can be pretty quick. It’s not one where you see the therapist just every couple of weeks or every month or so. I haven’t had an opportunity to explore the therapy myself, but it is on my To Do list.

I know you don’t want to kill or harm yourself. It's your way of seeking relief from the intense pain you carry over from your abuse. I am so truly sorry you had to go through such horrid experiences. You are by no means alone. Are you being heard? Really heard?