I don't do EMDR with the finger moving thing and I don't think that would be very helpful for me. Personally I have to do EMDR with my eyes closed the majority of the time but I use the buzzers in my hands instead of watching the therapist finger go back and forth.

In my experience EMDR is in a way a prolonged exposure therapy. It is not an instant cure and you have to continually go over the same trauma each session until your tolerance and your discomfort level of that memory lessens down to almost a zero. At that point there is another step where the therapist will rework positive thoughts into your memory bank to further neutralize the effect of the trauma.

Like I said earlier depending on your past experiences this could take a few sessions or it could take many many sessions. I think a lot of people who have had a negative experience I stopped EMDR before the final phase. I have to admit I am impatient and just want to get there as well. That is why I've changed my tactic to continuously work on the same one memory so I can completely process that rather than skipping around to different memories depending on what is impacting me the worst at the moment.

I also understand the importance of training and certification however my therapist hasn't completed his certification yet. That being said he has been fully trained in Phase 1 and 2 or whatever they call it. He also has a great deal of experience doing EMDR and I am very happy with his skill level especially with dealing with my DID. I only say this because I would hate to have missed out with him based on the fact that he is not technically certified. It takes many hours of recorded sessions and supervision to complete certification. My therapist has completed all of those hours. I am sure there are many therapists practicing EMDR that are not capable or properly trained but in my experience certification does not necessarily mean the therapist is not properly trained. I'm sure there are also plenty of therapist that are certified yet have no clue as to how to deal with EMDR and people like myself with DID.