EMDR

Has anyone's T attempted or did EMDR with them? We've been in therapy with this particular T for 5 plus years. He trains other therapist to do EMDR, gives seminars, etc. So far, he's never attempted it with us because of the dissociation. But he now feels we are ready to try it. Some of us are confused. We can't understand what he's saying. He wants to start with the moment of conception but none of us were the one who was in the womb. We told him that today and, for now, the only way it makes sense to us is to say the body - when referring to the one who was carried in the womb by the bio mother since none of us were. He gave us his usual spewl about us all being in one body, still....not sure what is going to happen. But we are wanting to move forward and have told him this. This is what he thinks we need to do.
A Protector

My last T tried EMDR with us and my protectors blocked it.I don't know why. I too would like for some one to explain EMDR, how it's done and what does it do? I have heard good things about EMDR.Someone please explain it to us too.

There are a lot of problems with validating the efficacy of EMDR. Here's a good spot to start looking into this. I'm not a fan of it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work for some people... http://www.quackwatch.com/search/web...D=1&query=emdr ...oh, and please don't shoot the messenger; I'm just on guard against people paying a lot for therapy that is largely un-validated.

Thanks my old T tried the "follow my finger with the eyes" this.....made us extremely anxious, then she tapped rapidly on one or both knees this too caused extreme anxiety...then she did the tapping on my knee ( or knees) that represented "a heartbeat that an unborn baby would hear...feel"...so it was tap,tap pause, tap,tap, pause.....that would usually ground us and at the time I thought relaxed the body from being tense or nervous.
Thanks for the web site I don't feel so bad now that EMDR did not work for us.

I did emdr about two months ago, my t asked me to think about something from my past that I found upsetting and evoked strong feelings. I did, we talked about it. I don't remember crying but my t said I did. She said that doing emdr on a specific event allows the mind to reprocess it and place in the proper perspective for this time in my life. It seemed to have worked. I used to have strong emotionally painful feelings when thinking of this event. Now I don't, The event seems to have become a memory which I remember was painful only without the strong feelings of pain associated with it. My t used an alternating sound that I listened to through headphones. I could never have had her touch me. That would have most likely been a trigger. At the end my t asked me what I was feeling but I wasn't feeling anything. Nothing, one of my protectors had stepped in to protect me from feeling. Once I grounded myself and my protector moved back, I was able to think about the memory and at that point I realized I wasn't having the emotional pain that usually accompainied it. I have asked to do it again to see if there are other results. I think it is worth a try but make sure your dr listens to your concerns and makes the changes you need to make the process viewed in a positive way.

I think thats what my T did to me before he told me about my diagnosis. Thats how I found Coconut it has made me on a whole more caring and considerate towards my children and I actually know what my kids want to do. I don't get angry as much as I used too. Thinking things like I couldn't do that or I was never allowed to do that because mother wouldn't let us.

EMDR starting with the moment of conception? I would be confused too.. unless the reason they are wanting to do EMDR around the topic of conception is because the client is wanting to get pregnant and has anxiety about concieving..

the basic premise of EMDR is to work through something that brings you anxiety by using skills that tap into parts of the brain that will allow you to become de- sensitized from what ever is triggering the anxiety/panic.

Wait a moment I just had a thought... instead of the literal body / baby conception could he mean he wants you to figure out what the trauma was that caused your alters to come into being? and then do EMDR around that triggering/traumatic event that caused you to dissociate?

let me give you an example using a non actual triggering and hopefully safe event for you...lets pretend one of my triggers is the sunshine, and one day as a child I got locked in a car on a hot very sun shiney day, the sunshine triggers me into dissociating and I ended up with an alter named Yellow (for the color of the sun)

because of this hypothetical triggering traumatic event every time I hypothetically am outside I have anxiety/ panic problems and dissociate.

I go to a treatment provider who wants to try EMDR using the conception of my alter Yellow...

ok yellow came into being because of being locked in a car on a sun shiney day.. so to do EMDR first I talk with the treatment provider about whats going to happen...he says we are going to talk, you are going to hold this and hands me an object. every time I start to have anxiety during the conversation the treatment provider is going to push a button and the object in my hand is going to vibrate, this will distract me from being afraid of what we are talking about .. the traumatic event that caused Yellow to come into being. in other words Yellows conception. there will also be a bell sound and something for my eyes to focus on, the bell, vibrating object and my eyes focusing on something will retrain my brain to not fear the triggering traumatic event, this will result in my no longer dissociating when I encounter triggers associated with that traumatic event..

like I said this was made up/ pretend situation but I placed it in an EMDR therapy session...

your treatment provider may mean something different, you will need to check with them to be sure what they meant and how they plan on doing the actual EMDR with you.

Hi. TY. My protector wrote the above. In all honesty, i don't know what my T was talking about either, since i must have not been totally there when it was being discussed. But i trust my T that he knows what's he's doing. He's a published author plus, he consults with Sandra Paulsen (who is an expert with EMDR and dissociative cases). He's also been working with trauma patients for 25 yrs plus. I trust him but sometimes others toss in a monkey wrench.
My Protector, on the other hand, has trust issues which i understand and have come to appreciate and be grateful for, since he saved our lives...at least, that's what it feels like to me.
Since out last session, however, there has been unrest and anxiety which i can't figure out. When i ask inside (which i've learned to do), i think that protector and another are in blocking mode even though they both say they are on board now and want to move forward. And two other insiders are wanting to help. One of them is also a protector.

Thanks for the illustration of what EMDR is. My T has been very cautious about using it with us. Like my Protector said, it's been more than 5 yrs with this T. I really want to move forward and heal now. And my Protectors say they are on board with that.
thanks again for the responses,
Silvergirl

I have been in therapy for 3 years with a T who uses EMDR. He's had lots of training in it, and that's something you really have to check for. EMDR has helped me A LOT. I'm not sure I know why yours is talking about conception either. My T has never used that word. However, through EMDR I have come to see the moment certain alters were born. Maybe that's what he means.

But I also personally believe that trauma can begin in the womb - that's purely a personal belief. Still, if you can't find anyone in your system who is from the womb then if that's what he's after, he's going to have to start somewhere else.

At any rate all I can tell you is that it works really well, and from what I've read it works for most people. It really changes the way you feel about traumatic events. It has a subtle way of working that I often won't notice for a couple of months, perhaps when I see or hear something that would have been a trigger before. And I'll just notice, WOW, this doesn't trigger me anymore. And the cool thing is that it tends to have a domino effect with me; by which I mean, by handling one trauma with EMDR it sometimes helps with all the similar events.

I just had an alter come forward with new information about my past, and I am handling the flashbacks much better than I have in the past. I'm able to put them away, knowing that I'll be able to take the charge off of them in therapy. Still a bit scary but I know there's an effective tool for handling it.

It has been great for my alters too. They understand and trust my T and the process of EMDR. Crystal

Crystal, hi. TY. Still have not done any EMDR but the plan is to. Still making sure everything's in place. Had a protector blocking today who still isn't sure what to expect. He keeps saying he needs to stay one step ahead of T.
We've been with this T for more than 5 yrs. He trains other therapists to do EMDR, gives seminars etc, does EMDR with his own clients too; but has never done it with us yet due to the dissociation. He consults with Sandra Paulsen (who specailizes in EMDR with dissociative clients). She has a book out if anyone is interested.

There is bad things around my/our conception or whoever was in the conceptive sac - according to some insiders and what a Protector says. T talked about re-parenting today and giving the part that was conceived what it needed instead of the opposite. Maybe that has something to do with the conception part of the equation????

I don't understand everything going on in therapy these days as i am only partially there, like seeing and hearing everything from underwater. At least, that's what it feels like at the end when T is bringing me back - like i come up out of water. And i can't move for a bit. Some parts i miss entirely.

My T says the same as you about the EMDR. He thinks it can help but he knows we, as a system, have to be ready.
Thanks for sharing about your expereinces. Those who manage the life have agreed along with me to try it.
take care,
SG

Go in relaxed with the conception thing. I don't think you need to have understanding of it. Whatever comes up, comes up. If your alters are talking about it, then there is something inside that needs to come to the surface. And EMDR can help it come up and get handled.

The way EMDR protocol works it probably won't matter if your protector is balking. You will keep being called back to the target. Also my alters come out during sets all the time thinking they can't be helped, but they/we/I end up helped anyway. My protector has come out during sets and told T that EMDR is BS that will never work. That was quite a long time ago, when we first started. He trusts T now.

I sympathize with feeling like you are only partially there. That happens to me a lot in therapy. And I have described it the same way, like being under water!! I think it happens when one of my parts has moved in and is doing therapy with me. It's not exactly what I would call co-conscious - though I experience that too. It's more like an in between spot...between a part taking total control and having total amnesia as a result, and co-conscious - being able to remember it well. I come back with a vague impressions. T will say "Fantastic! You had some wonderful insights!" And I'm like....Oh yeah? Could you tell me what they were, because I don't remember!" Right now, I couldn't tell you one thing about my session last week. But I remember being there the whole time. Strange feeling.

I'm really excited to hear about what happens with this line of action you and your T are on. If you are comfortable with telling I would love to hear how this all turns out for you. Even if it were to involve pre-birth trauma memories, it wouldn't surprise me, because I believe in that. Crystal

Thanks. T again tomorrow. Will try to post how it goes if i am able.
thanks so much for the support.
take care

I am interested in how it goes for you too. We have tried several times and it always gets blocked by some part. My t is sure that some real healing could occur if we could do it.
Best of luck to you!

We did EMDR last week. Unfortunately, i can't remember much, even though at the time, i thought i heard everything and told T i did.
I often lose things, even if i think i will remember them ...then they're gone. Does this happen to anyone else?

It was two other insiders present but one speaking to T, our spiritual one,not me. She says nothing bad ever happened to her. But she told T that i needed to hear what she was saying - and the thrux of that is that 'before conception, the baby was innocent. We were innocent. At conception we were innocent. We did nothing wrong Nothing is our fault.'

This triggered others. If we were innocent we became bad then - by what we did. Some choose to be evil. They say it's want they want. I hate this.
Someone else says Others made us bad then and he wants to do bad, harmful things to them. We are going to hell...and a bunch of other things that i continue to try to drown out or breath into our container until our next T meeting.

Two Protectors gave their words to T that they wouldn't interfer and although they wanted to very badly, they didn't. But there is a lot going on now inside as i try to push everything back and ignore whatever it is.

Someone canceled T session yesterday. But we go tomorrow. I know there is commotion. I read in our journal that there was thoughts of self harm coming from someone. But Protectors said they are determined to keep us safe - new jobs for them as we heal.

All i can say and remember right now.

(((((Silversand)))))
Thanks for your response. I also don't remember a lot that happens at therapy.
Did you continue the EMDR at that session, or then did you start letting the parts share? This is similar to what happens when we try to do EMDR, all the parts jump in and try to interfere. So many of yours are very similar to mine. I am trying to open up more with t about all the voices in my head, but it is very hard. It is very encouraging to me to hear about other's experiences. Maybe I will feel like I can open up more here on PC too. I know there is so much great support.
Hope your session goes well tomorrow and brings you closer to healing.