EMDR?

Has anyone with DID had EMDR therapy before? the T that we asked to get a referral to someone who knows about dissociative disorders has confused this request with EMDR and has gotten us a referral to someone who does EMDR. (long involved story).
On the phone we said okay but does she know about dissociative disorders and the lady said "as I said she can start EMDR with you at the end of November." We asked yes but does she know about dissociative disorders several times but the t lady jus got more and more insistent that we had to wait til November to start EMDR. I am not sure where or how the miscommunication is happening but whatever.
Anyway, we have never thought about doing EMDR before but are gonna consider it. It looks like we have some time to think it over anyway.
Any thoughts or experience anyone?

yes this is a therapy technique used with people with DID. short version it's a way to access trauma memories while remaining grounded (non dissociated) at the same time. its done over the course of short classes called phases. each phase is done for only a few sessions. the first part is where you and the therapist just talk about non triggering things like just like you would any other therapist where a therapist asks you about your history of mental problems, what you want to accomplish, setting goals and the therapist assesses / decides whether you are ready to begin working together, how open and willing you are to work on your trauma issues. the next part is making sure you know how to use grounding tools like breathing, relaxation, visualizations/imagery/... then in the third part of this you pick a trauma memory then while using the tools to remain grounded you and the therapist talk about that trauma memory. in this part sometimes people are asked to do something physical like a repeating movements with your eyes and hands or hold a stimulating object that either vibrates or lights up. this goes on for about 3-6 sessions then you have the closure session where you are asked to keep a daily journal for a week, then for the last session you report back to the therapist on how that week went. and thats the end of the process.

by the end of the process you no longer get triggered by that memory and you know how to remain grounded / non dissociated when encountering a trigger.

AL, do you have experience with it either as a client or a clinician? As I am reading about it I am mustering some interest, but it sounds terrifying!

yes it was part of my integration process of my alters merging together to become one whole person. no I have not yet used this with any of my work related clients.

yes it sounds terrifying and to some extent it is a bit scary and triggering because you are accessing the trauma memories that you remember and to some extent the trauma memories that the alters hold if you are co conscious with that alter. that said the whole process centers on using the grounding exercises learned in the phase before this one so that you ultimately remain fully aware non dissociated during the process.

the treatment provider works with you making sure you have the tools needed for this phase. if the treatment provider is not sure you are using the grounding/ relaxation/ imagery tools then you do not progress to the next phase, the EMDR therapy is terminated. which means you go back to working on what and how you were before being referred to for EMDR therapy sessions.

EMDR therapy is just like any other specialized therapy like CBT or DBT either you are ready to work on the hard stuff or you arent and the specialized therapy classes are terminated.

short version only you can decide whether you want to work on your dissociative issues with a treatment provider who works on dissociative issues. it is work and sometimes it is hard.

Hmm, I do think it could be useful for some immediate trigger issues that I need to find a way around. There is a bit of an unusual situation as the issues I am currently dealing with are very time sensitive, but the EMDR therapist can't see me until late November. Your explanation of the process helps me to understand why the current new t was quite insistent that I keep seeing her in the meantime to do the 'planning phase' as she put it. I guess this handing over thing is less than ideal, but necessary in the circumstances.
Thanks for your info, the more I think about it the more I think EMDR might be useful for the specific thing that I most need to get under control.

http://www.drjamesalexander-psycholo...-basis-of-emdr. I have had great success with EMDR and this is one of the best articles I've read on it. I understand why people find it scary , it is difficult but so worth it.

My t started to work on EMDR with me but said I wasn't ready. Like I might dissociate and act out if triggered by a memory during the EMDR session. I wasn't able to do some of what is needed because I don't have a host. I don't have one core person who interacts with the parts. She is some where but not out and not talking with us. So when my t asked me to think of a memory I would switch to who ever held the memory. The whole thing was confusing and caused me to be in a fog. I think if there was a core self it might have worked better

yea that happened to me, the first few times were complete failures and the treatment provider had to terminate the sessions, but each time I tried the process it got easier. I wasnt co conscious with many of my alters either, i did have a body born. it was me the body born going through the process.

I think we are - for the very first time in life - in a position where doing this work will be possible. This year, while getting support from ex T via email, I have made a ton of progress with self-ownership, internal communication, acceptance of the memories that are coming up, and self-soothing. I am also incredibly driven to this work. It absolutely needs to be done and it needs to be done now.
The timing of this new twist is impeccable. A week ago it wouldn't have been okay, but the circumstances have changed dramatically in the course of week and I'm ready to go.

i tried it several years ago before the official DID diagnosis...but the therapist was not knowledgeable and scary and caused a lot of harm. i don't know how many times i even did EMDR with her....but it was a horrible experience.

my psychiatrist does EMDR, but she has said that for people with DID, it is generally not the best because of the fragmentation but that it can help people with PTSD who don't have the level of dissociation as those with DID have.

i would think though that if you kind of know more about some things like triggers, memories, alters, etc. and are in a safe place coping wise (no self harm, eating disorder, etc.) that EMDR could potentially help with some things though.

i would just make sure that the person you are doing it with really does know the process of EMDR to start with (and of course knows about dissociative disorders).

Thanks for this. It's all good food for thought. We are pretty fragmented and still have a lot of dissociated parts... but I would like to think I have enough grounding skills etc to deal. I will definitely keep these things in mind as I proceed.

I have done EMDR with a t who has experience with trauma. Mostly Ptsd and bpd. I believe it is recommended for treating all kinds of trauma. I do not find it scary or hard. I can raise my hand and stop it at anytime, but I have never felt the need to. I feel like with EMDR my mind knows how far to go. We started with unpleasant memories rather than awful ones, so that probably helped.

The process for me was to think of something unpleasant, identify which belief (off a list) was caused by the event, and then I look at another list and find the belief that is opposite. Doing the emdr I just let my mind wander. I can stop it from going somewhere that I don't want it to go. I am able to control my thoughts, but I am usually ok with just letting my mind wander.

We also use EMDR to strengthen good stuff. Either thoughts or experiences that feel good. Sometimes stuff that I have done that I am proud of, sometimes pleasant feelings. One of the first things that we did was to find a "safe place" which is an imagined or real place that feels safe and relaxing. For me, that is a campfire with my horses nearby. If things get hard, we just go there mentally. We reinforced this with EMDR as well.

Eta: I have DID

Thanks Kecanoe! The more I hear and read about it the more I think I want to give it a go.

Thanks It's good to know there is a chance. We are seriously thinking about our core self and where she might be. We think she is the one in the well who is continuously falling. She yells but does not talk to us. We tried to get her to sit on the top of the well but she is back in falling again. We don't know if she is the original self. She looks like we did when we were ten or eleven. We don't know how to help her out of the well but she don't interact with us. She is an image in our mind. But she feels like us. Any way it helps to know that sometimes it takes several tries before emdr can help.