[QueenCopper]

Is anyone currently doing EMDR therapy? If you do, is the therapy making your PTSD worse? If so is your therapist making suggestions to help you? My therapist said that EMDR can make things worse but she can tell it is really taking a toll on me and thinks I should take a break until after the first of the year.

I really dislike EMDR and I am not sure it is helping me. I decided to try it because I was assaulted again and my therapist thinks this is the answer to my healing. I just want to give up. I am just curious, if those doing EMDR feel like it is helping or making things worse.

[jeremiahgirl]

I used EMDR and it worked for me; actually it has been a life saver. I don’t think EMDR is for everyone, but one must realize in many cases getting to the core or root of an issue can causes disruption. It’s a process like peeling a onion, layer after layer and each layer has something to contend with.

When things were hard for me my T did suggest we stop. However, this only meant pausing the method of EMDR while we did continue therapy. This didn’t happen often...it only helped with the feeling of being overwhelmed.
It EMDR worked for me and I hope you gain success as well.

[UpDownMiddleGround]

I'm sorry that you are having a hard time. I remember when I started EMDR. It was like a switch was turned on Nd I was completely exposed to everything. I don't know how to explain it but it was like EVERYTHING was a trigger. Things got worst but they certainly got better. I've dealt with so many traumatic events through Emerald I am grateful for the work. I'm currently wanting to go in and process this most recent event so that I can move past it ( see my post).

My brother tried it (he's a veteran) and it left him too raw. Wasn't for him. Maybe take a break and let things settle. Usually after 3-5 days for me I would feel better. Sometimes I had to go in for a second session in the same day because my time was up but I felt ripped open and needed to be stitched back up.

In the end, I am very satisfied with the work. Hang in there. Hope this helps.

[splitimage]

Is your therapist doing anything to help you come back to the present towards the end of your EMDR sessions?

I had EMDR for years and found it very helpful, but I also found it very intense and did find that sometimes it made me feel worse.

I talked about it with my T, and we wound up spending the last 5-10 min. of each EMDR session, doing visualizations of my taking the memories / feelings we'd been working on, and putting them away, I used the image of a big steel tank, so that I wouldn't think about them during the week. I found that helped make it more manageable.

Good luck with it. I hope it helps.
splitimage