EMDR for memories?

I know I've started a thread along this same topic recently, but now that it's becoming serious, I thought it couldn't hurt to ask again.

Last time in session, we ended the hour talking about memories that I need to process in order to let the healing (or whatever it is) take place. I'll just start out by asking this...since I have no history with major trauma, will EMDR even work for me? My therapist said that doesn't matter how intense the traumatic situations were, that it's the fact that they're still impacting me that's the problem. I guess I don't know how to describe these situations. There are the obvious ones - the bullying in middle school. That's probably what we'll start working with first. But it's the little ones that are affecting me the most. Like the song I heard playing on the receptionist's radio as I said goodbye to the therapist that I'd worked with for two years. Or recalling the way I felt in 8th grade when my anxiety was at its worst. Things like that, I don't even know if you'd call them traumatic. Memories such as these have made it hard to move on because I constantly tend to compare my current emotional state to that of my past - that in the memories. This comparison has made getting better impossible because I can't stop it. I don't know if this makes sense. Please tell me if it doesn't and I'll try to clarify as best I can. T says that reprocessing these things will help me let go of them, leaving the past behind me and working harder toward improving in the future. What do you think?

I think of EMDR as a tool to use when a person feels "stuck". It helps shake things loose and let a person process memories that somehow became stuck. It can work on both big and small things. Sometimes it is not how big or major a trauma is but how important it is to us. Small things can be important. My T told me that sometimes he has clients make a list of 20 things they want to do EMDR on (20 stuck things, traumatic things, etc.). Then he asks them for the top few--most traumatic--and they start there with EMDR and work their way down. He didn't do this with me--we only did EMDR a few times. It tended to be on big things and then it seemed that was sufficient to help me move forward in life. We never returned to do EMDR on the smaller stuff, but I know he would if I requested it.

Hope EMDR can help you. Good luck.

I've never tried EMDR and don't know much about it, looking forward to seeing what others have to say

Thank you sunrise. Yes, my T used those exact same words... "stuck". And I do feel this way. Stuck in that I can't analyze myself much further, yet I'm not really making improvement either. I feel caught in my self-conscious, critical mindset. I guess I don't know how to describe it, and I'm not even sure if this is what you meant by feeling stuck. I'll ask T as well.

Yes!! I don't have any major traumas, at least none that I know of, but I am stuck in various places in my childhood. I had "little traumas" and an EMDR expert, not my T, told me that EMDR is used for those too. I have those same kinds of memories, like when kids in 5th grade passed notes around to everyone except me. I wasn't accepted in the clique and that's been the story of my life.

I fight against EMDR because I don't feel connected to my T when we do it, but it always gets me to feelings that are important. Remember, there is no right or wrong way to do EMDR. I come up with images that have nothing to do with the target we're working on, and my T says that's where my brain needs to go. EMDR is weird, but I think it works. Good luck and let me know how it goes.

this is EXACTLY how i feel in therapy..and i've been in it for almost 4 years now. About a year ago my T suggested that I see an EMDR therapist as well, because we were so stuck in therapy. Not progressing, and not getting to a certain level of depth in the therapy. The EMDR therapist has said very similiar stuff--that whenever traumatic things (and she said small traumas too) happen and do not get resolved, it gets stored differently in your brain, and therefore doesn't move through like a normal experience does.

EMDR opens up those locked pathways by focusing on certain memories, which creates more associations/memories...therefore creating new neurological pathways. Well, thats my understanding of it at least!

I've been doing more EMDR lately, on small things that I'm stuck on, and it seems to unleash a lot of feelings!! Even if I start on one image it usually ends up that I'm thinking about my T. She says that's okay; wherever my brain takes me is what is supposed to happen. She says it works no matter what images I see.

So, we're using it for places I'm stuck, not major trauma.

have not started this yet, but i am planning on it since i see an emdr, sensorimotor t. I just do not feel safe yet and I have no container that pleases me.

Thanks for sharing Rainbow - that helps me remember that it's not so much the depth of the trauma itself as how it affects the person that matters. I see T on Monday. We'll probably do EMDR but I'm having a hard time with my anxiety affecting my work right now, so I might focus on that instead. I don't know...guess we'll see where it goes.

I recently started EMDR and I still find it hard to trust my therapist. I do not have much memories of my trauma and those that I remember do not really bother me, except when I was in foster care and the fact that I lost connections with them. I wanted to remain in fostercare but who listens to a child. Sometimes when I listen to music or I am studying my psych courses I get sad and remember all the loss that could of been prevented. Maybe I should focus on this for my next session.

I am still trying to trust my T. I do not have a container yet. I know the memories are there but stuck making me crazy. I thought EMDR helped the mind wander then focus on a memory pocket that is secret. then uncovering those things would make the anxiety better. I do have to practice grounding and dealing with body memories. So I am getting closer to starting EMDR.

Do you find the memories are triggering you? I think I am stuck been in therapy for 10 years with another therapist but did not do alot of trauma work.

I have been doing EMDR. I have a safe place, container and now are finding qualities I want or need to have. Does anyone have any idea what else needs to be in place before the memory or trauma work starts?