[cpa3485]

I have only had one meeting with my therapist, but she has suggested using EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy. It sounds a little weird, but also interesting. I'm a total newbie at this stuff so I'm wondering...

What do you think of EMDR?

Did it work for you?

What were the sessions like?

How many sessions did you do?

Any other comments or suggestions?

I'm really curious!

[WikidPissah]

I tried it a few times and really disliked it, but then I found out from a trauma clinic that it really was only useful if there is one or two incidents of significant trauma. Not good for years of crap..unfortunately for me. But lot's of people here have tried it and liked it.

[Moodswing]

http://forums.psychcentral.com/psych...-abuse%2A.html

Search around the forum. There has been many things posted about EMDR.

[sunrise]

My T also introduced it right at the beginning. I think we did about 4 sessions of EMDR--not sure. He also does some EMDR-related therapies. My T uses it in a lot of ways, not just limited to one or two traumatic incidents as WP mentioned a trauma clinic she knows did. I found the EMDR sessions could take longer than a regular session. So it was good to have the EMDR session as T's last of the day, so we could go over if need be or to book a special, longer session. 90 minutes seemed to work well. I would feel really, really exhausted after the sessions. At the time, EMDR did seem to help, but looking back, I'm not sure, at least not in the way it is billed. I think it provided a very specific frame to therapy in the early sessions with my T. This was somewhat reassuring, in a way. There is a set protocol--first we do this, then we do this. I think it helped provide guidelines of a sort for how to interact when we did not know each other well. Now I don't feel I need it. I know T well enough to do the work without it. He has told me he incorporates a lot of elements of EMDR into his regular therapy (the moving back and forth between two extremes) so maybe this has helped me too.

If nothing else, it is an interesting therapy to try, and if you are sufficiently grounded, it shouldn't harm. If you are easily triggered or dissociate, you may need to do preliminary work first or use a different approach. Good luck.

[content30]

My T does EMDR and has done it with me. I found it immensely helpful for me, and it has been proven to be quite effective for most people in a number of studies.

Yes, it was weird at first. She talked to me about it, told me about the EMDR website and asked me to read about it, had a session where she talked about it with me, and then scheduled a 1.5 hour session for our first EMDR session. At first, it was awkward, but I became quite used to it. It definitely lessened my anxiety and negative emotions about several things and events. I highly recommend trying it!

[cpa3485]

I appreciate the comments. In a sort of selfish manner I am adding this comment to get back to the top if the list because I am curious about getting more comments.
My 2nd appointment is 3 days away. I've read up on EMDR, but wondering whether it is the right strategy. I suppose it may depend a lot on the talent of the therapist. So far I am impressed with her.

[Asiablue]

I'm just being introduced to it too cpa3485. I finally had the courage to try it last week. Right now we are working on making a "container" for all my emotions and stuff that needs to be worked on. So we started by me visualising all my thoughts going from my head into a safe container and as we work in the next few months we will pick one out at a time to deal with.

My T is going very slow with me, so it's not straight into the EMDR and processing memories, i need to learn containment, how to feel safe first, how to not get overwhelmed, how to cope with my emotions etc so it's going to be a loooong process lol But an exercise we did last week was imagining a place where i feel safe, holding that place in my mind and where i feel it in my body, trying to feel all the sensations of that safe place. As i held that image in my mind my T tapped my feet right to left for a few minutes ( this is the bi-lateral beats or something) After that she asked me to think of the emotion shame and asked what image represented shame for me, then we did the tapping thing again with the image, she stopped and asked if the image changed any and then more tapping. If any emotion came up i had to tell her and she'd stop and get me to visualise putting that emotion into the "containment box" to be processed at another time. Right now we are just looking at the emotion not feeling them.

I have put up such a fight over doing EMDR cos i just haven't felt safe enough to try but actually it was ok and quite relaxing for me....

[Moodswing]

My T also uses it for positive re-enforcement. If I am assertive and ask for my needs to be met he will use that feeling I got to install it. Apparently I have a problem with asking for my needs to be met.