Emdr and tapping

So my therapist started emdr today but she told me i could do it with my eyes or she could tap my knees but is tapping your knees going to be as effective as moving your eyes? I was surprised i was given a choice.

Plenty of people think the bilateral stimulation is BS, anyway - just something to distract while exposure therapy happens. In which case it doesn't matter whether one taps or does eye movements. Whatever you're more comfortable with.

Well she is doing it to help with sexual abuse memories. It wont help?

Also will it bring uncovered memories up?

Great questions to bring up with the T. Good luck with everything - I hope it helps.

There are many ways to do EMDR my therapist has these buzzers that go back and forth in my hands. EMDR is used for all kinds of trauma I use it on pest sexual physical and mental abuse. Your therapist should have taught you ways to stay grounded and contain the memories because it will bring up a lot more memories than what you go in there with.

Oh it will zoiecat? Thats what im afraid of even though she taught me grounding.

I work with my general psychologist and not a clinical psychologist. I am wondering does EMDR works for C-PTSD of repetitive abuse and trauma as well and not just PTSD--singular traumatic event? My psychiatrist is trying to do EMDR with me and told my mother to help me do it at home as well on a daily basis...

I have complex trauma too. My psyd wants me to do EMDR with him. He thinks it will really help me. There's hope
I guess!

I have c-ptsd from years of repetitive abuse as a child. Yes emdr can help but depending on the amount of abuse/trauma you experienced, it is not a quick fix. Then again there is no quick fix regardless of the treatment used.

Everyone is different and has to make theirvown decision. As with any other trauma treatment just expect things to get worse before they get better. I don't say this to scare you it is just the nature of the beast with trauma. I look at it as anything worth having is worth the pain to get there.

I would definitely not trust any T who tells your mother to do emdr on you at home. I did it on myself once and it was the worst experience of my life. My T did not know I did it. Any competent T trained in emdrcwould not recommend this especially for someone who has suffered trauma. Please use caution.

I am wondering would talk therapy be ideal for C-PTSD sufferers. I do agree that it is not a quick fix for those with repetitive trauma and abuse. It was not my T, since my T is a general psychologist, but it was my psychiatrist who did a bit of EMDR with me and suggested me about doing it at home. Can I know why it did it worst for you to do it at home yourself?

When I did it the first time alone at home I was working on a memory too embarrassing to bring up to T. One of my parts (I have DID) brought up the scariest visual memory that I never knew a out and I had no idea how to deal with it on my own. It was horrifying and I stopped immediately.

I don't do emdr every session. We do talk therapy including CBT and DBT as well.

I see. You make sense that doing it alone could be dangerous. Would you bring it up to your T one time about this scary memory?

My psychiatrist did EMDR with me and asked my mum to help me at home. I don't know? Also, is there any example of CBT and DBT that you are doing right now? I don't know why my therapist is not specifying any approach she is doing it right now and only told me that she is putting me on a Trauma Model?

Abusedtoy, does your mom have to help you relax by doing the eye movements/tapping/something, or do you actually have to do the "think about the bad things" too?
One of the grounding methods I was taught was what I call "auto-EMDR" and it includes tapping/pressing your shoulders alternately. So no treatment, just grounding.

As for buzzers, taps, eye movements, or earphones with alternating beats: in my country the protocol is to start with eye movements, because that's proven to work and appears to work best. But if that proves undesirable, something else might work.
First time I did the sound thing (we'd done eyes for a while already) it felt really threatening. About a year? later we tried it again, because the thing that really bothered me about the memory was the sound of my own screams.
I've done combinations too, such as eyes and buzzers.
And walking EMDR (walking, buzzers). And trying it while boxing a fatboy. I had a creative T and nothing was really working, so..
The boxing was a disaster, by the way. It scared me.
Walking made the session easier (walking is very grounding as it's a 180° from the trauma events) but not effective.

As for doing EMDR at home when you don't want to discuss a memory with your T: you shouldn't have to talk during EMDR although they generally would like you to. I've withheld details I considered embarassing or too personal, but they also do EMDR with people who legally can't talk; soldiers etc on classified missions. Then they just ask the questions and the soldier thinks of the answer.

My mum hasn't started this yet and she does not even know how to do it. Just that my psychiatrist told her to do EMDR with me everyday.

I have been seeing an EMDR T. Here is what I know. EMDR does work for long term trauma but it takes time. Single event trauma can take only a couple of sessions. They can use eye movement, tapping, and hand vibrating stimulator. My T prefers the hand stimulator because you can sit apart. She has found when dealing with long term abuse it is better not to sit close so the client has a safe distance of personal space. However, they all work the same. Those with Ptsd are usually stuck emotionally. Even when they know logically their thought process is distorted, when triggered it is all about emotions and the can't engage the cognitive thoughts. The way EMDR works is by engaging bother the emotional and cognitive parts of the brain.

I would be VERY leary of a T who recomends a family member or oneself tries to do it at home. Even my long term would never try it. What happens if the client disassociates?
When I dissosiate it has taken both T a bit to bring me back and help reground me to the point I feel safe.

This is only my experience and my understanding of EMDR. I have asked a lot of questions and both T's are wonderful about explaining it all.

Im afraid it will make me remember repressed trauma. Is this likely?

It is not my T, it was by my psychiatrist.

Don't let your mom do it. It isn't something that a non-trained person should be messing with. One of the problems with psychiatrists, and why I tend to avoid them whenever possible is that they tend to think they know everything. They are Doctors, with a capital D. I bet your psychiatrist doesn't even know the full protocol to do it.

Talk to your therapist to see if she thinks it would be helpful and ask her what kind of training she has gotten with it.

I see. But my T is a general and not clinical psychologist. She doesn't do EMDR, but knows clinical hypnosis and are into psychodynamic therapy etc.

I would suggest if you really want to try it, you find a therapist who has been trained in it. I have no direct experience with it, but I do have a friend (a therapist, but not my therapist) who has gone through the training. Even though she is trained, she would never do it on me because we are friends.

She told me, and I have read, that although it can be helpful, there's also a possibility that it can bring up traumatic memories. She said that during her training some stuff came up for her that she wasn't expecting. But she was in a roomful of therapists and she's pretty emotionally healthy anyway.

I think it's just a bad thing to try at home. If you become overwhelmed with emotions will your mom know what to do? How to deescalate you? Plus what if some of the trauma that comes up relates to her? I think it was really unethical for your psychiatrist to recommend doing it at home.

Also although it has been shown to be effective, it isn't necessarily more effective than other forms of therapy.