[Eleny]

Hi, I was wondering what people’s experiences of EMDR have been? Would you recommend it for people dealing with trauma? I’ve read about how it works but I can’t quite wrap my head around how it would work in practice.

I've never tried doing it but I've heard it can be helpful for people with traumas, as long as your working with a qualified professional

[satsuma]

I've done two sessions and I have a third session scheduled.

For me the downsides were:

- I felt a bit stupid watching my therapist waving his hand without speaking. I imagined how stupid it would look to a third person if they came into the room.
- I didn't know whether my mind would do whatever it was supposed to do, and how I would tell whether it was working or not.
- You don't necessarily have very much conversation with T while it's happening and I feel less connected and supported in those moments.

The good things are:

- nightmares and flashbacks have reduced a LOT after just two sessions for me. So it worked! Hooray!

That's the main, crucial, good thing. I don't really enjoy sitting in silence with strange thoughts going through my mind while T waves his hands, but I do really really enjoy not having so many nightmares! Also we've adapted as we've gone along, we never do two EMDRsessions in a row, so there are times for more connection and more gentle sessions that feel supportive, in between EMDR.

If you're thinking of trying it, I would say it's definitely worth a try. It can be a slightly odd experience. But in the end it seemed to be helpful!

[Argonautomobile]

I didn't have a good experience and would not personally recommend it, but plenty of other people have found it useful.

[KittyBaby]

It was lifechanging for me. Nightmares disappeared afterwards. I was terrified of having to go through the experience during the session(s) all over again.. considering it was the experience that brought me the mire of PTSD.. but it was worth it. Though the effects are starting to wear off after about 4 years so I think I’m going to have to do some more of it :/

I wish you the best and hope it works extremely well for you. I recommend it.

I did not find it iseful but i think you need to have strong feelings attached to the trauma memory for it to work properly.

[nottrustin]

I have tried it. It is pretty intense. It has been very helpful but we have had to go very slow. When T passed away EMDR T and I put it on hold and are just doing talk therapy. A co iui pla of weeks ago T mentioned that for some reason she is apprehensive about restarting. I told her it is fine because so am I.

One of the things that I have found important is communication. If it is to intense I need to voice tell her. She knowed if I say it is to much then we need to stop then and there.

She does not the eye movement method though. She uses hand held vibrating things. This allows me to close my eyes which is important for me and also to sit a good distance apart.

[MoxieDoxie]

I do not care what anyone might say but you need to have a strong attachment and feel safe with the therapist. You can feel real worse and symptoms can intensify a day or two after the session. It will not work if you are someone that dissociates a lot. My therapist uses a light bar and bilateral hand buzzers. I honestly really do not know if it is the reason I have improved or is it just the relationship and attachment I have with my therapist that is doing the healing.

[zoiecat]

My T specializes in trauma and he swears by EMDR for healing trauma. I have been doing EMDR for almost 2 years now and have made quite a bit of progress. Depending on how much trauma you have experienced it could be a quick fix or it could be slow going.

I have DID so my T needs to go slow and sometimes use special techniques. My T has to pay close attention to when I dissociate because he says when I dissociate, processing stops. It can be frustrating sometimes but it is what it is and luckily my T knows what he is doing. We are still making progress, it is just slower.

The most important factor is the skill and experience of your T. You can't do it wrong, but your T can. My T refers to it is riding the train. Your brain knows where it needs to go. You just have to trust the process. You don't want to jump right in, there is quite a bit of prep work. It will probably get worse before it gets better. EMDR will bring out and awaken all kinds of memories. This will lessen over time and things will get better.

I also use the hand buzzers. You may ask your T if they use those. I find it much easier to do EMDR with my eyes closed, although he makes me open my eyes when things get too intense to avoid dissociation. The trick is that you have to keep on foot in the past with your memories and one foot in the present. You don't want to mentally go back to the trauma and get stuck there in your head. That is why they stop, take a deep breath every few minutes and ask you what you are experiencing. This keeps you grounded in the present.

[nottrustin]

Originally Posted by MoxieDoxie

I do not care what anyone might say but you need to have a strong attachment and feel safe with the therapist. You can feel real worse and symptoms can intensify a day or two after the session. It will not work if you are someone that dissociates a lot. My therapist uses a light bar and bilateral hand buzzers. I honestly really do not know if it is the reason I have improved or is it just the relationship and attachment I have with my therapist that is doing the healing.

I completely agree about the attachment and trust with ones therapist. For me thos has been a major factor. Early on we were doing Emdr and doing okay but after the first time we went into deep work I got scared. The next time we had a conversation and I was beating around the Bush about not wanting to do it. Finally I told her that I needed to back up and build on our relationship. I told her I needed to build trust. She was awesome.

[daisydid]

One of the major ruptures I've had with my therapist came after a rather difficult EMDR session. I dissociate often, and dissociated a lot during that session and escalated after I left. We've taken a break from processing because the therapist said that it'll be important for us to build further trust and have better communication before we continue. We were planning on processing last session, but another rupture has come up.

[kecanoe]

I have found EMDR helpful. My EMDR T took things very slowly and did a lot of containment. I actually liked it because I was able to make progress without getting really attached, and I find being very attached to Ts to be painful/scary. I also liked that I didn't have to say things that were difficult to say, nor clearly remember things that I don't want to clearly remember. It is a little weird-but I was desperate for help so I gave it a try.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I have had several sessions this year. I can access my safe space easily now by closing my eyes and thinking "calm." My T is a psychologist and does a lot of EMDR and trauma work with people. I had never, ever cried in front of him until starting EMDR. Now I cry every time and he doesn't say anything or acknowldge it except to ask if I need a break. We are only doing 20-40 session of EMDR because he wants to take it slow. I have had a LOT of stuff come up in lur sessions that I didnt know I even believed.
Its been really rough and I hope its helping but I haven't seen too much progress yet. Its worth a shot to me though!

[Amyjay]

I do EMDR with my T and find it helpful. We haven't started processing the traumas yet but use EMDR to help develop communication between parts and to develop grounding technique. I find it really helpful. I too don't like being too attached to a therapist and don't want to discuss the traumas themselves so it works well for me. I feel calm an in control after EMDR sessions.

[Rive1976]

My T says I have to take a break from it until she can teach me dome grounding. Maybe that would work for you.