[Truth22]

I'm currently doing EMDR therapy. I have extreme PTSD. Has anyone else tried this or is anyone else currently trying it? Any success? Thoughts?

[BizzyBee]

I do emdr. It is very helpful for me. I have done regular narrative therapy for years with a "trauma expert " and it honestly was only moderately helpful at times and traumatizing other times. Emdr helped me go to those dark places without the same intensity around it. Some people doubt the validity of the science behind it but having experienced it, I am a firm believer in it.

[ElectricManatee]

I have been doing EMDR for a while now and find it really, really helpful. It's different than regular talk therapy, and the effects feel different to me. It has taken the emotional/bodily reactivation away when I think about things that used to really upset me. I'm much calmer overall now.

My EMDR therapist has a light bar with attached hand buzzy things. I usually just hold the hand things and close my eyes, although I know different people prefer different things. I don't really understand how it works and I jokingly tell my EMDR therapist that EMDR is nonsense, but I can't argue with the results.

[SlumberKitty]

No experience with it personally but I have heard good things about it. Good luck!

[satsuma]

I really dislike EMDR. But I think that’s just me, as everyone else I hear from finds it helpful! I have/had (mostly recovered from) complex ptsd. I didn’t like doingEMDR because it involved my T telling me to remember awful and horrific things and then I felt like he was just silently staring at me, it felt horribly abandoning and punitive. I totally get that it is not really and that T was following the correct protocol and trying to help me. I just really did not like the experience of it.

[nottrustin]

Originally Posted by Truth22

I'm currently doing EMDR therapy. I have extreme PTSD. Has anyone else tried this or is anyone else currently trying it? Any success? Thoughts?

WhenI I initially started to swe my current therapist 5 tears ago it was specially for Emdr. I definitely saw the benefits but we realized emy emotional tolerance was very limited so we had to work on that. We had one very successful EMDR session thougj. Then the pandemic hit and lives changed. I am still seeing my t virtually and I refuse to do Emdr virtually. While I know there are many who have successfully fone virtual Emdr, I do not trust myself ao we are utilizing other modalities

[Omers]

I have heard so many different ways T's do EMDR and so many different types of training that are "EMDR" that it is hard to know what EMDR will mean to a specific therapist or client. I have had two T's try it with me and they both had very different training/understanding. The better experience (like most things in therapy) was with the T I had a better relationship with. BUT... even he stopped after the second session of it as he felt it was not the best treatment option for me... he did it in such a way I didn't even notice for a couple weeks... when I asked why we weren't doing it he said I could ask to do it if I wanted but he wanted to try these other things. I let it go and that was the best choice for me.

Long story short... what is important is how you feel about it. Give it a try and if it seems to be helping or at least not hurting then try it. If it doesn't feel OK tell your T and if they are a good T they will have other tools in their toolbox to try.

[zoiecat]

I have been doing EMDR for 5 years ever since I started seeing my trauma T for a car accident. Well, I learned that the more crap you have in your past the longer it will take. I have a lifetime of trauma and abuse, CPTSD and DID. Because of this many other issues came up because your responses to everyday life are all related in some way to your past experiences. My helplessness experienced in the and after the accident brought up all kinds of childhood issues.

I guess what I am trying to say is that EMDR can be very effective. How long it will take depends on your background. For instance, my T said if the accident was the worst thing that happened to me, I would have been done processing through EMDR within 10 sessions max. The process is to work on one memory at a time. Yes, that one leads to other things but again that depends on your background.

In my opinion, it is also important to do EMDR with a T who is properly trained and certified through EMDRIA. I think too many T are not properly trained and do EMDR based on their interpretation. This can lead to negative outcomes. EMDR is powerful and a T has to be sure you are properly prepared with safe skills before starting it. They also need to know how to lead you through it without harm. Just my opinion.