Has Anyone Here Tried EMDR?

[tommom]

I am seeing a T for my ADHD (or rather I WAS originally, but it has evolved into so much more- and been great) but her 'partner' or office sharer does EMDR (my T uses CBT for adults with ADHD - and it has been AWESOME, in case you were going to ask!) but I really still have so much junk (doh!) from my childhood I was wondering if anyone here has used EMDR to recover from the traumas inflicted by a PD FOO. Anyone?

I talk to her patient who is going in when I am and she has been "thrilled" (her word) by the help EMDR has given her.

[Amadahy]

EMDR has changed my life. The memories are there, but the emotional rawness and pain is gone. It is amazing and beautiful! I recommend without reservation. Just know, though, that healing takes us to another level of working on ourselves. I mean, it is work to formulate this new, healed identity and while, oh so rewarding, it is still work. ❤️

[Ladymm]

Hey,

I have tried it too and it is very good! I processed my traumas with the help of this method. I can't imagine talk therapy going so deep in the psyche as emdr allows. Its worth a try. It healed me of OCD. Just be prepared, because all your emotiond will start to jump out and you will have to put them where they belong. What really helped me was yoga nidra, which is not yoga in the physical sense but a deep guided relaxation. My therapist advised me to do yoga nidra. Ask your therapist what kind of relaxation tehniques are good in this sense, because random meditations/relaxations are not advisable with emdr.

[SparkStillLit]

I did it, too.
It saved my life. For real. I'm here to post because of it. I don't normally TELL anybody that, but I'm safely in this box and y'all don't know me, so there you have it!  Do give it a try.

[tommom]

Thanks so much guys. I really appreciate it! tommom

[1footouttadefog]

I know someone who was a practitioner.  We discussed it when he was first studying the method.  He stated that it's unique because if needed he could actually help a patient work through memories they chose not to share.  This of course would not be optimal for progress but possible. 

It's interesting to me in that it seems to be based on the same ideas as NLP.

[hhaw]

I've experienced a good deal of relief from EMDR,  memory reconsolidations work and  breathwork.
There have been many Ts in my life, but a trusted, centered trauma specialist is a whole'nuther animal, and worth her weight in gold, IME.

[GettingOOTF]

Thank you for posting. I'm interested to hear about this too.

I've been doing I guess what is known as talk therapy, which has been enormously helpful but I feel like I've reached its limits and need to dig a little deeper as well as develop some new coping tools.

[DreamingofQuiet]

I have not but would very much like to.

I wonder about memories that are not in my conscious awareness. I've had this one memory from early childhood that's always been deeply upsetting. Every time I thought of it, the grief would be so fresh and raw. Recently I decided to just sit with it and let the feelings come up. I was crying a lot, and then I felt that I was crying about something else, something that happened after the upsetting event that I don't consciously remember. The memory has not come to me, but I felt relief after this realization, like I was finally getting at what the grief was really for (it was for little me). Now when I think of the original event, I still feel sad, but it's different from before.

I wonder how much I might profit from this type of exercise if I did it more often. But I would like professional support as well.

DoQ

[hhaw]

EMDR engages and strengthens the bridge between R and L brain hemispheres to integrate more areas of our brains during T.

This, as I understand it, takes stress off the shut down part of our brain where the upsetting memory lives....and the brain believes we're right back there....in the moment of original trauma....our biology responds with all the chemicals of fight or flight we originally experienced.  Hijacked biology means we can't think our way out, bc our amygdala shut off access to the logical/ creative/problem solving  part of our brain....the frontal lobe. 

T explained we use bottom up approach to sneak up underneath the alarm bells of fight or flight mode with breathing....nice and deep, from bottom of lungs up, like filling a vase, then out slowly.

We can't be in fight or flight if our breathing is calm, and that unhook alarm bells so other parts of brain are engaged....useful parts for bringing unprocessed emotions into processing area, processing the filing in historic files.

T said brain is efficient at this process, and does it easily when given the chance.  This work, itself, happens in seconds.  It's not long drawn out slogging, ime.

We keep presenting the unprocessed stuff....reducing stress....presenting....reducg until the brain can get there.

Memory reconsolidation is amazing, and ties into this process.  Our brains change memories every time we bring them up.  We can process them, and change them into the outcomes we wish we'd experienced, ime. 

The goal is to remove all emotional charges, and remember who we were when we were born....whole and worthy beings.

I didn't understand this....I trusted T, fearlessly embraced process, then one day after last T session I just felt.....better.  In a way that felt like all judgments, stories and beliefs laid on me by others and self evaporated, restoring my original software.  This has been an amazing relief hard to explain tapping with one finger on a phone.

Hire someone you trust and believe in.....interview many T s.  Hire the right one.

Everyone is different.  Seek someone who inspires trust and safety.

[Libria]

Does anybody have experience using EMDR for recovery from mild chronic injustice, rather than from severe events?  Does EMDR work if somebody has been traumatised from water wearing at stone rather than from extreme incidents of acute abuse?

[hhaw]

::raising hand::.

Chronic injustice, along with some trauma.  It's good for all stuck emotions, ime.

[SparkStillLit]

It was both. EMDR was helpful in managing both things. I still remember how to use it, and I do it as needed, though I'll never again allow myself to be driven to the edge like that.