EMDR

[Justme729]

Has anyone done this?   What was your experience?

I'm pretty much down with whatever.   My therapist suggested this would be helpful.   I'm basically stuck with using maladaptive coping mechanisms from childhood.   It's impacting my chosen life.  I'm just over it.   I feel like I'm constant flight or fight.   It comes off as extreme perfectionism, workaholic, self doubt, or shut down. 

[Duck]

EMDR has helped me a lot. It helped me process some bad memories and my PTSD reactions have diminished significantly.

I have heard several different descriptions of EMDR. My therapist moves her hands rapidly while my eyes follow them. We pause along the way to find out my current thoughts and feelings. She encourages me to see myself in the memory as if I am passing by in a train and look through the window and see a little girl.

I have heard of other people using lights or vibrations.

My therapist doesn't do it all the time or on a whim. She seems to gauge if i would benefit from it first or if I am in the right frame of mind.

To me, it feels like a journey because often my thoughts and feelings at the beginning are very different than at the end and I feel like I made "stops" along the way.

As a specific example, I could not stand to hear my husband walking down the stairs for almost 20 years. I felt very afraid and had a PTSD reaction. If I went to be bed first, I would dread him walking downstairs to go to sleep and brace myself. This has completely resolved.

[Amadahy]

I, too, have been helped tremendously by EMDR, but s Duck says, it's not willy nilly.  Seems to help me the most if I can identify a particular emotional response.  The last one we worked on was shame.  I was having crushing feelings of shame several times an hour throughout the days!  It was exhausting and nonsensical in terms of a logical reason why.  When we processed, the shame gave way to sadness, which was much more manageable and eventually resolved within the week.  It is really amazing.  My therapist has used her hands, but also two vibrating hand held devices.  Best wishes!!