using EMDR therapy

[Sashajade]

   EMDR- eye,movement,desensitization,reprocessing is another therapy I've been using.

I first learned about EMDR in the first self-help book that I bought about depression at age

22. It seemed so silly and simple but supposedly it can be highly effective, in addition to

journaling or talk therapy. Some therapists use it because it enhances the processing

of traumas much quicker than talk therapy alone. That's not to say that it doesn't take

some time depending on the amount of trauma you have had throughout your life. It

takes much longer if you were traumatized in childhood rather than adulthood.

    I wanted to try EMDR after I read about it way back when, but I didn't have access

to a decent therapist. I wasn't ever consistently employed, no health insurance, struggled

just to get by. Sure I danced and made some decent cash but I certainly wasn't great

at managing it. So I had forgotten about EMDR until somewhat recently since I've been

on the quest to do therapy on myself. I decided to search for stuff on it and found that

it seemed pretty straightforward. To the degree that I felt like it was safe to experiment

with it on myself lol! What happens is that you follow an object with your eyes and it

will take you thru a sequence of moving your eyes side to side, up and down, and a

couple other directions in a pattern.

    It will take some repetitions of this sequence before you relax into it, but then you

should start to notice feelings or thoughts come up. I've found that it goes quicker

if you do it when you already kinda have anxieties and feeling like things are already

bothering u. I've used it sometimes first thing in the morning because i just couldn't

get going because maybe I had a bad dream and felt stuck and needed to get out

whatever it is that is causing me to feel like their is a weight on me. So I found an

EMDR video on youtube that was helpful in particular. Its this balloon with a smiley

face that takes you thru the sequence and in between the sequence there is an

intermission of positive affirmations, but I would skip those parts because I felt

like I needed to keep going with the little balloon guy. During the video the balloon

guy sequence repeats like 3 or 4 times and i would just continue with that part

until I started to feel better and towards the end I would make up my own positive

self talk while watching the sequence. Yea you can expect that sometimes and

especially in the beginning you might cry and your eyes will feel kinda tired but it

gets eazier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcxVud2XZw0&list=PLD1E3459242363E25

     The link above is the EMDR vid i'm talking about. The other thing I sometimes change

is the music that's in the background, because it gets repetitive and it helps to find

different music to play especially trigger songs to make the process less boring so you

don't get burned out and quit doing it. By trigger songs I mean the ones from past

that have emotional memories tied to them. Ok that's it for now, but there's more

I want to share on this, but just wanted to cover some basics. I will post more on it

a little later though.

[Ruben Zandstra]

I've been in EMDR therapy for a short while where the therapist used a headphone / clicking sound generating device on me while talking.

The therapist sucked so I left, but I did sense something useful going on with the clicking sounds. 

So I haven't ruled out that EMDR might be very helpful. Perhaps Youtube / websearches could provide you with audio versions of EMDR.

 

Hope you will post more on your findings!

[Stephen C]

I've heard some positive things about the EMDR method. Thanks for sharing your experience with it. I'm sad to hear that you were left with depression as an adult, but I'm glad to hear you have and are working on yourself. I've had some skepticism about the method. Years ago, my former roommate began to go to therapy after having some conversations and experiences with me and then listening to some of the FDR podcast content. His mother is a EMDR therapist and she suggested he try EMDR to work on some of things he felt he would like to address in himself. This made me skeptical because in the past, throughout my roommates lifetime, she had made some very poor decisions as a mother. Interestingly, me and her later had a great conversation about therapy at a dinner party we were both at. I was asking about her work as a therapist and explaining what I had been and was working on in Internal Family Systems therapy. She was not familiar with IFS, but she was curious to hear more about it and my experiences with it. We also talked about the poor decisions she made as a parent and I was surprised to hear that she was willing to accept responsibility and expressed sympathy and a desire to be a better mother. Anyway, a few months after my former roommate began weekly therapy he went to visit his father who was not there for him throughout his life. When he came back from his trip he had his fathers last name tattooed in big letters across his back and was talking about his father as if they were best friends. His father got the same tattoo. I thought to myself "This EMDR is a cognitive shortcut trick that skips over our history. Accurately processing our childhood experiences is not something this method of therapy encourages." This was a problem for me. Thinking about it now, it's not EMDR. It's not about the method of therapy a person utilizes to heal. It's about how the client utilizes the therapy that determines what they get from it. My former roommate was avoiding delving into deep historical pain related to his father. I later had a conversation with him and he admitted that exposure to his father was not a good idea.  

[drpattijane]

I'm a psychologist who uses EMDR as my primary treatment psychotherapy and I've also personally had EMDR therapy for anxiety, panic, grief, and “small t” trauma. As a client, EMDR worked extremely well and also really fast. As an EMDR therapist, and in my role as a facilitator who trains other therapists in EMDR (certified by the EMDR International Assoc. and trained by the EMDR Institute) I have used EMDR successfully with panic disorders, childhood sexual/physical/emotional abuse and neglect, single incident trauma and complex/chronic PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief, body image, phobias, distressing memories, bad dreams and more...

To understand more about EMDR therapy, it's really crucial that the therapist spends enough time in one of the initial phases (Phase 2) in EMDR that involves preparing for memory processing or desensitization (memory processing or desensitization - phases 3-6 - is often referred to as "EMDR" which is actually an 8-phase psychotherapy). In this phase resources are "front-loaded" so that you have a "floor" or "container" to help with processing the really hard stuff. In Phase 2 you learn a lot of great coping strategies and self-soothing techniques which you can use during EMDR processing or anytime you feel the need. You learn how to access a “Safe or Calm Place” which you can use at ANY TIME during EMDR processing (or on your own) if it feels scary, or too emotional, too intense. So if you start feeling overwhelmed or that it's too intense, you can ground yourself (with your therapist's help in session, and on your own between sessions) and feel safe enough to continue the work. In my practice, after the Phase 2 work lets us know that my patient is safe enough and able to cope with any emotion and/or physical sensation both during and between EMDR processing sessions, I often suggest we try a much less intense memory first if there is one that happened BEFORE the trauma(s). If there isn't one, then I suggest we start developmentally with the least disturbing memory and work our way "up" to the most disturbing event(s).

Grounding exercises are indispensable in everyday life, and really essential in stressful times. Anyone can use some of the techniques in Dr. Shapiro's new book "Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR." Dr. Shapiro is the founder/creator of EMDR but all the proceeds from the book go to two charities: the EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Program and the EMDR Research Foundation). Anyway, the book is terrific. It's an easy read, helps you understand what's "pushing" your feelings and behavior, helps you connect the dots from past experiences to current life. Also teaches readers lots of helpful techniques that can be used immediately and that are also used during EMDR therapy to calm disturbing thoughts and feelings.

One of the key assets of EMDR is that YOU, the client, are in control NOW, even though you likely were not during past events. You NEVER need re-live an experience or go into great detail, ever! You NEVER need to go through the entire memory. YOU can decide to keep the lights (or the alternating sounds and/or tactile pulsars, or the waving hand, or hand/knee tapping - all forms of bilateral stimulation that should be decided by the client for the client's comfort) going, or stop them, whichever helps titrate – measure and adjust the balance or “dose“ of the processing. During EMDR processing there are regular “breaks” and you can control when and how many but the therapist should be stopping the bilateral stimulation every 25-50 or so passes of the lights to ask you to take a deep breath and to say just a bit of what you’re noticing. The breaks help keep a “foot in the present” while you’re processing the past. Again, and I can’t say this enough, YOU ARE IN CHARGE so YOU can make the process tolerable. And having a therapist who is experienced in the EMDR techniques helps make it the gentlest and safest way to neutralize bad life experiences and build resources.

Pacing and dosing are critically important. So if you ever feel that EMDR processing is too intense then it might be time to go back over all the resources that should be used both IN session and BETWEEN sessions. Your therapist can use a variety of techniques to make painful processing less painful, like suggesting you turn the scene in your mind to black and white, lower the volume, or, erect a bullet-proof glass wall between you and the painful scene, and so forth. There are a lot of these kinds of "interventions" that ease the processing. They are called "cognitive interweaves" that your therapist can use, and that also can help bring your adult self's perspective into the work (or even an imaginary Adult Perspective). Such interweaves are based around issues of Safety, Responsibility, and Choice. So therapist questions like "are you safe now?" or "who was responsible? and "do you have more choices now?" are all very helpful in moving the processing along.

In addition to my therapy practice, I roam the web looking for EMDR discussions, try to answer questions about it posted by clients/patients, and respond to the critics out there. It's not a cure-all therapy. However, it really is an extraordinary psychotherapy and its results last. In the hands of a really experienced EMDR therapist, it's the most gentle way of working through disturbing experiences.

[Stephen C]

Whoa :)I can dig it. 

[SamtheSinger]

drpattijane, Thank you for that! I've been considering emdr, but didn't really know what to make of it. Your explanation was much more helpful than the other, super technical, write ups I've been reading. I really appreciate you taking the time to do that :-)

[SamuelS]

Great info from the doc above...I did EMDR therapy in the early '90s and thought it sounded "too good to be true" and rather kooky/gimmicky but after a few sessions I found it had helped me more than months of talk therapy had done. I was under the impression that it wasn't something that should be done without the aid of a therapist, but the above seems to suggest otherwise, am I understanding that correctly?

 

Another perhaps interesting note, I'd done this as an adolescent after being traumatized by one parent and taken to therapy by the other (more abusive) parent, thus I didn't fully trust the therapist to hold my thoughts in confidence as they related to the one paying them, but the way we were doing EMDR I didn't have to share what it was I was processing and was able to deal w things that I kept to myself, if that makes any sense. I'm sure that's not an ideal way to handle things but for me I found great benefit in it and was able to circumvent the trust issues I had regarding confidentiality.

[Stoic_Dreamer]

Tinkering around in your brain without a professional present can be dangerous, caution would be wise.  EMDR has helped me a great deal in the past (and present) with my past (and present).  Due to the severity of the trauma I have suffered over the years, my brain and emotions don't always communicate very well... EMDR helps with that. I wouldn't have been able to achieve my level of functionality and healing without my therapist and EMDR.  At the present moment I'm doing rather poorly, but that is not how I typically am.  I would strongly recommend that people try it.  Even though it is only one of many different techniques, it is a good one.

[salymandor]

Thank you drpattijane for your post!

I was seeing a therapist who really pushed EMDR for about 6 sessions until I finally was curious enough to test it - I really enjoyed the process, but was skeptical at the same time about how she encouraged me to travel my own thought path without sharing any of the information with her along the way.  That felt strange. 

I'm glad you mentioned some of the things she never did - YOU, the client, are in control NOW, even though you likely were not during past events. You NEVER need re-live an experience or go into great detail, ever! You NEVER need to go through the entire memory. - that's not something she made very clear to me.  I ended up leaving her only after 4 sessions using the EMDR technique because I felt like I could continue the journey on my own.

This conversation is bringing more to light and I would consider trying this method again.