Lived Experience Forum

[Former-Member]

hi everyone, 

so today my psyc said she would like me try EMDR therapy but after her explaining what it is im a bit apprehensive to try it.

has anyone else been through this therapy?

[BlueBay]

Hi @Former-Member

I have had EMDR therapy quite a few years ago.  It was in relation to my childhood abuse and one of the abusers.  It took about 5-6 sessions, but now I see this person (my abuser) as an image far away.  It doesn't hit me straight in the face (if that makes sense).  I have to be honest here, it was very traumatic to go through because I had to 'relive' my abuse during the session and my therapist would 'take me back to his finger' i had to watch his finger.

But saying how traumatic it was; i did have a very good and trained therapist.  He knew when it was the 'right time' to start EMDR.  For me it took a few weeks of sessions first.  

Good luck with the therapy.  If you would like to ask any questions, just tag me and I'll be happy to chat.

[Former-Member]

hi @BlueBay,

thanks for replying, mine is in relation to childhood abuse too from the age of 3 to about 12 by different people. i've been seeing my psyc for almost 2 years and after being diagnosed earlier this year with DID she believes that it will help me but the part im not to thrilled about is 'reliving' that abuse

[Former-Member]

Hi @Former-Member, and also @BlueBay

aj1, I had about 8 x 2-hour sessions of EMDR with a very well respected and trained therapist last year.  I am not going to say it was easy, but it was less traumatic, for me, than the Exposure Therapy I did the year before.  I have PTSD as s result of a violent rape 21 years ago, and I still have great difficulty speaking about it.  Although the Exposure Therapy helped to some extent, I still had a vast amount of emotional issues remaining afterwards.  The EMDR is targeted to specifically reach the emotional aspects of our trauma. Yes it was hard, I would go to say very hard, but I suspect I had been desensitised to some extent beforehand through the Exposure Therapy.  With EMDR you do not have to speak of what happened, you just have to picture certain trauma producing thoughts in your mind.  In fact, other than the basics, your therapist can competently carry out therapy without knowing any real details. 

I did find it helpful, and can now even picture a snapshot of the worst moments of my traumatic experience and not go into panic mode. That is a major improvement for me.  The whole concept of EMDR (ie waving a finger in front of your eyes for you to follow while you hold a horrible picture in your mind) sounds like 'black magic' or something, but it is definitely known to work.  Your therapist will know when to back off, and when you have had enough.  There were several times where my therapist called off sessions because she 'lost me' to the moment and couldnt get me back. She felt it was dangerous to continue.  But provided you have a well established therapist, and you are confident in them, I would go with it.

Good luck.

Sherry xx

[NikNik]

Hi @Former-Member

I thought I would also add a link to another discussion started by @kristin about EMDR therapy, which you can find here

Nik

[eth]

@Former-Member  @BlueBay  @Former-Member  THis thread is reassuring me.  I recently started with a new psychologist who is working towards doing EMDR with me.  I have read some about it and it does seem preferable to prolonged exposure therapy.  I too have a sexual abuse history, more than one event.  I don't know whether we have to work through each event or just focus on one and how to choose which one if that's the case.  But the psychologist seems very compassionate and I have a good rapport with her so feel I will be able to trust her.  My main fear is that in looking at the details I might start reliving the events again.  I have enough daily issues without that.  She said I could need a rest day after the sessions.

Thanks for the link @NikNik I'll have a look there too.