Posted by zenhussy on December 19, 2003, at 2:48:00
In reply to EMDR experiences?, posted by CraigD on December 17, 2003, at 15:30:39
> Has anyone out there had success with EMDR? I think it stands for Eye Movement De-sensitation remedy.
I would say my experience with EMDR was successful. I am interested in perhaps doing some more to move blocked pieces of the traumas. I would certainly say that EMDR helped me to eventually verbalize so much of what I wasn't able to speak about for years. It was a mysterious 'key' that unlocked the sensations of the feelings that I later processed and talked about and gave name to. Before EMDR I was fairly robotic in my therapy. I worked on some stuff but when it came to trauma I 'split' more or less. EMDR helped me to stay within my body more when memories of trauma came up or when hypervigilant due to heightened PTSD.
> I have been doing it for a couple of months to help deal with social anxiety, PTSD, etc.I went for PTSD because of two powerful traumas early on in my life.
> It is very powerful at stripping me down to that wounded seven-year-old boy, but then I get left there. I find I am drinking more, feeling more despondent.Okay, here is where I'm concerned Craig. Where is the self care? Where are the tools and skills of taking care of the stuff that gets brought up in EMDR type work? Did your therapist go over this type of stuff before beginning EMDR with you? Have you done other types of therapy before doing this EMDR work?
I'm very sorry you're despondent and drinking to deal with the feelings that are coming up. I can't say I don't understand because if I wasn't able to self medicate during a period of EMDR work I was doing I'm sure I would have lost it. Back then I didn't have a good skill set of self care so I was still on the tail end of relying on not-so-healthy-but-keeps-me-going coping mechanisms.
> I had never heard of this treatment before. It involves moving your eyes back and forth while holding a thought or feeling in your head. It also works with sound (l to r)
> Anyone?The finger wagging or eye movement thing did not work for me. I responded better to the tapping on alternate sides of the body.
I would like to hear back from you if possible with some ideas of what you could do to better your support network and self safety while doing this work. I'm concerned.
Take care. EMDR is weird stuff. It takes a certain amount of courage to try something that is not fully accepted within the therapeutic community. It is also courageous to face things that are so scary that the mind has purposefully hidden them from oneself.
zenhussy--trauma survivor and currently trying to break the one step forward ten steps back model of therapeutic work. pacing. a lot of trauma work is about pacing.
poster:zenhussy
thread:291016
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20031213/msgs/291537.html