anyone with any experience of "rewind" therapy for childhood trauma?

[ThatVikRinA22]

i had a very traumatic childhood. 'nuff said.

going to do this "rewind" therapy at my next counselling appointment and just wondered if anyone else had experienced it. Its been described to me as taking the emotion away from the memories, so that when i remember things, i wont feel the emotional turmoil i get now.

im also going to have CBT (for low self esteem) and Hypnotherapy (to sort out my breathing, and relaxation) im hopeful it will improve things for me.

i want it to work. anyone had any success with any of this stuff?

[amistillsexy]

I've had something similar for traumatic memories. It worked very well and instantly.

The mind is an amazing thing, and it can heal itself. Good luck with the help you're getting.

[madmouse]

Another one here who's done EMDR and thinks it sounds similar.

By the way I think you mentioned 5 sessions on your other thread. I think that's too little for EMDR/rewind therapy, CBT and hypnotherapy, count on a bit more.

[ThatVikRinA22]

ok, thats just what my therapist said, she reckoned on about 5 and i think im limited a little time wise....the therapy is on works time and budget.
soooo - i need a really safe memory for my start place yes? she wants me to find a memory just before the bad stuff starts, which im stuggling with, because i think the run up to the bad stuff was quite protracted....

but i do have some nice safe memories, they are just a fair while before the nitty gritty.

the bad memories i do find easy to speak of even though it upsets me, they are easily recalled.

the cbt was to try and rewrite how i feel about myself, she says even though the rational part of me knows that i dont see myself how others see me, the emotional side of my brain rules, and thats the bit where the self esteem resides....

the hypnotherapy was to sort out my breathing/relaxation. she said if relaxation was on a scale of 1 - 10 i never got past a 3i need work on that and im aware of that.

she reckoned 5 sessions....but i am limited i think. id better roll my sleeves up and be prepared to work then....

[madmouse]

FWIW I found EMDR painful but astonishingly effective - in about 3 or 4 sessions of it both my trauma round ds's birth and serious illness and the enormous trauma of child sexual abuse have faded so much, with memories filed away correctly and no longer any bother.

The safe place for me was a memory of a balmy summer evening on a narrowboat with friends, jumping off the boat, running around with friends' teenage kids. Just something to go back to if I needed to relax.

[ThatVikRinA22]

it does sound like EMDR, she called it rewind though, but having googled i reckon its the same thing.

my only worry is that my memories are just a collection of moments, i cant really work out what happened when, and it all went on for so many years, i cant remember day to day, just certain things that arent in any order. will that matter?

[madmouse]

No it won't. I was abused over a 4 year time period and the memories are mixed up. The way EMDR worked with me is that we started off with a particularly painful bothersome memory and then just went with what came up next.

[JC777]

yes EMDR seems to work well for many.

@BabsJansen, I'd encourage you to keep on going

[ThatVikRinA22]

just popping back to say i had the rewind therapy - its not EMDR.

you find your "safe" start point and then find a "safe" end point, then literally play the events from point to point, imagining them on a screen in front of you, several times you fast forward and then rewind, then in black and white, then the screen moves away and gets smaller and smaller until its gone and you can give it a soundtrack too, something funny is good....

i have to say, that to recall the emotion attached to the bad memories i had to speak about it (but you dont have to, you can just think about it if that works for you) and i did get really really upset, but by the end, the pain had gone. I was able to come home and tell DH about the event i used to recall the emotion without getting upset. Afterwards i felt fine, and my therapist said what i was describing was relief.

ive googled it and it doesnt seem to be widely practised, but is very effective in PTSD and phobias...

just thought id pop back and give an update. It only took one session. Now im onto the CBT....

[JC777]

OP, how's it going now?