Anyone had EMDR therapy?

[TheShellBeach]

Can you share your experience of it?
DD is just starting it and I don't know anything about it.

Guessing you listened to JOB on LBC today.

I did one session a few weeks ago, felt incredibly uncomfortable & walked out, asked around & did some research and concluded that it is not for me. The way my psychologist described it to me was that it is 'patient led' and I mostly had to 'think about my trauma' and that she wouldn't interfere by talking or asking any questions. I've done enough thinking about it over the years, that's why I was there! so I've started talking therapy instead. I believe it is probably down to the individual though, it must have worked for some people for them to continue using it!

Echo the pp I tried it didn't work for me had to stop after a few sessions to vivid for me

Yes, but I preferred talking therapy

What's LBC?

DD has had about ten sessions of talking therapy, and they're about to move on to the EMDR bit of it.

Yes and it worked dramatically for me. It is evidentially proven and much more effective for PTSD than talk therapy. Read up on it.

Thank you. I'm going to.

It's more effective for trauma, particularly single incident traumas (think car crash rather than growing up in an abusive household with multiple and repeat abuses). It works for all kind s though. It's used in some places for anxiety and I had a friend abroad who had a psychologist use it with her when she went through a horrific breakup and was essentially not able to process the pain.

And that's the thing to know. It's effective and efficient, but it's intense. It's akin to a medical procedure at times: you can be tired (exhausted) afterwards and need to rest. So if you want to be there for her, be ready to be in the background ready to mother her if she feels like that. Having nonjudgmental, reliable support outside the therapy room does a huge amount to help.

But whatever technique you read about, the reality is different. It takes the very very worst moments of your life, the sort you want to never remember again, and requires you to sit and "look at' them. For an extended period. It is one of the bravest things I think a person can do. Sadly when you see it, you just see someone sitting on a chair. you can't see the utter horrer they may be experiencing.

I've never experienced it, but remember there was a very interesting piece on it on Radio 4's programme You and Yours - several years ago now. I expect it's still available on iPlayer somewhere.

People were discussing traumatic events they had experienced (sometimes years previously), and how EMDR therapy enabled them to alter their responses to the memory - I think 😁

Thank you so much for this advice.

I had it for PTSD. The process was difficult, but the results were amazing. I was a total sceptic, but it really worked for me.

I had CBT and it didn't help but then I saw a psychotherapist specialising in transactional analysis which worked wonders.

Maybe look into that?

Thanks. It's DD who's having it. I'll mention this to her.

It worked well for my DH's PTSD after his car crash, and for my brother dealing with childhood trauma when years of other therapies hadn't worked.

You follow a light flashing to the left and right, or a finger, while thinking about the traumatic thing and your brain literally re-processes the 'core memory' to be less traumatic.

Also people think it means going into every detail of trauma. But that isn't necessarily required. The point is to let your brain go where it needs to to reprocess. I cannot speak highly enough of it.

I had it for ptsd . It helped massively. It was like the anxious reactions calmed significantly.

Also had CBT and hypnotherapy both of which helped.

I had it after some CBT for PTSD (lots of acronyms!).

I was so sceptic. But it worked!

I would advise your daughter to look into how the brain works - once I had a grip on why I felt the way I did, why I reacted in certain ways, it really took the pressure off me where I had been feeling I just "wasn't coping".

Agree with pp about it being tiring.

I came out of sessions feeling totally drained. I used to go home and have a sleep!

It sounds like it has the potential to be really successful.
Thanks for replies.