EMDR - did it work for you?

[hopefulitsmyyear]

Hi
I'm considering getting some EMDR but don't know if it would work or if I should seek other therapy. Could you tell me your experiences please?

Yes, it was brillIant. Allowed me to view a situation from outside instead of reliving it as if it was happening to me each time. My therapist said I was a good subject though, so I’m not sure if it’s always so successful. Good luck with whatever you choose - I hope you achieve peace.

Thank you @Br1ll1ant
How many sessions did you have and did you see instant results? What exactly do they do? Do you talk about the event/s that happened and have to re-live it all?
I'm really interested but don't know of anyone who has had it.
Would you feel comfortable sharing why you had it? I don't mean details and obviously please don't feel you have to

Yes, the most effective treatment I have ever had. Had been locked into a horrible state of PTSD which had a terrible impact on my life and also of those around me. psychiatrist recommended 6 sessions of EMDR but I only needed 3. Honestly it was like a miracle.

It really does sound helpful @50ShadesOfCatholic
I've been told they don't provide it on the nhs so I'll need to find a local therapist that does it.
It really is affecting every aspect of my life at the moment.
I feel like I need a break from it all.
I'm glad it was such a positive experience for you

I had it and it was honestly the best thing I ever did.

It's hard to articulate but I'll try, my therapist took me back to traumatic events that happened when I was little and put me back there as an adult, he was there with me too, all the time he was moving a pen back and forth, talking me through what I was feeling. It was done in short bursts over the session. It was hard and I felt emotionally drained immediately after and for about a week but then that memory and experience lessened.
I could always vividly remember what happened but now, it's like it's floated away and the memory of much harder to recall, kind of like it's floated away and can't hurt me anymore.

With other experiences as an adult, the trauma came out of my body. With one particular one, I felt like I couldn't breath and had something stuck in my throat, we worked through it and I actually had things i needed to express that i didn't even know I'd felt and needed to say.

I hope that makes sense?

Feel free to PM me if you're in the North West and want a therapist recommendation.

I had it on the nhs.
I referred myself for counselling after my daughter died, but felt it was getting me nowhere to just keep talking about something I can't change.

I mentioned to the counsellor that certain elements of the last few weeks of my daughters life kept replaying in my mind.
Not necessarily the most traumatic, awful parts - more like little snapshots of how things played out.

She told me she thought I would be a candidate for emdr.

I was very sceptical, as it seems too woo to me, but it did work.

To answer your questions...

You'll have at least one set up session to establish whether it's the right therapy for you and to go over where you're at and what you feel caused the trauma.

The actual EMDR is when the therapist moves their finger back and forth, your eyes follow the finger while you? /they? talk (can't remember!).

And this allows the brain to reorganise the traumatic memory into a regular memory which you can access when you choose rather than having it spill out chaotically.

She said it was like a wardrobe that had been organised and you could find what you wanted rather than having piles of mess to try to keep inside the cupboard doors.

Wow @StrawberryFizz26 Thank you for describing it in detail. That sounds great. I think I definitely need to go down this root.

I'm not in the NW unfortunately but I'll check out some in my area and look for reviews

Sorry for your loss @CatonMat

It sounds like it's a great therapy for traumatic events

I am in NZ and this treatment is available via public health although the actual cost can be up to $450 a session depending on the therapist's credentials.

It does feel like the organised wardrobe.
The trauma is in a box with a lid on it now (it does rattle around sometimes) but it stays there, for now.

Thanks @50ShadesOfCatholic

That's great to know

I had EMDR for childhood trauma and I have to say it definitely has helped me. I would definitely recommend this therapy to anyone who has experienced any type of trauma.

Good luck xx

I was very, very sceptical, I have to say, but I wanted to be able to grieve properly without becoming almost hysterical, which was starting to happen.
I couldn't follow the pen, so we did some pat-a-cake tapping on the table.

Thanks @Googleboxfan that's helpful to know

If you are in the UK, EMDR is an evidence-based therapy included in the IAPT provision (good grief what a lot of letters - sorry!)

It’s really encouraging to read good results from EMDR. I’m just training in using this method with clients. I had a session as part of the training and found it very powerful.

It was the only therapy that has ever really worked for me. I paid privately and had sessions via Zoom. If you can afford it, go for it

This might be a stupid question but if it's essentially talking through your trauma while moving your eyes backwards and forwards is it something you can try yourself at home?

Can anyone suggest how to find a good therapist?

I had it and it was absolutely amazing. Had several traumas in a short space of time which had brought about a huge amount of anxiety and a desire to control every aspect of life. I had about nine sessions as there was quite a lot of strands to pull together but it was incredibly helpful.

It’s not really talking through your problems. The therapist will check in with you briefly each set of eye movements, but it’s not like regular talking therapy. It’d be difficult to do on your own, I should think.

I had it (privately) following a traumatic postnatal experience. It worked absolute wonders for me. After the first intro session I thought it was all gumpf, then from the second session in it was like witchcraft.

2 things: it doesn’t have to be moving a finger back and forward, my therapist has little vibrating things to hold in each hand, and they buzzed alternately. She also had headphones that played sounds in each ear but I never got on with them - the theory is it’s something about disrupting the left/right hemispheres of the brain apparently?
Secondly, I don’t think doing it alone would be effective. The therapist takes you through the event very carefully - mine would ask me to focus on something for a few moments, then stop and ask me how I felt, then suggest a new focus based on the response (so eg, imagining what I remembered looking at while a nurse was speaking to me). Completely different from just thinking about the memories on your own (which is what I was doing all the time before the therapy anyway!)

I found it very different to something like CBT or general counselling - slightly like hypnosis - I couldn’t really tell you how it worked, but it really did for me.

I had my first session this week. I found it tough. I have a nervous tic where I convince myself I can't breathe and its been awful since the session. However, I'm really hopeful it will help.

You can access the treatment for free through some rape and sexual abuse services.

Yes, it desensitised me to the trauma very effectively.

I had it. Very strange. It did help. The best way I can describe it, it feels like the circuit for those remembered images and feelings are damaged by the distraction of moving your eyes around. Like you can't pat your head and do circles with the other hand. Then your brain notices that you're thinking about the trauma but not doing the usual blind panic and it goes "ah. Perhaps we will think of this another way since no present crisis seems to be unfolding". And you get some breathing space to reflect which you can't do in a traumatized state. I don't think it would be possible to feel anything as intensely with that distraction going on. Chocolate wouldn't taste as good etc