EMDR for noise triggers…encouragement please?

[Starlight189]

Hello,

To cut a long story short, my neighbour got a puppy about a year ago and it wasn’t trained well, so was barking/crying 5-9am continuously every morning as well as sporadically throughout the day. We are semi-detached and have very thin walls so it impacted my sleep and just generally my well-being. I did talk to them at the time, and they said they had been advised to ignore barking and had spoken to a trainer etc etc.

I was going through a lot of other stuff at that point too and had a bit of a breakdown where my anxiety really peaked and I couldn’t cope with being home (I live alone).

Since then, it has improved. The dog barks most days, but for a few minutes at a time and not usually before 7am. Although I recognise this is reasonable, it sets off a physical reaction in me and my heart races, my brain spirals and I go into fight/flight. I’ve tried talk therapy, SSRIs and CBT.

As a last resort, I’ve turned to EMDR. I know it’s an unusual situation, but does it sound like something EMDR could help with?

thanks so much for reading

I'm not a EMDR practitioner so can't comment on whether it would help but it's worthwhile explaining what's probably happening.

There's a part of your subconscious mind that's become supersensitive to the dog barking and it's triggering your anxiety/fear reaction, in the same way we'd respond to a fire alarm, with the physical responses you're describing. In remedial hypnosis the practitioner would simply talk to that part of the mind, thank it (because it believes the response is correct) and ask it to stop as it's now inappropriate and it's not making you happy - the subconscious is always looking out for your safety and happiness. If EDMR works in the same way it should correct the problem quickly.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I understand that it’s triggering that response. The difficulty is in desensitising my brain…it sounds so strange to say I experienced a dog barking as traumatic, but it really was to me.

Thank you so much again for your kind reply

I have 6 dogs - much as I adore them the barking can be maddening sometimes! I can completely imagine how it's affected you given that you can't predict when it will happen or control it in any way. Trying to "desensitise" your subconscious response with logic such as CBT/talking therapy won't work (as you've found). Let us know how the EMDR goes 😊

Thanks so much! Still in the early stages but I’m really hoping it will help.