Has anyone done EMDR? What was your experience?

[strugglelife]

Just looking to hear people’s experience? If you recommend it? And if you know of any affordable providers out there.

i have experience with CBT and psychodynamic psychotherapy but feel like I need something different and can benefit from this

I had emdr for ptsd after a traumatic birth and it worked after a few sessions.

This bird bollocks is not EMDR - sorry

My understanding is that emdr works best on a particular traumatic experience like being in a car crash but not so good if you had eg a terrible childhood where every day was traumatic. My daughters are adopted and have what is termed "developmental trauma", which is pre-verbal and it doesnt work for them.

Cptsd here and EMDR has been very helpful.
I was lucky to get it on the NHS too.

I was always very sceptical about EMDR too and thought it was probably a lot of woo bollocks. I went to see a therapist for CBT for depression and it quickly became apparent that a lot of my stuff is connected to a traumatic event many years ago that is bubbling up now that my DD is the same age. My therapist persuaded me into EMDR and I find it very strange but very powerful. Initially I kept wanting to stop as soon as anything would get emotional because I am a live in my head person usually. I am in floods of tears every session and feel like I’ve been run over by a bus afterwards but it is resolving stuff that I have carried for decades and always kept squashed very deep down. Things I thought I just have to live with it turns out I don’t. Weird things happen like that I very powerfully felt my mum (deceased) with me comforting me although I had never in reality told her what happened. I wish I had it years ago.

@PolyVagalNerveI think there might be a bit of mixing up of EMDR and EFT, the latter being a complimentary therapy, not a NICE first line treatment like EMDR or TF-CBT. Though I know nothing about EFT so I could be wrong! But it is a confusion I’ve seen before on threads about EMDR.

I think the key thing for me is the background and training of the person delivering EMDR given the amount of charlatans in the private sector offering trauma therapy and making claims about their training or alluding to being EMDR trained. I believe EMDR Europe only trains and accredits practitioners who are already accredited by certain professional bodies, for example the BABCP for CBT therapists, the BACP for counsellors and psychotherapists, HCPC reg Clinical Psychologists. There may be other EMDR training and accrediting organisations but I believe this is the main one. @Blanketenvycan probably confirm my understanding.

There are no cast iron guarantees of course but the more solid the background, specific training and specific supervision the better.

No. It doesn't have to be eye movement as in following a finger or a light, it can be bilateral sound, tapping left and right, tappers/buzzers and other things. I have vertigo so used buzzers when I did it that buzz left and right. Am sorry it didn't work for you, in my experience you do often have to try a few different therapy approaches to find a good fit, and it my case for sure also reach a level of acceptance/tolerance that some things will always be hard and a struggle for you and adapt to that I guess but obviously that's not for everyone.

Yeah that's right you have to have a core profession prior to doing the emdr training and do an accredited course so you can then work towards being accredited afterwards (certain amount of hours/patients etc)
Like you say no guarantees, there are rubbish therapists everywhere (also some really amazing ones) but obviously having decent training, experience, supervision and being accredited with a reputable professional body makes it more likely that someone is competent.

@YouOKHun - yes that’s correct re EMDR - EFT I’ve not come across,
I certainly like to stick to the evidence based / NICE guidelines

Cured my PTSD. I went from not being able to leave the house without a panic attack to being back out in the world with no problems at all within 6 months. (Among other things that have improved, too.)

I got my treatment on the NHS and did it weekly. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. You effectively are opening Pandora’s Box and once it’s open, you have no choice but to keep going until you’ve slayed all the monsters.

Before you start the processing sessions, you have to do safety and resourcing sessions. This is to help you cope with bringing the trauma back up to process it, as it can be destabilising and emotionally stressful. It does get worse before it gets better, so having those resources in place before you start digging around in your brain for the shit is essential. There were times between sessions where I would just sob and sob and sob. All the emotions I should have felt at the point of trauma came out and it was overwhelming. I also think it’s essential that you have a great support network and some trusted people who know what you’re going through and understand the process of EMDR so they can support you through it.

It’s been life changing for me. I highly recommend it. Happy to answer any questions if you have them.

I have so many questions - how do you know if it is trauma causing your problems?

I suffer from health anxiety and can remember being 17 and being worried about my health.

However it got worse after I gave birth and then significantly worse after my dc nearly died from a very unexpected health issue.

This sounds like health anxiety - there is a disorder specific CBT treatment protocol. - not EMDR
read up on health anxiety

There could have been a triggering event. One session I had, I couldn’t pin point a trigger, so my therapist asked me to recall the “first time you ever felt that way” and we used that memory. You’ll find that memories grow on stalks a bit like grapes, and they’re connected together, so opening up one often brings other connected memories up.

You could certainly give it a go, if you can find a decent therapist and have a consultation, they could guide you and let you know if it’s the right treatment for you!

Thank you.

Triggering event - if I delve deeply enough into my childhood there are a number due to parental mental health. I don’t associate these with trauma but being separated from my parent for weeks while she was in hospital would have been.

The main events in recent years have been related to children being unwell. Blue lights to hospital. Then when dd was being so poorly - I experienced what I thought was flashbacks after this. Suddenly seeing an image of her unconscious etc when I was driving or doing something else. This has passed now but it took a long time.

@PolyVagalNerve it is 100% health anxiety - this is how my anxiety manifests. But I’ve often wondered if it’s related to the trauma we’ve experienced.

EMDR helped me immensely. I was originally offered CBT but the psychologist recognised that it wasn’t helping at all.
I was still having multiple flash backs, not sleeping, extreme emotional reactions to things.

My level will never get to zero due to what my trauma is linked to but it is now manageable. The flashbacks have disappeared and I no longer have extreme reactions to minimal things.
It has been over a year for me since I had EMDR.