Lived Experience Forum

[kristin]

Hi all,

I am hoping that someone else has experienced EMDR  (eye movement desensitisation & reprocessing) treatment and can tell me what it was like and whether it was helpful. It has been suggested to me to help with trauma processing, particularly as I have many memories which are not conscious - trauma-induced memory "white-outs" instead - blanks where I know there is something (painful).

I'm looking for info & firsthand experience which would help me decide whether to go for yet another kind of therapy - I have too much on my plate now but if it's worthwhile I will try to make space for it down the track. @Rick @Alessandra1992 @Loopy @peace @Ellie @kenny66 @Aonaran others?

Kindest regards, 

Kristin

[kenny66]

Hi Kristin

I went through a very long program of treatment with EMDR some time back. It was extremely distressing for me.

Yes it resurrected hidden memories particularly relating to trauma but I couldn't handle it. It awakened a whole lot of stuff for me that I could not control. If anything I felt I went backwards with it.

There are proponents and opponents of the treatment but for me I would not do it again

Kenny

[Aonaran]

Hi Kristin,

Yes, I've had some experience of it, and I really enjoyed it and found it very effective, so I would love to give it another go.

Unfortunately, it was with a psychiatrist who seemed to have latched onto it as the Next Big Thing -- he was very enthusiastic about it, but I would say he wasn't a natural.  @kenny66 's post highlights I think the idea that it's not for everyone -- but what is? 😉 -- but I would add that in my assessment it also needs to be with someone who has some facility with the technique and how to integrate what comes from it.  In shorthand, i guess, someone you trust.  In hindsight, I didn't have trust in the guy I was seeing at the time, and he really seemed to think it was enough to go through the clinical motions and that was all that needed to happen, whereas that felt incomplete for me.

I love work that relates to imagery, so that might be what made the difference for me.

Good luck with it, if you give it a go.

With kindness,

Aonaran

[kristin]

Dear Kenny,

Thanks so much for sharing that. I'm so sorry it was re-traumatising for you.

To be honest what you've said would have been enough to make me run the other way even as recently as a couple of years ago. As it is I feel this odd sense of invitation - perhaps not quite the right word - because I feel ready to know and process it. It comes up anyway in various ways, and the most distressing thing by far is that I remember: blanks. I am grieving for - I don't know what.

Take care of you bro. I hope you are travelling well.

Kindest regards, 

Kristin

[kristin]

Dear Aonaran,

Thanks so much for your feedback - I really appreciate it. I agree it is essential to work with someone you can trust. Thankfully that one goes without saying for me - no matter what help I'm looking for I'll go without rather than go with someone I feel less than ok about. Sorry he just went through the motions, some of them just don't "get it" at all. They might as well be a machine with defective thinking like that.

I'm highly visual both in learning style and memory. So having these memory white-outs is a bit like having a piece cut out of me. I'll let you all know if and when I get to give it a go.

Kindest regards, 

Kristin

[kristin]

I asked my psych about it today. She thought it might be helpful, but as I suspected it's not something she's trained in. The way she explained it is that it works on the brain in a similar way to mindfulness - with the eye movement providing the focus for the conscious mind to allow the trauma memories to be present without being overwhelming. I can kind of see how this might work. 

She said it has been particularly helpful for people with PTSD, and though not especially designed to help with C-PTSD buried memories it has been helpful with this for others she knows. So I'm slating it as a "give it a try when I have the space" option.

Some of what my pscyh said (talking about intrusive distressful memories and nightmares) made me wonder whether this is something you've tried, or considered trying, @SCORPION ?

KInd regards, 

Kristin

[Former-Member]

Hi @kristin, 

I know you posted this a while back but my psychologist went to a workshop on EMDR last week and she really wants to see if we can find someone who does it nearby (within 2/3 hours) for me to give it a go, but i'm not really that sure! Her feeling with it was that its a far quicker way of 'processing' memories and switching neural pathways back on to a positive path because when you have repeated histories of 'damaging stuff' and complex trauma from young in life those pathways are turned off. or something like that. I doubt we'll find someone close enough anyway, but it does sound kind of interesting. Have you thought any more about it or started?

LJ

[Former-Member]

Hi Kristin,

I did it a few years ago and found it really helpful. I had a mild-moderate case of PTSD from some childhood events and I found talking about it really distressing. It was explained to me as another way of re-expereincing distressing events/thoughts without having to say them out loud repeatedly which is what I was told traditional ptsd treatment involved. The premise being that if you could re-expereince them and re-process them in your memory they would stop reemerging and interrupting your life.

I found it pretty helpful and it completely alleviated some of my triggers, ones that occured on a daily basis. It hasn't helped all of them though.

It was also suggested to me as I have pretty poor memories sourrounding some of the events, and I get resurfacing of 'snapshops' without much context around them, so I couldn't really talk about the events as I didn't really know what was happening.

The psychologist who did it with me was pretty expereinced and very compassionate. He had worked in trauma for quite some time.

It was hard though, but I think most therapy is hard. But it did teach me some very useful skills about managing anxiety which I continue to use today.

I personally think the science behind it is bogus and it's just another method of desensitisation therapy. But I'm not a psych major.

I found it helpful and less confronting than other options, but I wouldn't do it with someone who wasn't experienced.