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Opinions on EMDR
We’re trying eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and would like to know other system’s experiences with it. What worked, what didn’t, really anything you can tell us would be helpful.
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14 Replies
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We do a little EMDR with our therapist. Mainly he seems to use it with positive visualizations of our system caring and supporting one another? We haven’t jumped into the super dark memories yet, and don’t know if we will.
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Out of curiosity, how are you using EMDR?
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Not right now no but we’re considering it
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I had 6 sessions of EMDR, 12 sessions in total – some work before and after. For a single – present day- trauma (traumatic birth) and it worked amazingly. We have tried a few times for child hood stuff as our (different) therapist is also EMDR trained, but have had no luck. Just keep dissociating.
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Ithink what we’re doing is slightly different but using the same principle. It’s worth tapping instead of eye stuff (mostly because we therapy over zoom).
Its been really helpful, but also really intense. Thankfully our therapist gives us breaks and easy days.
I think it’s worth doing, but its not easy work if you’re delving into trauma stuffs.
It, and therapy in general, have really helped our communication I think. And definitely our understanding of eachother.
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Mixed feelings for us, mostly positive.
We’ve made some really useful connections from current triggers back to their source and made a lot of good progress on processing some of the “easier” traumas with EMDR. Typically a session will seem like it’s not working for us at first as the mind wanders, but after some time with the tapping, buzzing, or lights, it usually becomes very effective.
The only time for us when it really hasn’t worked was when the therapist started to delve into an area that wasn’t so good for processing. The purpose was to process a current traumatic event, but the connections the EMDR would/could have made went back into some things that are hidden on purpose, so the effort was stopped before it could go there.
Some of us are very hesitant about doing it in general because of that potential to uncover connections to old memories that maybe shouldn’t be looked at. But under the guidance of a good therapist, it can be very powerful for processing trauma.
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Our therapist left shortly after starting EMDR with us so we never really got to see any benefit from it and we found it quite destabilising, but that’s probably coz our therapist was rushing through things as she knew she was leaving in a couple of weeks (we didn’t know she was leaving at that point, we wouldn’t have agreed to start EMDR if we’d known.) The colleague she referred us to wasn’t trained in EMDR and left herself after 2 weeks, after discharging us from their specialist service. We tried to go through general mental health services to resume therapy and find someone who could do EMDR with us (since we’ve been told that’s the only thing that will work for us) and we came up empty handed so we got referred back to the specialists we were with, spent a year on a waiting list, and found out that they no longer have anyone at their service who’s trained in EMDR. All they could offer us was psychotherapy, which we tried for a while but we were really uncomfortable with our psychotherapist. We’ve been out of therapy for a year now and we’re struggling to figure out how to access the support we need
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I’d seriously question anyone who said that any technique was the only thing that could work. Maybe you could find an art therapist, or a somatic therapist, or something other than traditional psychotherapy?
And, a bit off topic for this thread, but we’ve been toying with the idea of making a peer-support group that met every couple of weeks. It would be different than the hangouts. Of course, we’re not trained professionals, and I don’t think its as good as actual therapy, but maybe it could help folks?
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We definitely should have questioned that when we were told but we’re awful at standing up for ourselves with therapists. It’s definitely something we need to work on. I think art therapy could be really helpful for us honestly but it’s hard getting access to any kind of mental health help where we live right now.
A peer support group sounds like it could be a really good idea so long as clear boundaries are put in place and so long as everyone looks after themselves and avoids taking too much on. And so long as everyone understands it’s not actual therapy and that they should definitely see a medical professional if and when they’re able to instead of relying on peers. But I definitely like that idea. Sometimes others with lived experiences can offer a perspective that you’re unlikely to get in a therapist’s office
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In the past, I’ve talked to my therapist about forming an online support group. He might be willing to help start it, and give us some guidelines. He’s on vacation, but I’ll catch up with him in January. I agree that the support group would be in no way a replacement for therapy, and we’d make that very clear.
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That sounds really promising! It would be great to have a professional involved to give advice and guidance. I hope your talks with him in January will go well and I’m glad it would be made clear that it’s not a therapy substitute.
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I like the idea a of a peer support group
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I’m really sorry they told you that EMDR was the only way. It is a very common treatment for DID, but not the only one.
Personally, we’ve been doing it because it works, but Lifespan Integration is also an option. We tried it with our therapist before we were diagnosed, but it didn’t really work because we were basically unaware of each other and communication was nonexistent. It’s meant to be “a gentle, body-based therapeutic method which heals without re-traumatizing”. We haven’t tried it since being diagnosed, but our therapist told us that she’s done it with other DID patients and that it helped them. I imagine that you’d have to have really good communication with everyone in your system for it to be affective though.
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Thank you, it was difficult to hear we supposedly only had one option and no way to access it in the near future. I’m glad EMDR is working well for you all, and thank you for telling me about Lifespan Integration! We’ve never been told about that option before but it sounds like something that could be ideal for us. Healing without re-traumatising is definitely what we’re after. I hope we’ll be able to find a therapist who can try it with us some day!
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