*Jane, tell us more about EMDR*

[Suz]

When Rob still lived at home his adoption caseworker called me and said they'd been having great good luck with EMDR to treat kids with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)/trauma. At the time she said it would take 60-80 visits for it to make a difference and our schedules wouldn't allow that kind of commitment, and Rob refused to do it anyway.

When you mentioned it in your other thread, you said you'd had good luck with it for your anxiety. Several of us are interested; would you mind sharing more? What exactly is it, does it still require that many visits to make a difference? How long is each session? How frequently do you go?

Thanks,
Suz

 

[jbrain]

Hi Suz,
I will get back to you guys on this--just wanted to let you know I'm not ignoring you, just haven't had time to reply! Talk to you later today....
Jane

 

[Nomad]

Ah...
I am doing so well in my therapy that I only go every 3 weeks.
However, my therapist is an expert in EMDR.
For those who are interested, I would only go to someone who is certified and it probably is best to have done your homework on this. Ask around. Find someone with experience.
Note: It is a controversial treatment. Many professionals feel it is bogus. However, some people feel they have greatly benefited from it. I know a physician (MD), who told me it helped him a lot. He is a brialliant man, although somewhat quirkly.
I saw a film on EMDR recently and was very impressed. Previously, I was never interested. I mentioned this to my therapist. Last time we met, we discussed doing it.
Trouble is...time. So, things are up in the air. I think in time, it will happen. I am healthy and happy (knock on wood, thank G-d)...there is no rush.
If we do it...I'll post.
In the film I saw...several people...were studied.
Many were anxious, depressed, fearful and angry.
After their treatments...they were very different people...happy, relaxed, friendly and optimistic. I don't recall the # of treatments....do not think it was an excessive amount...perhaps 6...but I am guessing.
There are several good books on the topic and if you have a strong interest, you can YOU TUBE fairly good video.
In the video I saw (not you tube...it was a very long video), participants started with the "karate chop" tapping and would repeat several times things like..."Even though I am in physical pain, I am a good and wonderful person." They would move to other parts of their body. I don't really know the difference between EMDR and tapping...their seems to be a correlation. Surely, the positive affirmations are powerful. The body touching/pounding is thought to have some effect...perhaps similar to acupuncture. (????). It surely is interesting. Go to you tube and put in EMDR or tapping, you'll find video.

 

[ML]

This remind me of something called EFT but you do it yourself. Thanks for the info Nomad. Very interesting and something to consider for the man

 

[jbrain]

I see there is also a thread on the Watercooler about EMDR and Star wrote a good description of what she did.

With my therapist, we set up a "conference room" in my mind where I go and invite all the parts of myself that might want to come. Tony, my therapist, has me sit calmly and focus inwardly while he leads me to the conference room and I see who shows up. I almost always have the same "people" come--my 3 yr old self, my 8 yr old self, my 14 yr old self, my 17 yr old self, and then some adult parts and also a cat and dog I used to own.

I know it probably sounds really strange but the different parts seem to hold different memories and we work on integrating those with the EMDR. I hold these tabs in my hands that vibrate (first left, then right) and I watch Tony's hand as he waves it back and forth.

As Tony explains it, the EMDR jumpstarts your brain so that it is making new connections and linkages. You are processing memories that trigger much of your behavior today. For example, I found that my 8 yr old part held a lot of painful memories and if you asked me a year ago if those memories affected me now I would have said "no." I would have said they were part of my past, I've gotten beyond all that. But now I discovered that isn't true. My 8 yr old part was holding my feelings and memories of being awkward, ugly, too sensitive, gullible, etc. So when those feelings would get triggered by someone or something I would be responding from my 8 yr old perspective. Also, my other parts were very resentful of this 8 yr old for getting in the way--we've been dealing with that in therapy for several weeks and yesterday the 8 yr old part finally got angry about the unfairness of it all and the other parts rallied around her.

I feel that my parts of self that have been separate from my core self are now becoming integrated and I feel happier, calmer, etc.

Now, difficult child 2/easy child, who is also doing EMDR has much bigger problems than me and has more work to do. We were discussing our "conference rooms" about a year ago and she said some of her parts of self weren't even human and that some of them wanted to kill her core self. Yesterday she said some of her parts don't know other parts exist and some parts don't want to know the other parts. Well, she has a dissociative disorder so she truly does have fragmented parts of self. Nonetheless, I think the EMDR is helping--she dissociates a lot less than she used to and she seems to be aware of when she is doing it now.

I hope this helps some--I don't really understand the science behind it, thought I would just describe what you do and how it has helped me. Feel free to ask me questions and please know that I am considered a very stable person so if I sound kind of kooky I'm really not!!!

Thanks,
Jane