Before I start would like to say that I am not a professional and I have only had one session of EMDR personally but have plans to continue this through my recovery process. I personally didn't know that this existed and the purpose of this post is to simply let others know that their is actually another treatment out there that could be helpful.
All sources will be linked below for you to do further research on your own.
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Responding therapy is a form of interactive therapy that is used to resolve and process trauma. This can be used to treat PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, complex trauma disorders and other serious mental illnesses. EMDR is a short term therapy solution as it takes typically less than a year to complete. This therapy is seen to work because it 'mimics' rem sleep (natural processing of memories while sleeping when your eyes move left to right).
How does it work?
EMDR works in 8 phases that can differ in order, phases could be longer or shorter than others, some may be left out, or any other variations could be made. This is a basic outline of what happens during EMDR and may differ from person to person and session to session. Some therapists may use tapping on each arm of the client, voices on each side of the client or the more common, waving two fingers in front of the clients field of view. In summary the 8 phases include: trauma history and treatment planning, preparation for therapy, assessment, desensitisation, installation of positive thoughts, mental body scan, closure, and re-evaluation.
Personal experiences?
I have just began exploring the world of EMDR with my therapist and have only had one session as of yet. we completed all 8 phases in the session and was able to become completely stable and comfortable with something that was previously making me have panic attacks just thinking about it. Thought that being able to do this in a 50min session was insane and that is why I am sharing this with you. I was able to feel better so quickly that the issue is not bad anymore. It is still there but I am now able to think, talk and imagine the problem without emotional distress in the slightest.
Is this a reliable source for information?
In short, no. I am just a client who started this therapy and thought that I should let others who may be interested in trying this themselves know that I had a positive reaction and believe that this could help a lot of people. I have all sources for information I used in this post down below and I hope that they can assist in better explaining and using science to educate about EMDR.
What did/do I used EMDR to treat?
I have Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, DID and Somatization Disorder. For the session I already had we worked on an anxiety issue that needed to be dealt with at current but in future I plan on using this to help DID and PTSD. The specifics of my session will not be disclosed due to personal reasons and I hope that you all understand that.
Where can I get info?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSHuFHFrUis
Thank you for reading this post, I really hope that you enjoyed or learnt something. If you found this helpful in anyway that is great but please speak to a professional about concerns that you may have.
Stay safe,
Jen xx
Comments