Anyone ever try EMDR therapy?

My psychologist wants me to try EMDR therapy. Has anyone done it and if so, was it successful?

[Marnie22 Volunteer]

I am having EMDR at the moment. I have had 16 sessions. I have found it amazingly powerful. When it was first explained to me by the psychologist who is treating me, I found the idea a bit weird and scary. The great thing is that there is a lot of assessment and preparation before you do any actual EMDR. You also get taught how to deal with any difficult feelings that might come up and what to do between sessions (as the effects often carry on for several days.)

I have found it to be brilliant and it has given me hope. It gets the traumatic experiences reprocessed so that instead of you living inside them, they can be stored inside you and not be overwhelming any more.

One thing that needs to be considered is that EMDR can very often be really exhausting and this can last several days after a session. I have pathological fatigue from a brain injury anyway, so it has hit me really hard several times, but I think it's well worth it.

I would recommend it as long as you can access a well trained and experienced practitioner. I am seeing the lead clinical psychologist in my local mental health centre and she is really good.

In my experience EMDR can get down into the things that really need dealing with and can help you feel stronger through ending up not at the mercy of whatever had been tormenting you.

I wish you all the best.🙂🌸

[Hidden in reply to Marnie22]

Wow...thank you for explaining it so well. It sounds like it has done wonders for you. I hope and pray that helps me...I have so much trauma to work through.

[Marnie22 Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

I so hope that this might prove a help to you. Good luck in your healing process.🌸❤

[designguy]

I've also found EMDR to be very helpful, it and Somatic Therapy that I also did, were the most helpful forms of therapy.

[Lindyloo53 Volunteer]

Yes I’ve been doing emdr for two years now not every week as we use talk therapy in between. I have to say it’s been the fastest therapy to show results for me. In the beginning I thought it wa argh bargy so you have to go into it with an open mind and heart.

[Hidden]

EMDR was a BAD experience in my case.

Knowing where I lived, and without enquiring by what means I would be travelling home ( I lived fourteen miles away and had driven there) the practitioner gave me no warning as to what to expect.

I left the building with my head in a complete mess and was totally incapable of driving safely. I had enough perception, though, to phone my wife and ask her to come and fetch me. This involved her having to travel to meet me by 'bus and then drive me home.

I was in a state of turmoil for days: my anxiety levels rocketed, the bouts of anger returned and the nightmares flared up again; as bad, and in in some cases worse than before. The tears would flow unexpectedly, and I would never know what triggered them.

After three sessions, with no improvement, I called a halt to the process.

It was dangerous! Had I not perceived that I was unfit to drive a motor vehicle, and got behind the wheel to go home, I could now be serving a sentence for manslaughter with yet another human being's death on my conscience.