EMDR App ?

I know one is not supposed to do EMDR on their own, but does anyone know of any online apps that can be used while this pandemic is going on?

Thanks.

[Nathalie99 Partner]

Sorry don't know of any apps but there are you tube videos, I've heard. I never used them though.

[Ellen6 Major Contributor]

Hi

I’ve not heard of any apps - sorry.

I think the training for EMDR is highly intensive. I personally wouldn’t use an app for this reason. I’ve had EMDR and at times I was highly distressed when ‘viewing’ certain memories and having a skilled practitioner sitting alongside me was essential.

Up to you re: online app but think caution is needed

Sorry I couldn’t be of more help 🌸💐🌺

[Dolphin14 Moderator in reply to Ellen6]

I agree. The therapy is highly emotional when done correctly. You need a professional to help de escalate the high emotions after a session. Even with that time to pull yourself together to get home, it's still draining. I left many sessions and gone home to cry and just sleep. It's hard work.

Ive done some EMDR on my meditation site. I wouldn't have had a clue what they were taking about had I not been through the actual sessions.

[Hidden in reply to Dolphin14]

May I ask what meditation site you used?

[Dolphin14 Moderator in reply to Hidden]

Insight timer

[Hidden in reply to Dolphin14]

Thank you!

[Agara33]

there is emdr on youtube

[Hidden]

Have you ever done any?

[Agara33]

only for a few minutes at a time, to the point where it feels nice, not bringing anything painful up

[Hidden]

Do you recommend any in particular ?

[Agara33]

no i just did a search for emdr and tried a few...

[peacefulandcalm Encourager]

hi usedtobehappy, I did try it online. EMDR virtual therapy I think I typed in google.

I tried it until I kind of got uncomfortable in emotions. I don't know if I was doing it right etc.

It was kind of nice watching the grey ball go back and forth across the screen that you get to choose for background. I chose grey rain drops , it looked nice.

I don't know if it is a good idea online, I really don't....

I signed up for one month....you can cancel any time.

They had instructions for each step....do you have therapist? can ask him or her...for me, I stopped, not sure why exactly...that is my experience..

<3

[Marnie22 Volunteer]

Hi.

I don't want to sound negative, but I have experience of EMDR with a therapist and I strongly believe that trying it alone is not a good idea.

I am near the end of having EMDR sessions but they are currently suspended due to the coronavirus situation.

There is an enormous amount of preparatory work that is done with a therapist before a person starts the actual EMDR work. It is not the sort of thing that a person could do on their own. Then once that work is done, you need to learn strategies and techniques for dealing with the feelings that come up during the therapy. Then, during the actual treatment, apart from the target memories and the feelings that are brought up, the nature of EMDR means that other memories can emerge. A good, trauma focused therapist will be able to guide you through all of this and help you to feel safe. You also need to be taught how to deal with stuff that comes up between sessions as your mind keeps reprocessing things for days after a session. You need to be taught self care and how to cope with the incredible tiredness that comes after each session.

I have found EMDR to be brilliant and life changing. It is extremely powerful and I think it could be could have negative consequences if not carried out by a trauma focused therapist. You really need specialist support. In my opinion, it isn't something anyone should try alone.

I sincerely apologise if I have freaked you out, I just really want you to experience EMDR in the best and most productive way, and I would hate for anything to hurt you or to go wrong.

🤔🌸

[Hidden in reply to Marnie22]

Thank you. I guess I am just so desperate to get started. Can you say that the therapy helped you?

[Marnie22 Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

Trigger warning

Absolutely, it helped me dramatically. Before, I had dreadful emotions that I lived inside, rather than them living inside me. I frequently became overwhelmed by them to the point that I couldn't eat or sleep. I never knew when a wave of emotions would completely knock me over. Not knowing when this would happen and having to exist through these terrifying emotions made life unbearable.

When I started EMDR I was quite concerned, because it does seem so odd, but it has helped me enormously. It reprocesses the memories linked to the emotions and kind of files them in a different part of the brain. They are still in existence, but tucked away where they don't overwhelm you and their destructive power is much, much reduced or even eliminated.

What I didn't expect was how much I would learn and heal in lots of other areas of my life. I am so much happier with myself and I am not vulnerable to those memories and emotions bullying me any more.

I really hope you can have a similar experience.

🙂🌸

[Hidden in reply to Marnie22]

Thank you. So happy for you. How many sessions did you need?

[Marnie22 Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

I can't exactly remember! (I have a brain injury that badly affects my memory!) But I think I initially had 8 after the few months of assessment and preparation. Then the psychologist asked her supervisor (I am having the treatments on the NHS,) if I could have 8 more as it was working so well. At that point the sessions went from an hour a week to 90 minutes. Then she decided I needed a few more and we did one more before the shutdown. I have five more 90 minute sessions to come at some point.

Having this break because of coronavirus has actually been good as the EMDR is very exhausting and I have fatigue from the brain injury anyway. It's also allowed me to take stock and consider everything that's been done and how to move forward. I have weekly half hour phone calls from the psychologist, but that will stop soon as the therapists are being told by their management to discharge people until they can resume sessions. 🤔🌸

[Tylisha4]

There are apps for EMDR

I’m in agreement that it should be done with a therapist

[Paula-38 in reply to Tylisha4]

I didn't know there were EMDR apps- that's news to me. I will have a look.

[Cgbonn]

I, too, have benefited enormously from EMDR, but thanks to my therapists. PLEASE do not try it alone.

[Hidden in reply to Cgbonn]

Thanks. How do you feel you benefited?

[Cgbonn in reply to Hidden]

I have suffered from a number of traumas mainly in childhood. Some of these events haunted me in regular nightmares, others were easily triggered by voices, pictures, even sounds.

I started with EMDR in a clinic and have continued therapy since then. We looked at almost every one of these situations by looking at the worst moment I remember and analysing how I feel (on a scale from 1-10). We go through the scenes and I slowly get to see things from a different angle, I realise there is nothing I could have done at the time, I try helping the victim or send helpers or whatever helps me. The therapist asks good questions to help me out. For me, EMDR was a kind of fast track treatment. During the EMDR session I get closer to the scenes and my feelings, and the therapist gets me back to here and now before time is up.

Most of my traumas seems further away and less threatening on that 1-10 scale, eg down from 9 to 4. I have found fun and trust again. My life is happier and freer. Still more to work on, but a lot has changed already

[Marnie22 Volunteer in reply to Cgbonn]

Very good to read. I wish you all the best going forward. 🙂🌸

[Cgbonn in reply to Marnie22]

Thank you .

[Hidden in reply to Cgbonn]

Does EMDR help you process any guilt or shame over things one may have done in response to trauma? Thank you.

[Cgbonn in reply to Hidden]

Rather things I didn't do. Could have gone to police or told adults or maybe tried to defend myself better. Or not gone back. Whatever. I couldn't of course.

EMDR helped me put things into an adult perspective. My triggers made me react like the helpless child or adult. EMDR helped me move out of that prison

[Bunchy180 in reply to Marnie22]

Hi

I wonder if you could let me know your thoughts on the following.

My 13 year old has developed a huge fear of bogies: snot / nose touching that a week before the lock down stopped her from

Going to school, since then ocd has exacerbated to contamination ,

Won’t touch things, sits same place, won’t drink out of cups etc , won’t hug us, goes mad and has a panic attaché if someone touched their nose or she thinks they have and so on. She has just started to have EMdr therapy, she is on her 3rd session and has started the butterfly tapping whilst her therapist asks her to recall distressing

Memory of me touching

My

Nose and tapping and then has to say how she is feeling and scale etc. My daughter say that she is feeling

Nothing - not the same feelings as some one actually touching their nose , her therapist says she is doing really well. I just wondered is this quite

Norma that she is

Not feeling as distresses whilst doing the EMdr and that other things pop into her head and she can’t hold the thought?

Or is it that she is just not engaging with the EMdr.?

I have noticed a slight change I. Her behaviour as I cleaned away the stuff I. Her sofa where she sits and normally she would go mad as she would say I he could singed everything and would t sit on the sofa but she sat there batheOpening afte to cleaned it so could the changes be happening I. This way where we notice more than she does ?? Many thanks so glad it worked for you and the sessions seem to be about 30 mins actually on the EMdr via Skype,

[Marnie22 Volunteer in reply to Bunchy180]

Hi. I am not sure if I can be of any help to you. I only know about EMDR for PTSD, not for anything else. EMDR has very clear stages and steps and they are different for different conditions.

I do have a reasonable understanding of OCD as I had it quite severely some years ago.

Have you had a chance to explain everything to the therapist and discuss this with them? I think that would be the best first step. Have they explained to you how the process works in this type of situation?

What does your daughter think? Is she able to discuss all of this with you?

I am happy to help if I can, but I think that clarifying things with the therapist would be the best initial step.

🙂🌸

[Hidden]

So glad it worked for you. I am on both sides of the fence...I had things happen to me and I have hurt others...not physically.,.so I am not sure how or if it will work for me.

[Hidden]

Hi< Have you ever tried EFT, you can use it to just address what you are feeling in the moment and get some relief, or if you are with a qualified practitioner, you can also use it on the cause of your condition (for example, to reduce chronic anxiety or reduce the pain).

There are many youtube videos for EFT (Tapping).

If you know your condition is as a result of past trauma, then just like EMDR or any method, you don't want to be triggering the cause of your condition, but EFT can be safe when done properly