Unhappy Anniversary - EMDR - is it worth the wait?

[Kit10]

It is now 2 years and a couple of days since I was found unconscious and nearly dead and sent to ICU. It was not a happy anniversary. I still have no memory of what happened, I still have almost no quality of life, I am still plagued by horrific memories of my time in various hospitals and I am STILL waiting for any sort of trauma therapy. They say it's a postcode lottery what psychological help you get after ICU - well the loser is clearly "DL" (Darlington / North Yorkshire)

I have finally been told that I am suitable for EMDR but not yet. They seem to think you can't safely do it until you no longer need it! Has anyone done EMDR and is it worth waiting for, and can anyone shed any light on why it seems to be so difficult to persuade a therapist to actually get on and start with it?

[Sepsur]

friends have found EMDR very effective, as have they found CBT. I had some talking therapy 7 months after going into remission - I’m glad I did it - could have done with it being 5 months earlier just didn’t have the money to pay for it ( which would have made it fairly immediate). it was still worth doing.

[Nicedymous]

After my ICU stay (no memory of the reality but still terrorised by my horrific unreality) I have had a psychological assessment via email and a telephone assessment. I now have an eight month wait before my second assessment to consider whether I am still suitable for therapy!!! It feels like the hope is my PICS will have cured itself and a feeling that it didn't exist in the first place. Meanwhile myself and many others continue to be terrorised by the horrors. Good luck to everyone.

[Kit10 in reply to Nicedymous]

Yeah it seems that most mental health people only ever do endless assessments then pass you on to someone else, I have lost count of how many "Assessments" I have had for various things over the last 2 years. If only everyone who does assessments actually did something to help instead of endless box-ticking exercises, we would all be a lot better off. And the way they talk, an appointment for an assessment is supposed to be something that you will count as progress when in reality it's just another delay more often than not. And it usually involves answering a string of questions that just stir up all the bad memories with no sort of comfort or reassurance to settle you afterwards.

I'm watching you-tube videos about EMDR with a view to devising a DIY version. Maybe an imaginary friend who is a brilliant therapist is the only way forward. At the end of the day I am the person where the buck stops. I have given up expecting any real help from anyone else.

It would seem that one of the key parts of EMDR is imagining yourself in a safe place while you reprocess the bad memories, and if you don't feel safe anywhere because of what has happened then they think they can't do EMDR until you do feel safe somewhere. Catch 22.

My problem with the "safe place" thing is, I can imagine myself as either an imaginary person in a place that's safe for them, or as my younger self in a place that would have been safe for me then, but not as me now in a safe place. All the places from my past I'd imagine as a safe place are now inaccessible to me so just imagining them is upsetting. Surely I'm not the only person to be in that situation? Does anyone who has tried it have an answer? Maybe it doesn't matter that you have to imagine yourself as someone else, so long as your fantasy is good enough to trick your lizard-brain/inner child or whatever it is into feeling safe?

[stevet11753]

When I was released from the ITU to the HDU, where I began the physical trauma of learning to stand/walk again, I would retreat into a dark room inside my head. It was a simple box room, pitch black, with a single chair in the centre facing a single window with a distant view. I would sit in the chair and gaze into the view, everything outside the room was cut off. It helped to calm me in those circumstances, but how helpful it would be in other circumstances I don't know.

[LeopardGecko]

I have had EMDR and was amazed at how well it worked. I had been a bit sceptical before starting it.

My counsellor had to do several assessments with me before starting to make sure that it was appropriate to do with me.