Jul 11
28

Erasing Trauma with EMDR

If you have been exposed to frightening experiences, either in childhood or as an adult, and you have suffered from some of the things on the list below, today’s subject is for you!

Are you a survivor of a traumatic experience? Have you ever been assaulted, threatened, or otherwise made to feel unsafe?

Have you experienced any of the following since that time?

Flashbacks
Nightmares
Depression
Emotional numbness
Hopelessness
Memory and concentration problems
Difficulty maintaining close relationships
Irritability or anger
Overwhelming guilt or shame
Hearing or seeing things that aren’t there
Self-destructive behavior
Trouble sleeping
Being easily startled by things like sudden noises

These are potential symptoms of PTSD (or Complex PTSD, which results from repeated psychological stress).

Until fairly recently, treatment for PTSD wasn’t very effective and took a long time. But in 1987, a particularly observant psychologist discovered something big…

Dr. Francine Shapiro was taking a walk in the park one day and noticed that if she moved her eyes back and forth while thinking about things that bothered her, she felt better. She developed a breakthrough treatment that works in as little as a single session, and things have never been the same for people who have been exposed to trauma.

The treatment is called EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. EMDR is simple, fast, effective, easy to access, and is a fraction of the cost of traditional long-term therapy for PTSD symptoms. When the brain is imaged immediately after an EMDR treatment, the changes in the brain are immediate, visible and permanent.

In order to receive EMDR for the symptoms of trauma, all you need is an EMDR-trained therapist. The EMDR therapist will give you something to use so that your brain will be functioning on both sides alternately. (They may have you watch a moving object with your eyes or hold two small, alternately vibrating objects, one in each hand, while talking about and recalling your experiences.) This causes the brain to use both sides while processing the memory, and it begins to quickly and permanently release the brain from the pattern of stressful reaction it has been stuck in since the experience, removing the awful symptoms of the trauma once and for all.

Sound good? Want to see what it looks like? Want to know where to find a therapist who does it?

Okay, here you go –

Steven Carey’s Story

Four therapists talk about EMDR, how well it works, and why you may be interested in trying it
..

Where to get a therapist who offers EMDR

Smear Campaigns, Part 3

Blame vs. Accountability

OCPD at Work

Tags: abuse, best treatment, breakthrough, c-ptsd, cptsd, emdr, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, fastest, posttraumatic stress, ptsd, trauma

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Posted in Overcoming Exposure to Toxic People Psychology PTSD Therapy by Light 3 Comments

Tom says:

July 23, 2012 at 2:10 am

I had EMDR after the first session my stress levels went sky high, my Therapist was on holiday so it was a month before I saw him again. I told him and he suggested hypnosis. He asked me to relax then used EMDR eye movement and vocalised his interpretation of what I had been through as a survivor of child sexual abuse, at first it was ok then he said something that was related to female survivors and as a male my issues were different. I felt conned and dissociated instantly and lost trust in him. I am now not prepared to try again.

Light says:

July 23, 2012 at 8:43 am
Hi Tom. This is a good example of a rotten therapist, I’m afraid. I’m not surprised you felt conned — not at all! You should never have been left during his 4-week holiday without another therapist covering you, and he lacked actual clinical skills (using something for women with a male client without making any changes is unthinkable).

I’m very glad you didn’t return!

Regarding your apprehension, that’s understandable. It may help to acknowledge that it was the inappropriate behavior and poor clinical skill of that therapist that was the problem. To be honest, he sounds inexcusably bad.

I have some information on choosing a therapist that you might find helpful when looking for one that is more ethically and clinically responsible. Also, with EMDR, I would want to make absolutely certain they’d been certified for it. The EMDR Network recommends asking the following questions to be sure a therapist is properly qualified: http://www.emdrnetwork.org/choosing.html

And if he left you for a month without anyone covering, I’d report that.
- Jane says:
  
  October 26, 2012 at 8:08 am
  Hi Tom,
  
  I encourage you to give EMDR another try. As long as a therapist has been properly trained by EMDRIA (the governing body over this type of therapy), they are qualified. There are a multitude of qualified therapists in EMDR. These therapists may or may not be on the EMDR network. Only approximately 25-30% are listed on the network. The reason: that listing is expensive and is usually for insurance and advertising purposes, or other reason. If you find a therapist trained in EMDR and they are not listed, they can still perform EMDR.This is in accordance with the training and the EMDRIA.
  When a proper EMDR ‘target’ is obtained, it is in the words of the client. A therpist may assist you with trying to find the correct negative cognition about the event (that starts with ‘I am’), but ultimately it is you.
  EMDR is not hypnosis. A therpist may or may not ask you to relax prior to the processing phase. When a therapist is reminding you of the target and image just prior to processing, it is for your memory (brain) to focus on that. This is what allows the mind to ‘go there’ and for processing to begin. Once processing phase has begun, it may be uncomfortable just at first, because the mind is working on a traumatic event. The great thing about EMDR is that once the mind has been able to go to that painful place, it also begins to heal itself. Once something is fully processed, it is stored as memory only, rather than a traumatic memory. There is a vast difference. A memory is behind us. We can choose to revisit it or not, and the emotions are residual. With a traumatic memory, it can feel like it is happening in the here and now.
  Also, it is very important that you generally like your therapist. They could all go to the same school, but will come out differently because of their personalities. If you do not like your therapist at all, seek out a different one.
  Best of luck.