So my psychologist wants to try EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) but I'm not sure about it, it scares me a bit. Does anyone have any information or experience of this?
I have no idea sorry .but I have a few thoughts anyway, have u tryed looking on the internet ? Also ask ur psyhologist for more information they should know lots about it. And if ur still scared tell them , u should be completely comfortable before trying anything .good luck
EMDR is very well established, has been used extensively for 20 years with veterans suffering from PTSD, abuse and trauma survivors, and many others, and is an extremely powerful and effective means of resolving trauma and painful memories. There's really nothing to fear about it, it's a very gentle technique that, these days, is more commonly done with aural stimulation rather than eye movement, but either way it tends to work quite well. It is not completely understood how it works, but it appears to disrupt the storage of emotional memory. So after EMDR, you will still remember whatever it is that had traumatic impact, but recalling that memory will not have the same sort of traumatic effect it did before. The only downside is that sometimes it can momentarily draw up the feelings associated with past traumas which can be pretty strong... but that's usually only for a few seconds. I was trained in administering a similar modality, loosely based on EMDR, called directed eye movement therapy, and have seen nothing but positive effects from its use, provided that the person administering it is properly trained and has experience using it.
Thanks ems, she gave me information on it but I think I will research it more on the internet, like you said. Theres quite a long waiting list so I have plenty of time to decide. Thank you Chip, that's helpful. I think that's the part that's scaring me, bringing up the strong feelings. Worried I wont cope. But I suppose if it works it will be worth it.
For what it's worth, most of the people who start EMDR have the same feelings. But with very few exceptions -- basically, inept therapists who don't really understand EMDR in depth, but "dabble" in it -- people are happy to return for subsequent sessions because even though they may feel something for a few seconds as it is processed, they leave the session feeling *much* better. Let us know once you've experienced it, as others will benefit from your firsthand description of what it's like for you.
My psychologist did EMDR with me about two years ago. I found it to be somewhat helpful. It was a little weird at first, and the sessions were very emotional for me, but there's really nothing to be scared of.
