EMDR Therapy

[mw2530]

Has anyone tried this therapy? I am going to start going through it next week and hopeful that it will help me work through the past trauma I have experienced due to the challenges of living with ASD and not knowing about it.

 

[Slim Jim]

I've heard of it.

 

[mw2530]

The 8 Phases of EMDR Therapy | Corner Canyon Health Centers

 

[Slim Jim]

Sounds similar to "Emotional Freedom Technique "(EFT)

EFT method, or the tapping method, based on a Chinese meridian system to collapse limiting beliefs and feelings of fear. Those feelings leave your body through your breath so you can stop running away from fearful thoughts and learn to release them. /

EFT incorporates Eye movement, supposedly to scramble the brain, shift between left, right hemisphere processing, scramble traumatic memories.

These things might be a Placebo effect. They might work, because you believe they work. Or there might be a legit basis is neuroanatomy . I don't know.

 

[Magna]

Yes, I've had EMDR for CPTSD related to my childhood and repeat trauma I experienced that manifested itself badly throughout my life. It helped immensely and I would say even to the level of undeniably changing my life for the better.

I'm going to do EMDR with the same therapist in a few days for PTSD trauma I've experienced related to being the direct victim of violence that was intended to be life threatening on more than one occasion. That's also messed up my life with among other things causes me to scream when I'm not expecting really loud sounds (e.g. dropped pots/pans, barking dog, etc, crashing sounds, breaking glass, etc).

 

[SusanLR]

I've only had EMDR with one therapist and it did not work for me.
She tried it for a while to help me get past an emotional trauma that I had dreams about every night.
They caused me to suddenly awaken feeling high anxiety and then depression when I got myself
in focus and settled down.

I've seen a machine on television that used a line of green lights that go back and forth that
you follow with your eyes. It looked like it would be better because the movement would be
at the same speed consistently.
A human trying to move two fingers back and forth isn't that accurate.

 

[Shamar]

Has anyone tried this therapy? I am going to start going through it next week and hopeful that it will help me work through the past trauma I have experienced due to the challenges of living with ASD and not knowing about it.

Yes, I have had EMDR for past childhood trauma. Certain situations or stimuli would cause memories to surface or intrude and I could not focus on the task at hand. And reliving them was, of course, painful. EMDR allowed me to get control, and now those experiences only surface when I want and have control. It certainly helped. That being said, I suspect that much depends on the therapist, as in all other therapies. I happened to find a good one, you may not. I would suggest discussing at length what it consists of, how it will help, and why it will help. If it seems too "pie in the sky," then I suggest finding somebody else. EMDR is NOT a miracle cure. It can help you get control, but the results very much depend on how much work you put into it.