Emdr

How did it go, Swimmy?

Re: Emdr

Hi

Very difficult.

I was very cynical about it, mumbo jumbo type of thing.

I was told in advance that I would unable to drive afterwards for 30 minutes to an hour, which I did not believe.

I did not have the usual open eyes thing and follow the hand movements.

I had closed eyes and electric buzzer things in each hand.

I also had a pulse monitor on.

The object of the exercise is to recall the events whilst stimulating both sides of the brain.

This apparently allows your brain to properly process the events.

The therapist adjusts the frequency and intensity of the pulses up and down by monitoring you.

There was no need to talk about the events, just visualise them.

Being something of a hard man, it's soft to talk sort of thing, you just lock it away and cope I was taken by surprise.

Only a few minutes in I had tears streaming and was shaking.

I had to go over and over the first few minutes of the event again and again, very traumatic.

As the brain starts to process it events become less personal, more objective, you become an observer, not a participant.

The session was planned to be 90 minutes, it ended after 10 minutes, my pulse and BP had gone sky high.

A rest and then off again, same memories, but less effect.

We did this 3 times in total.

I was extremely confused and disorientated at the end and very angry with myself for being such a wimp.

This apparently is quite normal with men, less so with women.

It is worse with so called hard nuts like myself.

The surprising thing is that it worked.

I am far more relaxed about this event, well at least the first part of it.

I have learnt a lot about myself.

I am convinced now that it will work and that my life will be so so much better.

A long way to go yet, but I will get there.

I am very fortunate with my Therapist.

She has treated many like me.

Accept yourself, you will always react, you will always be scary when things happen.

That is no bad thing.

Bad things will not happen all the time, no need to worry about them and accept that there is nothing you can do about them.

Do not be afraid of yourself, it is normal to cry.

You are not a wimp.

Re: Emdr

Gosh - that sounds really strange, Swimmy. Well done for going through with it and I do hope it will be truly helpful. How many sessions are you due to have - or is that negotiable according to their effectiveness?

Thank you for explaining it and sharing your experience.

Re: Emdr

This explains a little about it.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from many different treatment approaches.

Well done Swimmy, you are making good progress. It is good to cry. x

Re: Emdr

Hi

It is a measure of how far I have come to be able to share things on here.

I am on a Mutual Block, so cannot share everything.

I am extremely grateful for your support.

My right of response is very limited.

Rules are rules and I will abide by them.

Re: Emdr

That is OK Swimmy, at least you can share your feelings on the matter. You are making great progress.

Re: Emdr

Well done Swimmy for getting through this, it must have been very difficult for you.

Re: Emdr

Hi

There is no time limit, we go along with the flow.

My PTSD is related to others, the innocents.

I have no issues with what has happened to me.

My choice, my decision, I have processed that well.

It is not an issue for me.

It is the sense of failure in protecting others.

I was paid very well for doing so .

I sometimes failed.

That is my issue.

I did everything I could, but did not win them all.

I feel a failure.

I did not win them all.

I was paid to do so.