EMDR Therapy? Anyone tried it?

[Schons]

My wife tried it out. I think she went a total of 3 times. After her third session she had a massive panic attack which lead to her puking. After that she decided not to go back and continue the treatment. We had heard a lot of success stories. The lady even told that she is 100% confident that she will never have a panic attack after 3 sessions. That's a pretty big claim if you ask me. Anyone else try it? What has your experience been with EMDR?

 

[HappyKoi]

I haven't tried it, but I have heard many, many positive things about it and nothing negative. I have a degree in Social Work and I see a lot of articles about EMDR, and they all seem to say it's a good therapy. That being said, it doesn't work for everyone, and it looks like it might not be working for your wife. The therapist saying that she is "100% confident" after only three sessions is a pretty big claim indeed and doesn't sound accurate, because nothing works for everyone every single time. Sometimes it's the therapy, or it's the therapist. Your wife may want to try EMDR with another therapist to see if that works better, or she can try another therapy to see if that works. I don't know about exactly what your wife needs help with, but there are a lot of good resources out there to help with finding the right therapist and therapy, and look out for ones that promise cure-alls in a short amount of time.

 

[Fae]

I haven't personally tried the therapy, but my best friend did try out many sessions of it. He was first referred to it by his main therapist, and did some research on his own before he eventually tried it out. It was a bit taxing, and he sometimes needed a stretch of rest after sessions, but seemed pleased with the experience overall.


I think with any more specialized therapy, there should be a referral/suggestion (helpfully with a specific practitioner) along with personal research. My friend also rejected a laundry list of other therapies suggested to him that he either wanted no part in or didn't feel would work based on his personal research, even though others in his immediate family had success with them. Always good to stay actively involved in where treatment is going

 

[listener1987]

I haven't personally tried the therapy, but my best friend did try out many sessions of it. He was first referred to it by his main therapist, and did some research on his own before he eventually tried it out. It was a bit taxing, and he sometimes needed a stretch of rest after sessions, but seemed pleased with the experience overall.
I think with any more specialized therapy, there should be a referral/suggestion (helpfully with a specific practitioner) along with personal research. My friend also rejected a laundry list of other therapies suggested to him that he either wanted no part in or didn't feel would work based on his personal research, even though others in his immediate family had success with them. Always good to stay actively involved in where treatment is going

Sorry to be ignorant, but what is EMDR?

 

[Schons]

Thank you guys for the replies. EMDR is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. It's fairly new, I think. The part that pissed me off most was that the therapist my wife saw said 3 visits and she'll be cured. BS! She shouldn't be making claims like that. It got our hopes up.

 

[Fae]

Thank you guys for the replies. EMDR is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. It's fairly new' date=' I think. The part that pissed me off most was that the therapist my wife saw said 3 visits and she'll be cured. BS! She shouldn't be making claims like that. It got our hopes up.[/quote']
Wow, that's a really irresponsible claim! Regardless of therapy, nothing is going to be guaranteed to work within a certain period. Sure, people may statistically see results in that time, but it has to be stated in that way. My friend also learned he could see results in a short time (I think he was told two visits), but at not point was his therapy steered to be done in that frame of time. Everything was about working at his own pace. EMDR wasn't a complete solution for him and he decided to move on to other treatments, however he felt like the EMDR was a positive experience amid his treatments.


I hope your wife is able to find a therapist that supports her and is interested in her future well-being, rather than being the doctor's next "success story". That's the most important thing, whether she tries EMDR again or moves to something completely different.

 

[kgord]

I think EMDR would be classified as an alternative therapy as is something like tapping. I mean it may not work for everyone, but it could be something that might work for those who try it. I think any of those kind of claims from any sort of treatment would be classified as the "to good to be true" type. You know what they say, about those things, if something is too good to be true, it probably isn't. By the same token it doesn't mean it is awful either. It should just be used with caution I think,

 

[rfields.84]

I have had two therapists try to use EMDR with me. My wife has had excellent success with it and she personally feels like it helps her traumatic past issues. I will say that it didn't work for me, though mostly because, I realized (after the fact) that I have something called Aphantasia. I don't picture things in my mind. That's what EMDR and guided meditation are all about. I'm sure the therapy works for some people who can go back and literally re-live the moment, but for me, I can't conjure a picture or anything in my mind. I didn't know that people actually did this literally until a few months ago. I thought it was always a figure of speech. "Picture of river flowing" - well I know what a river looks like, so ok, river, got it. That's how my brain processed it. Come to find out there are most people who can actually SEE that river in their minds. I had no idea. Thus, I don't think EMDR works for people with Aphantasia and so it may be worth mentioning to your therapist if you feel like you may have that problem. It's helped me a ton in getting other therapy options and feeling less like I'm failing at something my mind just can't do.

 

[Sweed1]

I have had EMDR treatments in the past that helped me deal with issues from my past that were making me very sad and could not move past them in order to be able to help my mom through the last years of her life. The treatment worked for me and I was able to put a lot of baggage behind me. But someone who claims it is a quick cure is not being honest. I had lots of counselling for several years and then had the EMDR, which worked out only a few problems, but I still have other issues to work through. Often it is a very hard and long process and certainly not something to be rushed though in just a few appointments.