# EMDR therapy?



## lily (Nov 9, 2018)

Anyone tried EMDR therapy (Eye movement desensitization and re-processing therapy)? I got the info here: https://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/f43/emdr-therapy-2235559/#post1094031319

I tried it once lying down and then I thought I should sit up straight and tried it again but it did not help  I could try more times when I have the time. I don't think it's dangerous to do this on your own, do you? but I do have doubts. I've had a lot of OCD (extraordinary anxiety in that way) since around mid-January but I have tried protocols to help me to feel better and I've got a hosts of things I've got to do EMDR on so one day I started to move my eyes from one side to the other and talked things out that I deal with. I think I've got well now, a lot of OCD after I switched from one medication to another and now I went back to the previous one for about a month and I think I've got social anxiety from PTSD so the source is PTSD, not social anxiety, once the PTSD is dealt w/, the social anxiety will be dealt w/, the social anxiety that I have is terrible, it is eye contact anxiety. I also have to deal with OCD w/ #'s associated w/ bad things and events so I have to re-frame a positive thought to the negative thought moving my eyes from side to side so I can try this more times when I've got the time. I'm wondering if anyone has tried this and if they did how they did it so it worked. Thanks so much. I'm hoping this is a solution. Thanks for reading.


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## lily (Nov 9, 2018)

therefore no one here knows or has had any experiences with EMDR therapy...


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

@lily Idk how many people have tried this, but these little subforums don't get a lot of views so most likely most people didn't even see your thread.

I have done some EMDR with my therapist now, but over speakerphone using tapping. She wanted to do standard eye movement, but my anxiety is too bad for video. If not for the pandemic I would have been doing it in her office in person, though. I don't think tapping over the phone is quite as effective, but I've still had some strong emotional reactions from doing it. I also have OCD ("pure O" violence-related).

As to whether or not it's safe to do on your own, idk. I'm not sure how effective it would be. I'm not sure my brain would let me process the emotions I'm processing during my EMDR if I didn't have a therapist there to offer support. With the therapist there, I feel like it's safer to feel things I'm usually trying not to feel. But that might be specific to my OCD, because I'm afraid I'll hurt someone (like myself) if I lose control. With the therapist there, she can always call the police. This is sort of like how most people have more courage to do something scary if they have someone there to do it with them. If you're doing this stuff by yourself, you might not have the courage to actually feel your emotions if they're particularly strong. And I'm not sure you'd even know you were stopping yourself from feeling them. But for less traumatic memories maybe it's doable.

Tbh, I'm not even sure I have any really traumatic memories I can consciously recollect. In my case, it might just be accumulated tension from living for so long under constant stress. We're getting a lot of emotion during my sessions but not a lot of content, so we're mostly just focusing on somatic sensations. I meditate all the time, but these particular sensations only seem to crop up during therapy, not when I'm trying to manage my emotions on my own. I've never tried EMDR on my own and tbh I don't really want to.


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## lily (Nov 9, 2018)

Thanks for your response. I don't have classic social phobia or classic OCD. I'm still trying to find out about EMDR, if anyone is interested the best thing if you can't get info anywhere else is to search on Youtube, best of luck on your healing and recovery


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## lily (Nov 9, 2018)

@truant and anyone else trying or have tried EMDR, I've contacted an EMDR therapist and I'll see where God takes me if there's healing and recovery for me in this kind of therapy. hopefully.


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

Best of luck, @lily !


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## lily (Nov 9, 2018)

thanks so much @truant, i am very ill


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## buggy (Mar 8, 2006)

lily said:


> thanks so much @truant, i am very ill


Good luck! I have done EMDR, it helped me a lot. Takes some time getting used to, but I am glad I gave it a shot. Hope it works out for you!


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## lily (Nov 9, 2018)

thank you @buggy, the problem i have now is to find a good, available emdr therapist. what did you get treated for? ptsd? can i see your emdr therapist since they will do it virtually online? did they do bilateral stimulation for you? I've got OCD and also eye contact anxiety from ptsd, thanks so extraordinarily!


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## Cool Ice Dude55 (Jan 7, 2014)

I've not done EMDR but I'm interested in it. I just don't know what traumatic memories I would want to do it on though. I have so many minor traumatic memories but not many majors. Aka 'Little T's' in therapy language.

Goood luck on your EMDR journey


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## lily (Nov 9, 2018)

thanks @Cool Ice Dude55 good luck to you too! don't go looking for any EMDR therapist


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## blewPanda (Jul 16, 2018)

Tried and failed. It seemed silly. Ineffective because I'm not emotionally tied to my history when it comes to my anxiety. My therapist was also still reading from a paper so she wasn't skilled at it. I compare emdr to breathing techniques which are also ineffective and nothing more than a mental placebo.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Shredder (Apr 19, 2011)

I don't think its dangerous to try yourself? 

It's a work in progress for me. I've been seeing a therapist that specialises in EMDR. 
My therapist mentioned what you said about the source of my SA coming from a past trauma and that's what we are working towards addressing. We've tried a couple of times but I keep coming up against blockages. Basically we create a scenario of me with a trusted person and simulate some sort of connection but just the thought of that freaks me out and my mind goes elsewhere and refuses to 'play along'. Apparently we need to do more groundwork using Parts Psychology (Internal family systems model) which we have been working on for a few years. Another thing we've spoken about is developing a fictional character to connect with as that would be more easier for me to deal with. 

Last session got rail-roaded because of some other issues I'm dealing with so we didn't cover anything EMDR related. 
I'm currently struggling with making any simple decisions and questioning the validity of therapy (and existence in general) so I haven't booked a follow-up session. Everything feels like an illusion. My brain goes into "protection mode" and shuts down therefore sabotaging any progress. I 'think' I want to go back but I don't want to waste anyone's time or money so I'm just trying to get my head back in the game. 

From what I've read and what she has told me EMDR can be effective. I just wish it was as easy for me to do as what I've read it is for others.


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## Starcut83 (Feb 13, 2021)

I've done a bit with my therapist a while back. I found it quite effective. I don't think it's "dangerous" but we did stop when Covid hit because she wanted to make sure I had more going on during the day to keep me occupied as it can possibly cause triggers and can potentially cause intense dreams, especially if you have too much time on your hands to think. I can't wait to start up again. She did mention, any therapist that has trained in EMDR will make sure the person is in a good space before treating the patient with EMDR.


If you try it with the tapping on your own, do slow taps. Fast tapping has a chance to cause "flooding" in the therapeutic sense and it's best to have your therapist there with you when doing this.



Hope it works well for you!


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## timi2shy (Jun 1, 2018)

lily said:


> Anyone tried EMDR therapy (Eye movement desensitization and re-processing therapy)? I got the info here: EMDR therapy
> 
> I tried it once lying down and then I thought I should sit up straight and tried it again but it did not help  I could try more times when I have the time. I don't think it's dangerous to do this on your own, do you? but I do have doubts. I've had a lot of OCD (extraordinary anxiety in that way) since around mid-January but I have tried protocols to help me to feel better and I've got a hosts of things I've got to do EMDR on so one day I started to move my eyes from one side to the other and talked things out that I deal with. I think I've got well now, a lot of OCD after I switched from one medication to another and now I went back to the previous one for about a month and I think I've got social anxiety from PTSD so the source is PTSD, not social anxiety, once the PTSD is dealt w/, the social anxiety will be dealt w/, the social anxiety that I have is terrible, it is eye contact anxiety. I also have to deal with OCD w/ #'s associated w/ bad things and events so I have to re-frame a positive thought to the negative thought moving my eyes from side to side so I can try this more times when I've got the time. I'm wondering if anyone has tried this and if they did how they did it so it worked. Thanks so much. I'm hoping this is a solution. Thanks for reading.


try https://eyecontact-training.jouwweb.be/ for eye contact anxiety ! 😊


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