Exposure therapy & EDMR

[Elizabeth CP]

I have been referred to someone to have exposure therapy & EDMR for PTSD. I am wondering if others have experience of this and what t is like.

[Mamoo]

Hi Elizabeth I have also been referred to do EMDR for vacarios trauma. I have spent 5 months with my psychologist and still not ready for the treatment. I wish you well on your healing journey.

[Doolhof]

Hi Elizabeth,

Hopefully you have been provided with information regarding this type of therapy and all your questions about it can be answered by the person recommending it.

I've not experienced this myself, so hope others may be able to share their experiences with you.

Have you been able to contact the organisation/place that will provide this service to ask them questions?

All the best from Dools

[Alexlisa]

Hello Elizabeth

I don’t have a lot of experience, but I’ve had a few sessions of EMDR for PTSD. I found it intense, strange but actually really worth it. I did feel a reduction in the severity of my symptoms, especially the body sensations that I was having, which were mostly anxious and a ‘skin creeping’ feeling. It helped with that a lot.

Like I said, I don’t have much experience, but I can tell you what I’ve found helpful, and maybe someone else will be able to tell us more about how it works. My understanding is that there are a few different techniques the therapist can use that stimulate activity on each side of the brain. One is through eye movement, one is through sounds and one is through touch. I found following side to side with my eyes really overwhelming, so I asked to try the touch technique (tapping both knees back and forth) and that helped a lot. I felt more able to focus on what I was meant to be concentrating on, and more grounded in the room.

I found that I felt a little ‘off’ after the sessions and for a few days afterwards. So it helps a lot if you can take it easy in that time. I was told it’s the brain still processing the session. I’ve found it important that I get enough time at the end of session to tie up the loose ends so that I feel safe and settled when I leave. I found it pretty intense recalling memories that are painful and scary, so I needed to know it was packed away enough in my head to walk away from session feeling that I could cope.

I’m hoping to do some more sessions soon. It’s an intimidating proposition, but I also know it has helped, so I’m willing to face it. There’s plenty of research out there about it having good effects on PTSD, even if they don’t fully understand why. I hope you find it helpful. Don’t rush. I think most importantly, make sure it’s with a therapist that you really trust. Mine has been a life saver and I’m not sure how I’d feel doing something so vulnerable with someone I didn’t trust implicitly.

Take care

Alexlisa

[Elizabeth CP]

I saw my psychiatrist last week. I hadn't seen him since early Dec. Sessions are normally monthly but if cancelled for any reason can't be rescheduled. He has been away for quite a few sessions & the few he was available I wasn't hence a huge gap in sessions. I really struggled last summer so I wrote a list of what was happening to me before my session in March which e cancelled on me. I took the note to this recent session. He realized how severe the symptoms had been & suggested the EMDR therapy with one of his colleagues. He told me very briefly what is entailed but there wasn't much time for questions. My PTSD is related to bushfires so is fairly dormant in the winter so in the past it becomes less important o isn't treated. In the summer often there are gaps between session (not normally as long as this time) due to holidays & other things come up so attempts to deal with the problem are sidetracked.

Thanks Alexlisa for letting me know how it affected you. It is helpful to be prepared.

[Elizabeth CP]

My session for EDMR /exposure therapy is tomorrow. I'm very nervous as I have no idea what will happen or what to expect.

[Doolhof]

Hi Elizabeth,

How did the session go for you? Hope it was helpful!

All the best from Dools

[Elizabeth CP]

He is sicking to just exposure therapy. He seems nice so I was as comfortable as you can be talking about terrible things.My psych gave him a copy of my notes I gave the psych sharing the problems I've been facing. I'd given the psych permission. This meant I knew he had a good understanding of the background so I didn't have the stress of trying to explain everything.

As it was the first session it was still very stressful & I struggled having to talk about very painful stuff. He works differently to what I'm used to. In future he wants me to arrange to spend time after the session with a friend to take my mind off the things discussed in the session. I'm unsure how to arrange this. I don't have good friends nearby.

[FxZIONZ]

Hey Elizabeth,

I have tried EMDR therapy. It is actually surprisingly good.

With spending time with friends or family, definitely try if you can. I found that i could just go home after EMDR, grab some dinner on the way home so i didnt have to cook, and watch netflix and go to bed.

I was exhausted after my sessions. Possibly because of my work schedule. But maybe because the sessions arent exhausting you too much you need to have a distraction to help ease the rest of the day.

With Alexlisa experience, i also found that i was off for about 48hours after the session. The sessions were also intense. I stuck to the eye movement variation as my symptoms of anxiety and depression arent severe at all, i just had a messy brain when it came to anxiety so whenever something would cause anxiety it would trigger the rest of the mess ball. Where as now, i can get anxiety and it only affect me temporarily. The eye movement was more beneficial to me because i had to force myself to just follow the fingers with my eyes.

Hope the therapy is helping you!

[Doolhof]

Hi Elizabeth,

I hope these sessions do help you. It is really tough to lay yourself open and vulnerable like that. Hopefully it will be beneficial for you in the long run.

There have been times where I have gone for a walk after a session, written down thoughts in a book, gone to the shops for distraction, gone for coffee and people watching, anything really to allow the mind to have some time to get back to basics again.

Being able to catch up with friends after a session would be great but maybe not always practical. Hope you find other ways to release some of the build up that happens at sessions.

You know this is always a safe place to share and let go!

Wishing you all the best, cheers from Dools