I use EMDR therapy
as my primary psychotherapy treatment and I've also personally had EMDR therapy
for anxiety, panic, grief, and “small t” trauma. One of the initial phases (Phase 2) in EMDR
therapy involves preparing for memory processing or desensitization (memory
processing or desensitization - phases 3-6 - is often what is referred to as
"EMDR" which is actually an 8-phase method of psychotherapy). In this
phase resources are "front-loaded" so that you have a
"floor" or "container" to help with processing the really
hard stuff, as well as creating strategies if you're triggered in everyday
life. In phase 2 you learn how to access a “Safe or
Calm Place” which you can use at ANY TIME during EMDR processing (or on your
own) if it feels scary, or too emotional, too intense. One of the key assets of
EMDR therapy is that YOU, the client, are in control NOW, even though you
weren’t in the past, during traumatic events. You NEVER need re-live an
experience or go into great detail, ever! You NEVER need to go through the
entire memory. YOU can decide to keep the lights (or any method of bilateral
stimulation) going, or stop them,
whichever helps titrate – measure and adjust the balance or “dose“ of the
processing. During EMDR processing there are regular “breaks” and you can
control when and how many but the therapist should be stopping the bilateral
stimulation every 25-50 passes of the lights to ask you to take a deep breath
and say just a bit of what you’re noticing, anything different, any changes. The breaks help
keep a “foot in the present” while you’re processing the past. Again, and I
can’t say this enough, YOU ARE IN CHARGE so YOU can make the process tolerable.
And your therapist should be experienced in the EMDR therapy techniques that
help make it the gentlest and safest way to detoxify bad life experiences and
build resources. Pacing and dosing are critically important. So
if you ever feel that EMDR processing is too intense then it might be time to
go back over all the resources that should be used both IN session and BETWEEN
sessions. Your therapist can use a variety of techniques to make painful
processing less painful, like suggesting you turn the scene in your mind to
black and white, lower the volume, or, erect a bullet-proof glass wall between
you and the painful scene, and so forth. There are a lot of these kinds of
"interventions" that ease the processing.
