#EMDR therapy

[jesusinstilettos]

I’m about to save you thousands of dollars in therapy by teaching you what I learned paying thousands of dollars for therapy:

It may sound woo woo but it’s an important skill capitalism and hyper individualism have robbed us of as human beings.

Learn to process your emotions. It will improve your mental health and quality of life. Emotions serve a biological purpose, they aren’t just things that happen for no reason.

1. Pause and notice you’re having a big feeling or reaching for a distraction to maybe avoid a feeling. Notice what triggered the feeling or need for a distraction without judgement. Just note that it’s there. Don’t label it as good or bad.

2. Find it in your body. Where do you feel it? Your chest? Your head? Your stomach? Does it feel like a weight everywhere? Does it feel like you’re vibrating? Does it feel like you’re numb all over?

3. Name the feeling. Look up an emotion chart if you need to. Find the feeling that resonates the most with what you’re feeling. Is it disappointment? Heartbreak? Anxiety? Anger? Humiliation?

4. Validate the feeling. Sometimes feelings misfire or are disproportionately big, but they’re still valid. You don’t have to justify what you’re feeling, it’s just valid. Tell yourself “yeah it makes sense that you feel that right now.” Or something as simple as “I hear you.” For example: If I get really big feelings of humiliation when I lose at a game of chess, the feeling may not be necessary, but it is valid and makes sense if I grew up with parents who berated me every time I did something wrong. So I could say “Yeah I understand why we are feeling that way given how we were treated growing up. That’s valid.”

5. Do something with your body that’s not a mental distraction from the feeling. Something where you can still think. Go on a walk. Do something with your hands like art or crochet or baking. Journal. Clean a room. Figure out what works best for you.

6. Repeat, it takes practice but is a skill you can learn :)

[orbitposting]

A lot of my trauma healing as of now is speaking or typing traumatic things that happened to me in order to process or speak out and being like huh. That did happen. And that was not good.

I feel like a lot of people picture trauma healing as doing intense EMDR sessions, but that's not all it is. You can't start healing until you recognize what happened was trauma. Even before that, you have to learn how to trust your own perception.

Before I started trauma therapy, I didn't feel like a person with a worldview. I felt like a bundle of trauma responses trapped in a human body. Now I can weigh how people treat me against my own paradigm of reasonable treatment. If they go against what is acceptable, I can act accordingly. I also can be held accountable more easily since I have a concept of how I should act in relationships, too.

[system-of-a-feather]

You mentioned going for EMDR because of lowered dissociation. Is EMDR a bad idea with a CDD?

People with high dissociation are typically cautioned against EMDR (though I've heard it working fine for some) due to the risk of flooding. EMDR is considered a really good way of treating PTSD, but it can be a little *too* effective for dissociative clients as the dissociation is there for a protective reason + the dissociation tends to be both complex and hold a lot of conflicting beliefs and feelings. It's good at getting to the meat of it, but with dissociative folk that effectiveness can be dangerous and bring up more than an individual can realistically handle thus "flooding".

Usually for more dissociative individuals, a similar yet slower approach of Brainspotting is more recommended as it works within dissociative barriers more than EMDR that kinda tends to bypass them.

Of course, this is all just general consensus and its not really a "people with CDD should never do EMDR" cause every person and situation is different so its best to talk to your therapist and treatment team and figure out what works best for you / the individual

I'm on mobile but a few things talking on it (I only skimmed them but they seem correct and informative)

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Link 4

[wisterianwoman]

When I was in counseling as a kid and even going through cognitive behavioral therapy, I thought I was doing everything I could to heal. The truth is that I was only treating the symptoms of my unhealed trauma and unresolved feelings: anxiety, stress, emotional outbursts, destructive behaviors, and so on. I wasn't being taught how to feel, express, and release my emotions; I was being taught how to understand my past experiences, think about them differently, and rationalize my way to functioning. This is known as intellectualization: a coping mechanism wherein reasons and logic are used to avoid the discomfort that comes with genuine feeling.

[iced-depresso-macchiato]

Honestly I’m lowkey so excited for Spotify wrapped just because my dissociation has been so intense this past year that I really don’t have very many memories at all

So it’ll be kinda cool to get a little musical crash course on wtf went on over the last year

Kinda like a mental health wrapped (the musical)

[cosmicwindmillcomplex]

Do you have any advice for people who are about to start EMDR?

actually yes! And I’m so glad you asked because idk if I ever would’ve thought about making it into a post! apologies for the late response but wanted to give it a lot of thought! I’ve been doing EMDR on and off for about 3.5 years now with my therapist, as a disclaimer: I am not an expert so this would be my advice based on my personal experience with and knowledge of EMDR.

1. Make sure you trust your therapist or whoever the professional who will be guiding you through the experience is; also make sure that they are qualified with EMDR experience. They should not offer the option if they have no experience with it.

2. Make sure you are in a relatively stable enough place to go through it. Don’t lie just because you want to do it. it’s a very intense psychological experience and can be draining so just be somewhat prepared and don’t be surprised if you feel kinda worn out the rest of the day after the session. There have been times I have taken breaks from EMDR when other issues of life became problematic and as a result I was less stable. It’s not something you want to force when you’re not stable enough, for safety reasons. For me it was difficult to admit I wasn’t stable enough as I wanted to just “push through” thinking it’ll automatically heal me, but it doesn’t quite work that way.

3. My sister is also a licensed therapist and gave me this metaphor when I was struggling with EMDR, it has shifted my perspective and helped me a lot. Think of EMDR as riding a train through your subconscious/inner world (however you like to think of it). In between the bilateral stimulation parts your therapist will usually ask something such as “what are you noticing”. This is when you peek out the train window or poke your head out and see where the train has stopped. but you stay on the train and then repeat the process at the next stop. Do your very best to observe and not be “sucked in” to whatever you are noticing. What you notice could be an image your brain gives you, it could be a memory, or a physical sensation of some kind as well. It’s kind cool like your brain is communicating with you!

4. EMDR does require bringing up and having to somewhat relive your trauma in the controlled environment, which is why you want to make sure you trust your therapist and have any grounding items nearby or with you. If you go in person and drive yourself, don’t feel the need to drive away immediately. It’s okay to sit for a while until you’re ready. If you do telehealth maybe keep some grounding items near you and always be in a room/environment where you feel really safe. Allow time afterwards for some self care and taking it easy.

5. My therapist describes it as a process to try and close the trauma loop in a way that the memories don’t impact you quite as badly. Some have equated it to “exposure therapy but make it trauma”, although it’s kinda right, it’s more complex than that. Often things that come up repeatedly can be clues, like a branch of a tree, and through sessions you may find the roots deeper down. There may be root memories you’re not aware of and through EMDR you may eventually find those roots when you’re ready.

6. Be patient!!! You don’t want to overthink or over analyze it too much outside of therapy. It’s okay and natural to think of it but don’t try too hard to investigate, give your brain time and it will probably make sense later down the road when you are ready. I usually will write down something if it comes up and then try to put it out of my mind until next session. Don’t push yourself or judge too hard. It is a lot to go through and very heavy, it makes sense to feel frustrated or discouraged but you will make progress in your own time. Don’t be afraid to use a stop signal if you feel overwhelmed, you don’t always have to keep going!

7. Be honest! Do your very best to not worry about being judged or anything like that. Let your brain go where it needs to go without judgment or trying to control it. Don’t lie or try to force your session to to a certain way, all it will do is slow your progress! (Not trying to call anyone a liar intentionally, but sometimes we would try to direct or deflect certain things in session due to feeling like we needed more progress faster and fears/anxieties/doubts, as an impulse reaction almost, in this case we think about it for a while and journal on it until we have the words to talk it out and explain more in another session later on. “Lying” in this context can also just simply be telling your therapist you’re okay when you know that you are not.)

I hope this helps and makes some kind of sense! Wishing you lots of love and comfort as you start your journey with EMDR ❤️‍🩹

[hazystarss]

“My happy place”

Awhile ago my therapist told me a coping mechanism called your happy place. It’s a way to relieve dissociation and negative emotions. It’s helped me lots and I’ve chosen to draw it. 🙀

[brambleghost]

Part of my new years promise to myself was to finally address some long buried trauma I’d been subconsciously avoiding.

I thought I would make some long post about it but nah. The particulars are for me, my therapist my friends and my journal. I’m ready to finally start the process of moving on from one of the worst experiences of my life and I’m grateful to have a safe space where healing is possible

[murderbot-moodboard]

EMDR therapy update (no trauma details, just discussion of recovery strategies): This past week, several days after my latest therapy session, I was able to make myself feel safe while in an actively triggering situation, which I've never done before.

I knew why I was triggered and that my feelings had nothing to do with the danger level of what was currently happening. I used the tools and strategies I've learned in therapy, like noticing what I was feeling in my body, and identifying what I was afraid of happening, and telling myself that I was going to take care of myself, and thinking of specific things I would do to meet my needs if necessary. I then proceeded through the situation as though I felt safe, and I was able to ride out the physical fear reaction until I really did feel safe. After that, I just... completely stopped experiencing the situation as a trigger.

I know this is exactly what I started trauma therapy for, but I'm still finding it hard to believe that I was able to change how my brain and body were reacting in the moment. Usually when my nervous system is in "flight" mode, at best I can compartmentalize and push through what I'm feeling while still feeling it, and at worst I shut down into "freeze" mode. This time, I systematically deactivated the trauma response until my nervous system fully switched into a safe state, and all that was left over were the "residual chemicals," as I think Murderbot calls them. Reaching this point in my recovery is kind of a big deal, and I'm going to figure out something I can do to celebrate.

Also, a couple weeks ago my therapist said that based on my progress, I can probably finish this more intensive weekly therapy by the end of the year, and move to just having maintenance appointments as needed. I've been going to trauma therapy every week (with a break here and there) for almost six months now, and doing EMDR specifically for about a month and a half.

The four months prior to starting EMDR, we worked on polyvagal theory (navigating the fight/flight, freeze, and safe state of the vagus nerve) and constructed awareness (noticing and describing how emotions feel in your body, the sensory data in your environment, and the sensory data in your thoughts and memories). That work was really helpful to do, especially for me as an autistic person who has trouble identifying what I'm feeling (alexythymia). That foundation has given me the tools I've needed to identify what I'm feeling during EMDR, and identify and manage what I'm feeling in daily life as things come up.

Anyway, just wanted to share a bit about what I'm learning and experiencing while it's still fresh. I'm looking into how to become an advocate for getting people with disabilities (including neurodivergence and chronic illness) more access to trauma therapy, because disability trauma is very common, and based on my own experience, I believe disability trauma contributes a lot to the high levels of depression in many disabled people. So it's been really nice to have this space in the Murderbot fandom community, which is so accepting and supportive, and be able to occasionally share updates with y'all about how trauma therapy is going.

If you've made it to the end, thank you for reading, and I hope you take good care of yourself this week! 💜

[bpdcodone]

Heyyyy guess who’s back to writing on this blog of hell. Anyways just wanted to say after a strenuous 2 year long recovery journey with DBT/MBT I’m here to officially say I only meet 7 out 9 BPD symptoms now🎉🎉☦️

But the downside is that my NPD has been going haywire since my BPD has gone down symptomology wise but my NPD remains stable or somewhat worse nowadays I hope to find another personality disorder specialist once I complete DID therapy and healing from CPA/CSA

[millybrowm]

for Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to share an old zine i made when i was pretty in the throes of PTSD. i had been diagnosed 9 months earlier and had years before i got EMDR therapy.

i am always here if folks want to talk about PTSD, trauma, or EMDR

[truecampbell]

So true.

[shattered-system]

Were looking into EMDR as we feel it would be really helpful for us. Any advice/warnings from those who have had it/are in it rn? Especially systems?

[iced-depresso-macchiato]

Okay so what are you all doing for Christmas now that your therapists are on holiday

(Asking for a friend)

[spoonie-on-wheels86]

[glitterishmagnus]

14.01.2025

hey there guys...something came up. i had a sewercide attempt, sadly. i'm mostly fine now and i've started to take small walks again, together with studying and doing some chores since i live alone and my house is a mess currently. that's the reason why you haven't heard from me, not that you should've missed me for any reason hahahah

anyway, here's what i managed to do today:

finished two linear algebra files

ate three warm and good meals

took a stroll outside

had a hot chocolate

talked with my sister and dad briefly

spent the day with my mom and my cat

took my meds

lit up my christmas tree, which is probably gonna stay there till next christmas since it keeps me good company

read a few pages from "the elegant universe" by brian greene, it's about string theory

had a heavy EMDR session which was...difficult to say the least

and that's about it! i'm gonna go and keep reading now, then i'm gonna probably watch a movie. i'll keep you posted! bye!