Thinking of starting EMDR - Please Help.

Wow.

I spent a LOT of time reading this discussion forum tonight, all the way back from where it started, and I am truly grateful to have a place to come to check out EMDR... I'll admit, I was afraid before, and now I am curious, excited at the possibilites, and no longer as afraid.

I do have a question, though. I noticed in all (or rather most) of the previous posts, there were references to either specific traumas or single-trauma events. My life has been quite different from that, and I am fairly sure that I could not pin down ONE single trauma, or even 10 or so.

The trauma for me was more of a longterm effect of my relationships with other people in my life, along with a few traumatic events or traumatic periods of time..., and today I am faced with night-terror type nightmares, don't feel safe going to sleep, and wake up every morning in utter fear which I have learned to "talk myself down" from by going through all the reasons why "I am safe" in my head until I feel safe.

I have, in the past, had severe self-esteem problems, scatteredness/fear, panic attacks, etc. and I have (for the time being) gotten past a lot of that, and am afraid that they will come back some day.

I'm seeing a wonderful therapist who seems to really understand my cognitive processes, and she has suggested EMDR. Its not that I don't KNOW about the traumas, they aren't hidden, and I don't think more hypnosis would bring anything else out... its just that KNOWING about them has done little except help me understand WHY I am this way, as opposed to helping me get through it. So, my question (finally) is this... have you seen cases like mine before, and were the results generally positive? Also, if I have no SPECIFIC single or even multiple events that seem to trigger me, is it still possible to get benefit out of EMDR?

Thanks much for your response.

Best Regards,

Rob

Replies:

Various experiential contributors, by Shapiro, 5/8/99

| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |

Copyright © 1996-2004 Behavior OnLine, Inc. All rights reserved.