Re:self emdr

Self-administered EMDR by definition would need to include 1) the same careful targeting and workup in advance plus 2) bilateral or dual attention stimulation, plus 3) any needed cognitive interweave. Self administered EMDR, like, for example, self administered surgery, could fail at any of these points. Let me describe what I mean by discussing each of these three and how they might succeed or fail:

1) Targeting and workup is especially needed if one is doing EMDR from a cold start in order to activate the right neuro network. If one is doing one's own surgery, how do we know the coordinates of the incision site without careful study and assessment, not to mention knowledge of anatomy and a few other things. However, in the case where someone is already cranked up about something happening in the moment, great news, the relevant neuro net is already activated. Its as if the surgeon's incision is already made by the situation in just the perfect place.

2) Bilateral/dual attention stimulation must be applied until the piece of work is complete. This is a volitional matter, meaning, a matter of will. People can get distracted or tired or not, and can return their attention to the task or not. A surgery might fail if the surgeon working on him/herself just got tired of the thing in the middle, and left the task unfinished. One might hemorrage in this case. In self-administered EMDR, returning to the task to administer bilateral/dual attention stimulation until the task was complete can definitely happen. It also sometimes doesnot happen.

3) In any EMDR processing, cognitive interweaves might occasionally be needed to get stuck work jumpstarted. Self administered EMDR might fail if there was a need to get the work unstuck, but the self can't get the objectivity to see what information needs to be provided to stimulate the neural net that contains positive resources that can be used adaptively to get the processing back on track. This point is moot if the processing goes sailing through without a hitch. No jump starting needed? Then the work can complete on its own. This would be as if self-administered surgery was straight forward, had no complications, and no expert advice was needed to jump in and save the day. I can imagine that happening with straightforward procedures such as the extrication of a sliver or lancing a boil or something. It's harder to think this might work with, say, brain surgery or thoracic surgery.

In sum, certain self-administered EMDR's could be expected to produce terrific results, as could certain self administered surgeries. It's hard to tell before making the incision whether the work is superficial or deep.

I still wouldn't advise people to attempt either self administered EMDR or surgery, as there is no guarantee one's procedure will be straight forward. Usually with self-administered EMDR, the risks are less, as the person is likely to just get stuck and not get the results they hope for. In a few cases though, the self-administered EMDR might get stuck at a high level of emotional arousal. This would leave the person emotionally hemorhaging or otherwise flooded with pain or information, without appropriate external support in place to assist with getting safe and contained.

Replies:

Re:self emdr, by snape, 07/05/02

| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |

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