Re:clarity

Hi, Prefer Unknown, I'm very glad you reposted with a shorter and clear post. Your question is very important. You are exactly right, that with very complicated trauma histories, the process of EMDR can be very long and complicated, and certainly must be only one portion of an overall treatment program.

This is not an appropriate place to talk about your specific situation, as we can't do a proper assessment and history here. I encourage you to talk to your therapist about your specific situation, to better understand what's going on with you.

However, I'll make a few general comments here:

Simple PTSD that occurs as a result of a single trauma in adulthood can usually be treated very rapidly with EMDR. The more traumas one has, the earlier it happens in life, the more complicated it is and the lengthier the treatment. When the client has not only PTSD, but DID, things get much much more complicated. Even DID can be variable in complexity, with some people moving rapidly because of much internal cooperation between parts of self, and an ability to verbally express their inner experience. Other people move very slowly because of profound internal conflict and dividedness, and even more slowly if they are not free to speak about their inner experience.

Some DIDs have had hundreds of bona fide traumas in the first five years of life, there is no trust of any human being, there is only abandonment and betrayal, so whole parts of the self cannot cannot in a therapeutic relationships for years.

When EMDR is (cautiously) used with DIDs, it is often done using a deliberate and systematic approach in which parts of the self do the trauma work, while another part of the self does not do the trauma work for a long time, so that part can be free to "do life". That part, usually the "host", may not have memory for sessions, or understand what is happening in EMDR. Other parts of the self may indeed know and understand what is happening in sessons in general and in EMDR sessions in particular. I don't know if that applies in your case -- I am only speaking in general terms here for the general readership.

Finally, I heartily agree that too little is written about this important subject. I think that is because DID is considered rare by some. I published a professional article on this subject in 1995, and that article is available on my website www.paulsenconsulting.com. It is called, "The Cautious Use of EMDR in the Dissociative Disorders". For practitioners, I am offering a EMDR & the Divided Self workshop in San Francisco in November.

Thanks for your question, and your courage in posting. Do talk to your therapist, though, okay?

Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD
Walnut Creek California

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Re:clarity, by , 08/24/00

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