EMDR FORUM ARCHIVE, 2000
Re:EMDR after 8 sessions
Barbara · 11/07/02 at 9:05 ET
I hope that it's okay that I respond. It seems like you are looking for some answers, and I'm not sure that anyone can give them to you here. Here's what I feel that I understand from what you have written. You are depressed and anxious. It's effecting your work; you aren't as creative as you would like to be. You've tried many things to fix this, talk therapy and medication. Most therapists have tried to logically address you problems, but logic seems to contradict your emotions, and you can't defeat your emotions. Recently you have heard that EMDR works quickly and effectively. Hoping that that would happen for you, you have tried EMDR and it hasn't lived up to it's promises. In fact, you come away with even less, or no connection to any thought or feeling. Later, you seem to suggest that you are regularly out of touch with your feelings. And, as a fix for that, your therpist, trained in Bioenergetics, a therapy that emphasizes feelings, is using techniques to help you become more in touch with emotion. I'm not quite sure whether you are unsure of the therapy, but you seem a little unsure of the therapist. You don't feel a connection with her, and you feel that she might be a little too young and lacking clinical experience. Advice is rarely taken, but I will offer it to you. I hope that it might be helpful, but read what I just wrote above. It's given to you with this understanding filtered through my own experience, which has been one where I seriously sought psychotherapy that works. First, the most important thing in therapy is the relationship. No matter what model a therapist uses, it has been found that the only thing that can be consistantly proven to heal is the relationship. So find someone with whom you connect. What qualities in a person would you like in a therapist? If you feel that you have a hard time connecting to anyone, then you might want to keep that in mind before you leave this therapist. Next, it's important to find a therapist who has a reputation for getting results. Not all therapists are created equally. Some cities have more master therapists than others. So, do your research. This part is hard, but not impossible. Your current therapist probably is right on, suggesting techniques for you to get in touch with your feelings. From what I understand, and have experienced myself, lack of awareness of your feelings impedes healing. I found it very healing to have a therapist who I loved. I used meditation to help me get in touch with feelings, but meditation worked for me. It might not be for you. Now, as for EMDR, I am not really qualified to answer that question. From reading and my experience with EMDR and meditation, here's what I think. Maybe someone else will respond who is more knowledgeable. It doesn't seem like EMDR is for you now, and it may never be. I suspect that there are two components of EMDR that help people, although I'm not sure. How do I explain this? Generally, most people can benefit from it because it puts the client in a relaxed state, opening him or her to conventional psychotherapuetic techniques. That's one side of the arguement I believe. If you are lucky, it will access, for lack of a better term, a more meditative state, and that will bring on major change through a sort of enlightenment (using meditation terms). I think that this is the discussion about EMDR. I'm not really the one to address this. Sometimes, EMDR doesn't work on everything or everyone. However, I hope that this gives you a bit of clarity and a bit of a map so that you can get the help that you need and want. It takes time to heal and change. Finding the right helper and the right combinations of things is key.
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