Re:what can I expect?

Excellent questions but difficult to answer because everyone seems to utilize EMDR in their own unique fashion.

First, to the issue of the long term outcomes for EMDR. The best series of studies on long term outcome has been conducted by Wilson, Becker and Tinker who followed 80 clients who recieved EMDR for traumatic memories. Their first paper followed these clients for 90 days and the second paper followed them for 18 months. The general finding is that the results persisted for 18 months. To my knowledge, a longer term follow up study on EMDR has not been done. Further research is needed, however the results are very encouraging.

Second, each individual experiences EMDR in their own unique way. This means that it would not be possible to predict the course of EMDR treatment for you specifically. In general, you and your therapist would develop a safe place (developed and enhanced with the eye movements or other form of bilateral stimulation) which can then be used both inside and outside of the EMDR treatment sessions to help you calm yourself and contain problematic emotional material that might emerge. Second, your therapist has been trained to develop a stop signal with you so that you can stop the processing if it becomes too intense and discuss the experience directly with you therapist. In my experience only about 5 - 10 % of my clients actually make use of the stop signal,although we always establish that as a safety net. Finally, sessions should proceed at a pace and frequency that meets your needs. Going to slowly can be problematic as can going to fast. Again, discuss this with your therapist.

Third, EMDR sessions can access rather intense emotional material (often called abreactions) at times. This is "old material" by which I mean that it is associated with the trauma experiences themselves and at times repeats the emotions and physical sensations that you experienced during the actual traumatic experiences. Your therapist should be trained to help you through these times.

Forth, clients often experience very positive emotions and insights during the course of an EMDR session. It is not unusual for my clients (virtually all are people with what is called complex PTSD from combat trauma) to laugh or experience other very positive emotions during the course of an EMDR session. I was one of a number of EMDR thearpists who helped staff a free EMDR clinic in Oklahoma City after the bombing and this response of laughing was quite common with the fire fighters, police and EMS personnel we worked with. It almost always signaled a rather dramtic breakthrough and change in how the person understood or thought about what they had been through.

The bottom line is to work very closely with your therapist. Discuss your fears and concerns about the EMDR process and ask any and all questions that you have about the process or experiences you have. Work at a pace that seems safe and reasonable to you.

Hope this is helpful. Feel free to post another question if the above does not provide the information that you had hoped for.

Replies:

Re:what can I expect?, by client, 09/15/00 Re:what can I expect?, by Robert P. O'Brien, Ph.D., 09/16/00 Re:what can I expect?, by Bonnie, 04/18/01 Re:what can I expect?, by Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD, 04/21/01

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