Re:Clarification

Hi, Dinah,

No, I don't think you sounded provocative, but it is the holidays and I don't think people are posting as much here.

My understanding is this -- EMDR is great for adult onset, single incident trauma. Let's say, a car accident. A rape by a stranger. Etc...

EMDR (any therapeutic treatment) gets more complicated when there are more issues... let's the rape is by a trusted friend. Or the car accident reminds you of a previous car accident. Something like that.

Treatment becomes most tricky when a client is very dissociatve... which seems to be what you are describing. In that instance, EMDR may or may not be an appropriate part of a total treatment plan.

Think of it as the average person dissocates one or two parts of a "trauma". A very dissociative person might "lock away" many many pieces of the trauma. It's relatively painless and healing to reassociate one or two items. Reassociating quickly many pieces of information or affect (through EMDR or other method) can cause flooding and distress.

So, the quick answer is, if someone feels very disconnected from their feelings and wonders how EMDR might or might not help, the best thing to do is to ask a therapist who is trained in EMDR and trauma.

Now that probably didn't make much sense, I'm still recovering from New Year's Eve. :-)

Replies:

Re:Clarification, by Sandra Paulsen PhD, 01/04/04 Re:Thank you both, by Dinah, 01/05/04

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