I did A.R.T therapy as well, it is the same thing as EDMR
It does work
What'd you get out of it?
it totally erased the memory and replaced it with something else more pleasant
so whenever your brain is triggered and goes to a flash back and then wants to go into a panic attack from it-
no panic attack happens because the flash back can't occur
it blocks it out.
and also it gave me a sense of peace and serenity afterward, just because that's usually what happens after going through the steps of the process you do after the session. not all EMDR therapists may do what my therapist did after the session but it was just probably to help me like not feel "in that head space" anymore and just feel better.
and basically, how my therapist explained- the importance of this type of therapy for people with c-ptsd especially- aka prolonged trauma, lots of traumatic events. it helps them take down the powerful net of conjoined memories by knocking down one- it sort of breaks the structure of that net and makes it easier to process the rest of it and gives it less power, so you can start to grow as an individual more mentally healthy, past the point at which you may be hindered by this net.
it is also simultaneously, jostling up everything, like sand in a jar of water, and then allowing it to re-settle in a more precise and organized location- that a professional can guide... this is helpful for a number of reasons and is just part of the therapeutic process of treating ptsd
it totally erased the memory and replaced it with something else more pleasant
so whenever your brain is triggered and goes to a flash back and then wants to go into a panic attack from it-
no panic attack happens because the flash back can't occur
it blocks it out.
and also it gave me a sense of peace and serenity afterward, just because that's usually what happens after going through the steps of the process you do after the session. not all EMDR therapists may do what my therapist did after the session but it was just probably to help me like not feel "in that head space" anymore and just feel better.
and basically, how my therapist explained- the importance of this type of therapy for people with c-ptsd especially- aka prolonged trauma, lots of traumatic events. it helps them take down the powerful net of conjoined memories by knocking down one- it sort of breaks the structure of that net and makes it easier to process the rest of it and gives it less power, so you can start to grow as an individual more mentally healthy, past the point at which you may be hindered by this net.
it is also simultaneously, jostling up everything, like sand in a jar of water, and then allowing it to re-settle in a more precise and organized location- that a professional can guide... this is helpful for a number of reasons and is just part of the therapeutic process of treating ptsd
It sounds like this could solve all of our problems. I might invest in more sessions per week...
Today was fucking painful.
She put headphones on my head that made a clicking sound alternating between the ears, and made me recall sad memories from my childhood.
It was first my mother abandoning me in a mall as a 4 year old, playing on my fears as a kid of losing my mother. I started bawling and the therapist encouraged me to keep crying and repeating the memory. The more I repeated the less I felt it becoming desensitized at the end. The words were "abandoned" "alone" "unloved. This is how I felt all my life and I feel like this woman managed to go deep down and pull out these feelings.
Second it was my mother slapping me, feeling unloved, injusticed and alone. I cried even harder, she kept me from falling off the couch.
After 1 hour of this I realized I'm not afraid of CS leaving me anymore. Her leaving usually makes me cry like a little boy losing his mother but now I feel nothing knowing she's going to leave, like she was just some random person I met.
I don't feel as unworthy of love and alone as I did before the session. I feel like I definitely have some important people in my life and feel more loved by people around me, especially my Dad, which I thought didn't love me but proved it by how happy he was when he was to see me.
Overall this EDMR stuff is cool and I feel like it's going to take away my depression/mental hell (caused by feeling unworthy of love, unloved and alone). I am already feeling very tranquil and unreactive after it and I can't wait for my next session on Saturday even tho it hurts.
