EMDR Therapy

[Wolfdream88]

After reading through this thread and responses, just wanted to add a bit about my own personal experience with EMDR.  I started seeing a therapist after a friend of  mine really pushed me into it (I was having frequent suicidal thoughts, although I can guarantee that I never would have been able to carry anything through b/c I'm scared of dying).  After a few sessions with my therapist, I asked what he thought was going on and then came the diagnosis of PTSD.  We did the EMDR for a while, but it was difficult for me to concentrate.  First, he asked that I imagine a "safe place" or "peaceful place" - I'm not that great at holding on to those types of images in my head, so I used a picture I'd taken of a secluded area in Mexico that I had visited and used that.  The EMDR started and it really was bad in the beginning.  I felt really terrible after therapy and had to go almost straight to work. I normally just walked around at the local mall to calm myself down before making it to my job. 

The EMDR treatment really seemed silly to me at the time (I mean, looking at someone's finger moving back in forth in front of my face?).  I was working on one memory I had, but I could point to pivotal moments in my life that definitely changed me/traumatized me.  It didn't really seem to make things better at the beginning but I think that over time it helped out a little.  I think that the best part of the therapy was having someone to talk to who saw me as an individual.  I didn't feel denigrated due to being a female or being "overly emotional".  I had been speaking with a friend, but she began to shut me out and said something along the lines of "I'm not your therapist" and, knowing that I'm very anti-medication, told me that I needed to go on meds b/c I wasn't any fun to be around.   Yeah, this was in the middle of the storm and not the best time to lose the person I considered my best friend.   

I did learn a few things from the therapy that helped me out.  The whole EMDR re-visualization helped in that I'm able to look back on past experiences and re-frame them.