Spouses of Sexual Addicts. Community Group
Hi guys,
I thought I would share this as over the last month I have found tremendous relief from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms from this treatment unlike anything else I've tried. And I've tried a lot. Several weeks ago I made an appointment with a therapist specializing in EMDR for weekly visits. A specific trauma can be treated and relief from symptoms can be expected in as little as 3 sessions. But if you are like me and you have multiple traumatic events from childhood you may need several.
1. What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories (Shapiro, 1989a, 1989b). Shapiro�s (2001) Adaptive Information Processing model posits that EMDR facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories to bring these to an adaptive resolution. After successful treatment with EMDR, affective distress is relieved, negative beliefs are reformulated, and physiological arousal is reduced. During EMDR the client attends to emotionally disturbing material in brief sequential doses while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus. Therapist directed lateral eye movements are the most commonly used external stimulus but a variety of other stimuli including hand-tapping and audio stimulation are often used (Shapiro, 1991). Shapiro (1995) hypothesizes that EMDR facilitates the accessing of the traumatic memory network, so that information processing is enhanced, with new associations forged between the traumatic memory and more adaptive memories or information. These new associations are thought to result in complete information processing, new learning, elimination of emotional distress, and development of cognitive insights. EMDR uses a three pronged protocol: (1) the past events that have laid the groundwork for dysfunction are processed, forging new associative links with adaptive information; (2) the current circumstances that elicit distress are targeted, and internal and external triggers are desensitized; (3) imaginal templates of future events are incorporated, to assist the client in acquiring the skills needed for adaptive functioning.
Lorilou
I thought I would share this as over the last month I have found tremendous relief from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms from this treatment unlike anything else I've tried. And I've tried a lot. Several weeks ago I made an appointment with a therapist specializing in EMDR for weekly visits. A specific trauma can be treated and relief from symptoms can be expected in as little as 3 sessions. But if you are like me and you have multiple traumatic events from childhood you may need several.
1. What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories (Shapiro, 1989a, 1989b). Shapiro�s (2001) Adaptive Information Processing model posits that EMDR facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories to bring these to an adaptive resolution. After successful treatment with EMDR, affective distress is relieved, negative beliefs are reformulated, and physiological arousal is reduced. During EMDR the client attends to emotionally disturbing material in brief sequential doses while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus. Therapist directed lateral eye movements are the most commonly used external stimulus but a variety of other stimuli including hand-tapping and audio stimulation are often used (Shapiro, 1991). Shapiro (1995) hypothesizes that EMDR facilitates the accessing of the traumatic memory network, so that information processing is enhanced, with new associations forged between the traumatic memory and more adaptive memories or information. These new associations are thought to result in complete information processing, new learning, elimination of emotional distress, and development of cognitive insights. EMDR uses a three pronged protocol: (1) the past events that have laid the groundwork for dysfunction are processed, forging new associative links with adaptive information; (2) the current circumstances that elicit distress are targeted, and internal and external triggers are desensitized; (3) imaginal templates of future events are incorporated, to assist the client in acquiring the skills needed for adaptive functioning.
Lorilou
The website I got this from I noted in the SA forum for more questions. But basically it's not like hypnosis. You are in full controll. In fact if you visualize something you don't have to tell the therapist although you still need the help of the therapist to understand what it means.
Lorilou
Although i handled the disclosure quite well, i do think that some trauma related to the disclosure is seeping into my life. Does the EMDR only work for old traumas or newer ones, or it doesn't matter?
Well in regards to the type of trauma this is used for here is what I have learned based on a text written by Bissel Van der Kolk... 1) EMDR can be used for one time traumatic events such as rape, discovering your hs infidelity, natural disasters etc. and in these cases you typically only need 3 to 6 sessions to find relief. 2) But it can also be used, very successfully in cases of multiple traumas such as mine.
Here is how it has worked for me. First my therapist debriefed me in the first two sessions. Then she started with the most bothersome issues...(note: as I am 20 plus months into recovery this may be different for you)...Self esteem. Because it seems to be my self esteem that keeps me from setting boundaries she had me focus on things my mother used to tell me such as "Your stupid." or somehow I was defective. This was the first treatment. At first it seemed nothing was going on but right before my next appointment one of the old nightmares that used to plague me happened. Only it had changed a bit revealing a bit more regarding what had originally caused it. After this nightmare I began to remember a date rape. So the next session and the third we focused on this subject trying to get me to focus on the fact that I did not deserve this, I was not at fault and to help me find compassion for myself in this event. It was after the 3rd treatment I began to set healthier boundaries with my husband. By the 4th treatment my thinking began to crystallize over the next week and I began to remember how I had been plagued by leg cramps over the last 6 or so years, especially after discovering my h. So we focused on this. Well over the next week this stirred up the issue of my cramps so bad that I began having them again but once again my thought processes started coming together and during the next session I began to see how my leg cramps were related to a childhood trauma where my mother had kicked me in-between the legs. And for the first time the memory began to reveal more of what had happened as I was bleeding badly and my father came home to find me and rush me to the ER where the Doctors further traumatized me (not intentionally) when I was stripped down and they examined me and put a catheter in me. I had previously only remembered bits and pieces of this but in addition I began to realise that as they were trying to treat me they were also holding my legs apart to keep me from squirming. We also believe somehow I was anesthetized. Now in piecing this together we believe my date rape was me reinacting the first trauma and the leg cramps in essence where my body's frozen memories of that trauma. It has been noted by trauma specialists the way memories of trauma get frozen in the body this way is when we are unable to express our emotions during a traumatic event such as being paralyzed by being held down like I was or not being able to express emotions. So the symptoms of "frozen" trauma show up in such ways as reenactment or by "somatic" symptoms or bodily symptoms such as my nightmares and leg cramps. Then as the next week progressed other childhood memories began to come to light like when after my father died my mother sold our beloved horses to the glue factory. Then the latest session I knew the holidays were coming up and I would be put in the difficult situation of being with a relative I didn't particularly care for. So we focused on that issue. Surprisingly, I did quite well. But over the weekend another memory came to light...For the first time in over a year I began to have an old PTSD reaction while we were driving home Sunday after having lunch with some friends. Now it was pure coincidence or as I like to say God intervening as this was the first time during a holiday that my h, son and I were having lunch after church with our good friends. We were heading back home when my h said he had to go to the hospital to see a patient. Well going back in time to the day I discovered my hs addiction it was Easter Sunday. My h, son and I had just finished lunch with this very same couple at this very same restaurant and as we were heading home my h said he had to go to the hospital....Now going forward to this Sunday after my h had just said this I began to feel like I couldn't breath, like someone was stepping on my chest and I began to get dizzy. That is when I realized the coincidence. Later that night I began to process all of this and for the first time I cried. Something I could not do when this happened as my son was in the car and I had to keep it all together. So in essence this memory was frozen....And from that time forward I would experience this rib crushing feeling each time I would enter the car. Now the symptoms are gone...Amazing.
Lorilou