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EMDR safe place...even THAT triggers her!

warriormomx5
warriormomx5

So this past couple of sessions we've been working on strengthening my daughter's "safe place" in therapy.  A few times back, when we used the hand "buzzies", she reverted horribly for a couple weeks where she couldn't even sleep in her own bed for a few days!  She recovered and we simply worked on creating the safe place to have all it needed in her land.  So this last time, the creation was complete (a drawn out art project that she kept saying needed "1 MORE thing",) so we were going to strengthen it with EMDR.  My daughter requested we only use the eye light board and no buddies.  We complied & started our session all smiles.  She thought about her safe place and after a few times, all of a sudden, she triggered!  We weren't even thinking about hard stuff but it invaded her mind!  Luckily, she says it didn't invade her safe place...that she had accidentally left it and thought of these bad memories.  Honestly, she barely verbalized anything other than "uh-huh" she was struggling and "(5 fingers)" to show how old she was in the memory.  Then she said the "her" in the safe place was "3, before all the bad stuff.  I like being young."


Her therapist seemed a bit disheartened by this turn of events but not shocked.  I'm scared to see how bad we'll be when we proactively start working on "bad stuff" specifically related to blood...a bad trigger for her still.


Anyone else experience this difficulty in regards to simply creating a strong safe place for EMDR?

CasMac1
CasMac1
I tried that with my son when he was five , they got him to think of the beach listen to sea shells. Plus he got the hurt me bear. it's a ugly teddy bear and when ever he got a trigger he would poke pins in it , and it worked. sounds dumb but I would try anything I got hypnotized after I was kidnapped and raped and beaten they hypnotized me to smell lavender instead of his cologne smell , and to relax with the sounds of waves. Therapy is hard but eventually it helps ..good luck here for you love and support casey
warriormomx5
warriormomx5
CasMac1,
Unfortunately for my kids, due to the fact that monster boy literally poked THEM as "hurt me bears" with straight pins, safety pins, scissors & knives, (& they have the scars to prove it) THAT style of therapy would never work for them as it's a trigger.

We're looking at doing a NEW therapy called "water dance" with her in hopes it would open her up to trust, relax & talk more but haven't had a chance to try it yet. She's lives swim so her therapist & I are hopeful it might be the right fit for her?

I'm sorry to hear of the horrid experiences you went through bit hopeful that successful therapy stories like yours mean my kids will recover, sooner than later. <3
Naive1.2
Naive1.2
Maybe her brain is making room for the work that's yet to be done? Maybe her brain "accidentally" realized that the safe space is a reminder that there are unsafe spaces she is preparing to acknowledge? It sounds as if she's been making progress. This may not be a backslide or a warning sign to stop but rather an indication that she's reached a new level of preparedness to grow? I am trying to find a positive spin.