I don't believe in meds. I am getting psychotherapy and it is making a huge difference.

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.

The therapist moves her fingers left and right and you follow her fingers with your eyes while thinking about the traumatic events and about the emotions that follow.

The eye movement connects to two lobes of the brain and brings out the emotions associated with the trauma.

You have to really believe that it will work because it requires your cooperation. In my case I had to believe because I wanted to heal I wanted to heal so bad that I had to believe and it worked!

After just a couple of EMDR sessions I felt like I was healing from the trauma, not just the symptoms, not just the triggers, but the actual TRAUMA.

Try it. It works for me, - Al

Hi, Ellen.

Just a few thoughts on the treatment of PTSD. It took me over 25 years to admit that I might, possibly have a problem. Then it took a few more years to find a balance of medications and psycho-therapy. As far as the meds go I am taking a cocktail of meds for depression, anxiety, and agitation. I've been seeing the same psychiatrist for many years now and I can only say that she is a life saver. I am not, currently, participating in any therapy (I am waiting for a new group to start), but have been active in individual and group sessions and found both succesful. I took part in a VA study of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and it was kind of heavy but for me worked very well. I've tried Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and thought it was for the birds. But everyone is different. I think it takes a combination of counseling and medication and you need to find a balance in both. It has not been easy in any stretch of the imagination. But I was hitting bottom and needed to do something and I was lucky enough to have the resources of the VA behind me. Ultimately, what I would recomend is to find a good counselor and a good psychiatrist and work hard with both of them. I also have a great wife that has stood with me for 40 years. I remember going to an appointment with my psychiatrist and telling her that my wife told me to tell her I was not doing well. My doc's answer was; "She's right. You look like hell. Come on." And we changed meds until we got it right. I am not cured and sure as hell not back to normal. But I am a lot better off than I was when I started this journey

Good luck,

Dick

I have PTSD (but I'm now symptom free, after a year and a half of EMDR therapy).

I never took medication but there were several points where I really wanted to. The interesting thing was, when I first started therapy my therapist seemed supportive of me trying and taking meds ... but at that point I didn't want to. By the middle to end of my EMDR therapy sessions, I wanted the meds and my therapist was less supportive of my *need* for them. I can see now that at the mid to late stages of EMDR therapy I was really connecting to my pain, which was why I was begging for meds to numb myself out. She needed me to connect with those feelings so I could finally address the emotions that I'd locked away for 20 years.

Since I never got an RX for head meds (as I call them - no disrespect intended) I self medicated with alcohol. But as things got better my need for alcohol has decreased.

I think you have to do what's right for you. If you think meds are the way to go (for you) then use them. If you want to try to get through the healing process without them, then I can tell you it's rough but it is very possible.

Ultimately, you need to find a therapist whom you feel comfortable with ... and can learn to eventually trust. Don't worry, trust isn't earned over night and a good therapist knows that.

Just a brief coment on EMDR. I would highly recommend this therapy. It's helped me put sleeplessness, nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks, physical pain, isolation and a ton of other *issues* behind me. Also, I was (and pretty much still am) non-verbal when it comes to speaking about the events (trauma) of my past. The EMDR therapy allowed me to work through my issues without having to speak of the details. This therapy technique (and my therapist) saved my life.

Not to bail out on originality but I would basically ditto SeekingStrengths comments. I am in my late thirties and my symptoms starting going haywire when my mom was dying about three years ago. I was still trying to get through things not really knowing what was wrong. At that point I needed to get some help. I started EMDR about 2.5 years ago and quit a full time job a little over a year ago to "do" EMDR therapy and take care of other responsibilities. EMDR has really worked, on the most part a bunch of stuff is gone. The way it works is that you focus on a stuck feeling or picture memory or whatever and be willing to feel it to release it knowing it will work, the EMDR makes both sides of your brain talk so that the image can be reprocessed and stop being on the front burner as a trigger so much.
It worked for me, but wasn't easy, I had to be committed to it.

Thanks everyone for your reply. I am readinga book right now that is discussing EMDR and how it works. It sais that you can do it alone too so I am going to try. I hope I do it right. It did say though that a small amount of people will end up benefiting from it but it's worth finding out if I'm one of those people.