EMDR Therapy and the Holy Ghost

EMDR is amazing when done correctly and at the right time of preparedness.

Our brains are extremely complicated, and being able to tap into restorative actions is wonderful.

I am glad to hear that you are having some success with these treatments.

I too have felt the spirit and I have interpreted the meaning of those experiences for my life.

The other day our family was watching a digital fireside. A woman was sharing her story with a testimony and my son said “that doesn’t make sense”. She had made a logical leap that he did not think was warranted. I told him that we all tell ourselves stories to help us make sense of the world and form our identities therein. This is just her story … and it is not polite to point out gaps or flaws in the stories of others. We can take what resonates with our inner voice and leave the rest.

It sounds to me like this treatment is an opportunity to rewrite (or reprocess) parts of your own story and I am happy for that.

Thanks everyone. I wanted to share that I am learning how to do this kind of therapy through books on EMDR self-administration.

As with all new things we try, my methods are improving. I have integrated journal writing into the sessions as this was suggested in the self-administered EMRD therapy book. I considered writing in my journal as I was experiencing bilateral stimulation in real time. This was because after I would finish a session, I would go to my journal to write out the new perspective on the trauma, and I couldn’t often remember what I’d experienced (fully) during the therapy session.

However, I know that learning and memory are strengthened with RETRIEVAL of information over time. Therefore, rather than write as I experienced bilateral stimulation, I would go back and re-administer the bilateral stimulation and let the throughts come. This was if I felt any anxiety associated with the traumatic event while trying to write out my reaction to it.

The odd things about this — IT’S WORK. After my last session, where I was journal writing after each session (as if the journal is the therapist to whom I am reporting what I thought), I felt very drained afterwards. Taking a sauna in past traumatic experiences isn’t for the faint of heart.

Also, research shows the maximum frequency that has been researched is one session every three days. I have been on that schedule. When I think about doing a session, it feels the way you do when you have some heavy duty yard work to do — not necessarily unpleasant, but something that will take effort. I find it’s much harder without a therapist because you have to be thinking about process — with a therapist, you don’t have to think about that — the therapist tells you what to do and when to do it, and also listens to the results of your desensitization and reprocessing.

Last time, I didn’t really feel the spirit, but I did, and still do, feel a sense of peace when I think about events that have occurred in the past. The other thing this therapy has done has helped me be more self-aware — particularly when I’m feeling anxiety. I lived my life not knowing that what I was feeling was anxiety — I just felt uncomfortable and acted to get rid of the discomfort, without really knowing that feel was anxiety and that it was driving my thoughts and behavior.

Very pleased so far with how this is going. I hope, as I reprocess some church stuff that it will make me more at peace with the church. And maybe even more active.

Wonderful SD. It sounds like you are being thoughtful, reflective, and deliberate. Those are big steps forward.

Thanks Roy — I appreciate how with many of my “dud” topics I can always count on you to make a kind comment that shows you read it. I mean that sincerely.

Yes, the therapy seems to be working for the short-term. When I think of the memories that I need to desensitize and reprocess, I don’t feel any anxiety or angst about them anymore. They are just things that happened to me that I have “dealt with”. Too bad some people think it’s pseudo-science since they believe you can’t disprove it — the hallmark characteristic of a scientific proposition. But it seems to work, and certain insurance carriers will even pay for it.

It does take a lot out of you though. Very emotionally draining, but when you come through the other side you feel better. I have noticed that having my thoughts written in my journal really helps because I can go back and remind myself of the positive ways I reprocessed the experience — the journal reminds me of how I now view the traumatic experience. That’s where this flurry of postings about journals came from by the way, the therapy and my renewed commitment to journal writing.

Some people actually report being thankful for the experiences they once considered traumatic because they have learned something from them after going through the therapy. I would much rather be working with a trained therapist, but alas, I’m too cheap to do otherwise.