Posted by Camilla on May 26, 2004, at 12:38:06
In reply to Re: EMDR - I may be trying it » Dinah, posted by zenhussy on December 28, 2003, at 11:54:17
Hi, Zenhussy and everyone here,
I'm new to Psycho-babble. (I was brought here by clicking a link that was on an EMDR-related site. It looks cool, so I registered and stayed. :-D)
Anyway, I am considering EMDR, starting relatively soon. I'm going to call an EMDR practioner whom I tentatively picked based on a personal recommendation from a friend of a friend. (The one who's a friend of mine has done EMDR and found it extremely helpful, but unfortunately her practitioner moved several states away. So she needed a recommendation herself. She hasn't started seeing the woman yet, though.) I also checked that that the EMDR therapist was Level-II-certified and does a lot of EMDR. (She is; and she does.)
I'm concerned now, though, about the really bad emotional fallout following EMDR sessions that's been described in some posts here. I kind of need to be functional right now, in fact fairly robust of ego and less rejection-sensitive, since I need to find a job (I was laid off a while back when company went under).
Specifically, I'm very interested to know what people mean when they say EMDR for trauma can be really rough on people who are "highly dissociative." How can one tell if one is dissociative, and/or highly so? I do have an idea of what "dissociation" means, but I'm not familiar with the adjective "dissociative," though it sounds like it describes an ongoing personality trait present many years after the original abuse or trauma.
I did suffer some physical and emotional abuse during childhood, but I do remember it. (I think. Of course, I don't know if there was some that I don't remember -- because if there had been, I wouldn't remember it, if you see what I mean. Also, my childhood is 25 years behind me at this point.) In fact, people have commented on what a good memory I have for events in the distant past.
Also, I have a mild case of ADD--Primarily Inattentive Type, so I'm a bit daydreamy and prone to spacing out when bored, anyway. Could complicate the picture.
> As for what can go wrong? If you would like >me to e-mail you I can give you an in depth personal experience as to just what can go wrong with a therapist inadequately trained in using EMDR with a dissociative client. Let me know if you would like to hear it.
>
Zenhussy, I'd love to get a copy of this e-mail from you, if you still have it. Or if not, if you are willing to write me a fresh one, that would be great.
>
> When doing EMDR for the second time (with a level II professional) I researched the training and contacted the institute for level II people in my area. I interviewed the hell outta them before I chose the person I did.
> zhCan I ask how you researched Level II training? By finding the training manuals somewhere and reading them? Or some other way? And what did you specifically ask when you interviewed the level II practitioners in your area?
Thanks!
poster:Camilla
thread:291016
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040522/msgs/350775.html