EMDR therapy?

[snapoutofit]

Does anyone have experience with this?   My nephew's psychologist recommended this for him and he is on board after a long time of resisting it.  I have never done this kind of therapy and I know it can be different for every person but if anyone has general advice about what he might experience after a session I would appreciate it.   I imagine it might be very difficult to process the session as the trauma he experienced was major.  If you don't feel like discussing it here feel free to PM.   I'd appreciate any insight that may help his mom/him navigate this.   We've been encouraging this for years.  

[circa1978]

I'm supposed to be starting it soon - I'm working on establishing a relationship with the therapist and getting my anxiety to a better place first. I have a friend who experienced good results with it. My trauma is decades old (childhood abuse) but I've been told it can still be effective. If he's open to it, my feeling is it can't hurt because I've ot been able to deal with it any other healthy way so far.

[mpc]

I've only had one session so far. We took a break for a little while because I had more pressing matters I wanted to talk through. We're planning to do a second session of EMDR next week. I don't think I've done enough to give an opinion on effectiveness. But the one session I did - it did bring up a new memory for me, or more like it made me remember more details. But it wasn't exactly more traumatic. Also, the hour passed by much quicker than I expected. I hope it helps your nephew!

[litskispeciality]

I haven't done this myself, however a friend of mine who's a licensed LMHC is actively going through training. They want to heal their own trauma, and they say their practice focuses on military, veterans, first responders etc. so they're hopeful this training and specialty will help that population. This friend has peeked my interest to do more research and see if it's a good fit for me (pending I can find someone to do it).

I wish your nephew luck.

[gault]

Feel free to PM me, i went through it. It was so worthwhile. It is also very draining. Don't let that deter him, the results are amazing.

[namasteak]

I had done traditional talk therapy for 5 years before and while that helped, EMDR changed my life . The sessions were exhausting so I just planned quiet time for the afternoon after a session and made sure I didn't have to do anything (like chores, kid pick up, make dinner, etc).

[snapoutofit]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I’m sharing with my sister.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

I only did three sessions (over zoom, during the pandemic) before life got in the way. I use the things I learned in the sessions though, almost daily. It was exhausting- part of why I had to stop was because I had no time to sit after sessions and process.