Strategies

[abcdefghijohnnyz]

So encouraging to hear about positive experiences with EMDR! I had EMDR a couple of times but it was with a really bad, creepy therapist who had this amazing ability to tear down my self esteem RIGHT after the EMDR session was wrapped up. It kind of turned me off the whole thing. Maybe I should try again!

[Eyessoblue]

Yes maybe you should, it's definitely about the right therapist I think. Have you looked on you tube? There's quite a few stories on there, the one that always bothers me is the young girl saying how wrong it was for her and the symptoms she has been left with- that's my negative inner critic talking though telling me it won't work and I'll end up worse!

[sanmagic7]

being an emdr therapist, i know that it can be done and give wonderful, freeing results.  creepy therapists aren't going to help no matter what kind of therapy it is.  i hope you do find someone who is competent, capable, and a good fit.  that girl you mentioned, eyessoblue, should not have been left like that.  a competent therapist wouldn't have let that happen.  there are special ways to close sessions, to prepare the client for what to expect between sessions, and to make sure the client can utilize a 'calm' space if things get overwhelming. 

someone posted about seeing an emdr therapist who let him/her know that they would be going slowly, especially in the beginning, so as not to retraumatize the person.  that was a therapist who knows about trauma and its effects.  there are good ones out there.  best to you on finding someone with whom you can work well and safely.

[SM]

sanmagic7 Thank you! I am so glad there are therapists out there like you too!  She does really seem to care and is interested in the concept of CPTSD.  And you are so right!!!! for 2 nights I had the strangest dreams! They weren't bad dreams but just so strange and I wore up feeling slightly strange myself. 

This whole process of rewiring and challenging our toxic shame and inner critic has left me feeling king of... well weird for lack of a better term. I don't feel like my old self that I was so comfortable being - the defensive, angry, lashing out, secluding and negative person... but I'm not healed all the way yet either. It's like I've walked out of the room I've been in for the last 26 years into a new one that has some familiarities, but I don't actually think I've ever been in. Almost like the real me knows this room, but can't fully remember on account of all that the CPTSD poison has been siphoning out of my life for so long.

So... Feeling weird haha

Thank you all for the support. I really hope that those looking for a good EMDR therapist find one and have the same great experience  I had.  Thinking of you. 

[sanmagic7]

weird doesn't necessarily have to be bad.  kind of like - i'm not where i was, but not quite where i want to be, either.  it's a transition place, moving from what you were familiar with, which was everyone else's messages, to where you belong with your own messages and beliefs about yourself, which you were born with - loving and accepting yourself for just who you are.   sounds like you're doing great.  ever onward!