I have been using EMDR as a treatment for PTSD with my Psychologist who was trained in EMDR techniques. I would say quickly that my PTSD is in all probability caused from a combination of traumatic events; in my youth, as an adult, and as recently as three weeks ago. The bases of the treatments to date have been directly related to being raped at age 13 and another attempted at age 16 (I AM A SURVIVOR). So far, I have had only four treatments but can report the following observations that may answer a question for someone;
1. I would say that this technique has made remember some of the senses and feelings that I had not remembered for a long time about the rape. It brought back memories of parts of the rape very vividly I would say. I do think though that this may be a good thing so that I can deal with all of the repressed feelings that I have been harboring for the last 40 years.
2. I have noticed that for three to four days after the EMDR treatments that I will have significantly more nightmares, not only about the rapes but also about other traumatic events that have occurred.
3. I find that after these sessions I feel both mentally and physically exhausted and that this usually takes about an hour or so. I should say that I find all forms of therapy seem to leave me with feeling this way.
4. I find this treatment causes my headaches to become more prominent during the course of the sessions. I do not see my headaches increase with other forms of therapy however; I may get a small spike.

I will be continuing with these treatments, which I have not had for about three weeks, as there was a very traumatic incident that occurred. My head Psychiatrist and Psychologist have been treating me for this incident although they are going to decide about using EMDR to treat the most recent trauma. As for anything about long term I cannot say, however; I look at EMDR as another form of therapy to help in getting to a place where I can return to work and to try to get beyond where I am at this point in my life. Aside from being treated for PTSD, I am being treated for BPD, Panic/Anxiety, Migraines, and problems with sleep. I am also receiving other types of therapy that includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy, Hypnosis, and in a Group setting with other Psychologists and Psychiatrists.

I tend to remain skeptical about EMDR given that we still know so little about how it works, especially claims that it can resolve PTSD symptoms so rapidly. There was a recent metastudy comparing EMDR to other trauma treatments which found that EMDR is about as effective as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy in treating PTSD (Psychological treatments for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. Systematic review and meta-analysis. Bisson JI, Ehlers A, Matthews R, Pilling S, Richards D, & Turner S. British Journal of Psychiatry, Feb. 2007: 97-104). A previous metastudy has yielded the same result (Seidler GH & Wagner FE. Comparing the efficacy of EMDR and trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of PTSD: a meta-analytic study. Psychological Medicine, 2006 Nov;36(11):1515-22). I’d include actual links if I knew more HTML.

Poetman does give an accurate account, in my experience, of what it is like to incorporate EMDR in the process of healing from PTSD. Childhood trauma, as Doc John sites, does present a more complicated therapeutic process. Finding a therapist who has formal training with EMDR is imperative as the experience is comparative to lancing a festering wound. There are safeguards put in place and used throughout the process. The therapists keen assessment of the client throughout the process provides boundaries as to how far to push during any given session.

I think it is very important for the client to understand that EMDR does, initially, intensify all the old hurts. But, this allows for the processing of those old injuries that were tucked away and not dealt with. In a safer environment, such as the therapists office, and with their guidance and counceling, the old hurts can finally be processed and laid to rest - or at least allow the intensity of pain associated with those hurts to be decreased. It doesn’t make you forget, EMDR helps to put those feelings and memories in a better place.

Yes, EMDR is exhausting and I find it to be very painful and raw when dealing with those childhood traumas. In fact, the mere mention of “are you up to some EMDR?” can make me dissociate. Nightmares, headaches, flashbacks, dissociation - Poetman gives a good assessment of the after affects. But, over all, I do find it to help.
It’s better than continuing to carry around all of this pain.

I’ll admit I’m fairly sceptical about EMDR. I’m an awful lot more sceptical of NLP, however, since most of its major claims have been falsified (check out the skeptics dictionary available online).

Placebo can be really very effective. Freud found that placing his hand on his female clients foreheads and insisting that they remembered their childhood trauma similarly got them getting into the carthartic thing. Is EMDR similarly effective to other such techniques? Don’t get me wrong, placebo can be very effective indeed (people had wonderful results with magnets and hypnotism) but placebo it was. I’m not sure what I think about EMDR…

6 month follow up isn’t really long term…

I’ve had my share of experiences with psychotherapists and different types of “therapies”, like EMDR. I know people are looking for hope, but EMDR is false hope. Please do your homework on these types of therapies before paying money or asking your insurance to. A good place to start would be mentalhealthwatch.org. Good Luck!

I don’t know if EMDR works or not. The successes claimed may be happening because of suggestibility present in the subject.

Hyper-suggestibility occurred in victims of Jumping Frenchmen of Maine disorder. Although that does not seem to have a connection to this discussion, operant conditioning has been posited as the cause of the 1880’s episode and therefore suggestibility. Similar startle-matching behaviors still happen around the world as Culture Bound Syndromes.

PTSD is posited in the DSM as an outcome of remembered trauma. But there is no proof that this is true.

It may be that the same exposure that caused JFMMD is actually at the bottom of the believed “trauma induced” PTSD.

The vivid episodes of PTSD could be the brain’s response to “panic attack” like episodes caused by Subliminal Distraction exposure.

Simply creating a “cure scenario” with placebo treatment might be the source of EMDR’s success.

Facts are facts. Shapiro, the so-called inventor of EMDR received a PhD from an unaccredited school, so its essentially worthless. There is not a single controlled study accepted by the medical community that EMDR has any benefit whatsoever. If you still want to beleive it is a legitimate treatment despite the truth, then I wonder just how far out of touch you are with reality.
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/mentserv.html#EMDR

My husband has gone to an exhaustive number of cognitive behavioural counselling sessions for his PTSD. My husband did not improve and actually got a bit worse.

With our marriage on the brink of destruction, I asked him to try EMDR with a different therapist. I read about EMDR and was intrigued. I have seen more change in him from the EMDR sessions he has gone to, than anything else. He also reports feeling 100% better.

After seeing the results in my husband, I have actually gone myself for EMDR, to treat my panic attacks caused by my husband’s affairs (stemming from his childhood PTSD). I am feeling much better. The memories are still there, but not nearly as painful as they were. I can actually function now.

I am not a scientist, a skeptic, or a hopeful looking for a miracle. But I can say that as a patient, EMDR is helping us.

Samuel

You say that the “body of research is growing.” Can you please provide me with links to an independently funded study addressing EMDR’s effectiveness when compared to other treatment modalities and placebo? How about some studies that show that the Eye Movement portion works as intended (e.g. EMDR w/ and without Eye movements)? Please, have these studies be published in reputable journals and with significant treatment sizes. I’ve read the “case studies” on EMDR and they are just that - case studies.

My sense is that the CBT portion of EMDR and suggestibility of the treatment milieu are the most important here. I also suspect that, there is very little to no difference when comparing EMDR to other treatment modalities. Comparing them to a control group (untreated) is pointless.

I am a recipient of EMDR and I am amazed at how quickly it gets me in touch with the gut pain of the trauma, but just as quickly leads to resolution in the session. It doesn’t remove the memories of my childhood abuse, but it removes the ongoing anxiety, fear, paralysis that I feel as an adult. That pain belongs to the young child, and I experience it as such in the emdr, so that I no longer have to be haunted by it as an adult. It really does work!!

I too have been undergoing EMDR and I have to say after YEARS of working with the typical treatments and practices that are out there I have seen a dramatic reduction in my PTSD from on the job experiences. It really does work!