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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 12 of 12. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by purplelovinrn on December 16, 2004, at 1:24:20
Hi everyone,
I'm so glad I found this board!! This is a quick background on myself:
I've been in therapy for over a year now. I have many issues to deal with: sexual abuse by half brother, eating disorder, abusive first husband, both parents died from cancer.....it has been rough. I always thought I could handle it all, I pushed everything down...and then last year I went into a major melt down. Horrible anxiety and depression. Right now I'm on Lexapro and Ativan
I have a wonderful therapist that I see once a week. We do a lot of EMDR work.
I just thought I would be better by now. Some days it feels like the depression and anxiety is never going to end.
I'm curious how long people on this board have been in therapy. Do you use EMDR? If so, does it work for you? EMDR for me is so emotional and difficult, and I'm really fighting it right now. I would like to know your experience with EMDR, or any other tx you might be going through.
Hugs, Purple
Posted by pegasus on December 16, 2004, at 10:52:44
In reply to New to board...and therapy questions, posted by purplelovinrn on December 16, 2004, at 1:24:20
Hi Purple, and welcome.
It's so hard to say how long therapy *should* take, because there is no real time frame that works for most people. Some people get a lot of help in 6 sessions, and some people are in for years. Personally, I've been in therapy for around 3 years, and I have no plans to quit. It took me at least a year to get to a point where most of my sessions were productive. I spent a lot of time being anxious and silent in that first year. I think I'll have things to work on for the rest of my life. So for me, therapy is just a matter of whether I currently have the resources, not whether I'm *done*.
I recently had a discussion with a very experienced therapist who has herself been through a lot of analysis and therapy. She said that she owns a mansion . . . inside herself (externally she lives in a little condo). Her therapeutic work has been a financial and otherwise sacrifice for her, but it's her most precious accomplishment. I thought that was a great way of looking at it.
I haven't ever used EMDR, although I think it sounds really interesting. Some people here have had great success with it, and some seem to have not gotten as much out of it.
Good luck
pegasus
Posted by dawnfawn on December 16, 2004, at 10:54:59
In reply to New to board...and therapy questions, posted by purplelovinrn on December 16, 2004, at 1:24:20
What is EDMR?
Posted by vwoolf on December 16, 2004, at 13:23:54
In reply to New to board...and therapy questions, posted by purplelovinrn on December 16, 2004, at 1:24:20
Hi Purple, welcome to Babble. I've been in therapy for about a year and a half now, and I am sure I am still going to be there a lot longer - perhaps, like Pegasus, for the rest of my life. There just seems to be so much to work on. A lot hinges around childhood stuff, from issues of abandonment and csa, to adolescent problems, and through to everyday business, marital and parenting stuff. I have battled with therapy a lot, and still do, but in spite of that, I wish I had had a place like this in my life a long time ago. It is opening me up to be myself, and most importantly to me, unblocking my creativity. I will keep it up as long as I can afford it. I see my T three times a week for straight talk therapy. She has occasionally suggested I might at some point like to see a couple's therapist, or sex therapist or EMDR therapist, but for the moment it's just us.
A warm hug.VW
Posted by toomuchpain on December 16, 2004, at 13:59:33
In reply to New to board...and therapy questions, posted by purplelovinrn on December 16, 2004, at 1:24:20
well i have been in therpy for almost 5 years now for anixiety and depression and i have ups and down the only med i am on is ativan cus of my pregancy ...
Posted by littleone on December 16, 2004, at 14:37:17
In reply to Re: New to board...and therapy questions » purplelovinrn, posted by pegasus on December 16, 2004, at 10:52:44
> I recently had a discussion with a very experienced therapist who has herself been through a lot of analysis and therapy. She said that she owns a mansion . . . inside herself (externally she lives in a little condo). Her therapeutic work has been a financial and otherwise sacrifice for her, but it's her most precious accomplishment. I thought that was a great way of looking at it.
pegasus,
Thanks so much for sharing this. Money (or rather lack there of) is a problem for me at the moment and thinking of this helps a lot. Thanks.
Posted by Shortelise on December 18, 2004, at 5:09:33
In reply to New to board...and therapy questions, posted by purplelovinrn on December 16, 2004, at 1:24:20
It's a method of using movements to the eye, sometimes coordinated with movement os the body, to reprogram the mind. I've had a few sessions, didn't trust the guy who was doing it - this was ten years ago, and the guy I saw was a bit of a charlatan, so my experience is not worth comparison.
However, I do have two friends who are professionals who practice EMDR with their clients and both find it's extremely useful for some.
I hope someone else will define EMDR better than I have for you. Not purple, but whoever it was who asked.
And Purple, as for how long it takes to get better, well, that depends on a lot of things. It's like asking how long it will take to get there when you don't know just where it is you're going.
It has taken me about six years to get grounded, to understand where most of the anxiety and depression were coming from. I feel much much much better. I'm still decidedly human (dagnabbit - we're not allowed any curses so read that as something far more colourful) but such a better one than I used to be.
ShortE
Posted by purplelovinrn on December 19, 2004, at 1:39:09
In reply to What is EMDR » purplelovinrn, posted by Shortelise on December 18, 2004, at 5:09:33
Hi everyone: RE EMDR: My therapist puts headphones on me that make alternating clicking noises, and I also hold a clicker in each hand that makes alternating tapping noises. Sometimes we know which problem/issue I need to work on. Other times, I close my eyes and see what comes up. At times it is very emotional and difficult. You work on the problem, and if it is still unresolved, I put that "picture" in my mind into a box. Afterwards, I go to a safe place to come out of the EMDR state.
Here is an explanation of EMDR from the internet:
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Simply by providing side-to-side sensations to a person while discussing traumatic events in a specific therapeutic fashion can work wonders in allowing the person to heal himself or herself.When a patient and a therapist do EMDR, the therapist asks the patient to bring to mind the incident the patient wants to work on, the negative thinking caused by the incident, and the new thoughts the patient wants to have. Then the therapist moves her or his fingers rapidly back and forth in front of the patient. The patient follows the fingers with his or her eyes. After a number of sets of movements, patients generally think and feel quite differently about the incident, similar incidents, and themselves. Healing has started.
As I noted above, you don't need eye movements. Taps to hands, right and left, sounds alternating ear-to-ear, and even alternating movements by the patient can work instead. The key seems to be the alternating stimulation of the two sides of the brain.
Now, I have a couple of theories as to how and why EMDR might work. Dr. Shapiro postulates networks of memories and cognitions; negative ones surrounding the unprocessed hurts and positive ones surrounding the state of acceptance and wisdom we would like to achieve. EMDR, she believes (and I agree with her) links the two, so that the insight we have in our heads can heal the hurt in our heart. So, how does this occur?
First of all, consider work done on the different ways that the two halves of our brains look at the world: the left side of the brain (controlling the right side of our bodies) is more positive in outlook, more analytical, looking ahead. Call it your pilot personality.
The right side of the brain tends to a more morose outlook, more holistic, scanning the world for threats. Call it your tail gunner. I suspect that the alternate-side stimulation occurring in EMDR might be simultaneously stimulating positive networks in the left brain while invoking negative networks in the right brain.
Normal memory is literally re-membered: it is re-assembled from stored clues or instructions which rely on contextual cues to fill in details. A traumatic "memory", however, is stored very differently. Better to call it a "reverie", because all the sights and sounds and sensations of the original moment are stored as if freshly experienced (many of us suspect that is because they are constantly re-experienced).
When we dream, we have the opportunity to put the reverie into perspective, let it go, and store only the instructions for normal memory. On the other hand, when a reverie is too intense, the sleeper wakes, and the dream remains unfinished. No perspective. No putting-away. No memory, just continuing reveries.
While we dream, our eyes move (in what are called Rapid Eye Movements, or REMs). I suspect this may be due to alternating influences from the right and left halves of the brain. Even if that is not what happens, the eyes still move.
EMDR may come close enough to imitating those eye movements that the work of dreams can be done while the patient is awake. Since the patient is already awake, the dream does not have to end. It can continue while the patient holds onto the her-and-now, and the work of the dream may be finished. Memory is left where once there was only reverie.
Now the sleeper may sleep, and not be frightened from sleep by horrid nightmares. Healing has happened.
I hope this helps! Lisa
Posted by dawnfawn on December 22, 2004, at 9:32:21
In reply to What is EMDR » purplelovinrn, posted by Shortelise on December 18, 2004, at 5:09:33
There is a medical quack site that refers to EDMR as one of the more absurd methodologies around. http://www.quackwatch.org/ Life is hard enough. Thanks for everyone's comments.
Posted by Larry Hoover on December 25, 2004, at 23:19:23
In reply to Re: What is EMDR, posted by dawnfawn on December 22, 2004, at 9:32:21
> There is a medical quack site that refers to EDMR as one of the more absurd methodologies around. http://www.quackwatch.org/ Life is hard enough. Thanks for everyone's comments.
Quackwatch doesn't always just present evidence. It has its own biases and distortions.
I can't tell you whether EMDR is absurd or not, but I can tell you that it was the most effective therapy, and swiftest therapy, this man has ever experienced. I wish I had a video tape of my most cathartic session. I really do. I think I could learn more about what was inside me just be watching what came out.
Lar
Posted by antigua on December 26, 2004, at 10:33:40
In reply to Re: What is EMDR » dawnfawn, posted by Larry Hoover on December 25, 2004, at 23:19:23
Thank you, Larry. I've also found EMDR to be a good adjunct to my talk therapy.
antigua
Posted by Elroy on February 11, 2005, at 16:40:47
In reply to Re: What is EMDR » dawnfawn, posted by Larry Hoover on December 25, 2004, at 23:19:23
Amen to the posting about QuackWatch. Yes, it does present some valuable information about therapies that are clearly "quack medicine"... but then goes on to paint everything that is not conventional medicine with the same brush. According to Dr. Bennett (QuackWatch - he operates it out of his basement apparently), chiropractic is completely ineffective. As is just about every form of herbalism. And accupuncture. Etc., etc. BTW, if I recall correctly, Dr. Bennett is a retired psychiatrist.
See: http://www.worldchiropracticalliance.org/tcj/2002/feb/feb2002e.htm
Lar, I take it that you had positive effects from EMDR therapy. Is it still continuing? I am to start that therapy next month with a separate therapist. My psych doc currently has me on low-dose Xanax XR and is looking for a mild AD (she is considering Provigil and I am pushing towards low-dose deprenyl with DPLA)... but would prefer to get the underlying issues dealt with a return to my former self!
Elroy
> > There is a medical quack site that refers to EDMR as one of the more absurd methodologies around. http://www.quackwatch.org/ Life is hard enough. Thanks for everyone's comments.
>
> Quackwatch doesn't always just present evidence. It has its own biases and distortions.
>
> I can't tell you whether EMDR is absurd or not, but I can tell you that it was the most effective therapy, and swiftest therapy, this man has ever experienced. I wish I had a video tape of my most cathartic session. I really do. I think I could learn more about what was inside me just be watching what came out.
>
> Lar
>
>
This is the end of the thread.
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