Virtual EMDR Therapy??? Anyone had this?

[Buck52]

 My VA Therapist used this treatment on me on my last session and said we will start it next week?

Any one use the Virtual  EMDR Therapy to help with PTSD? Anxiety, Depression, Guilt? ect,,,ect,,,,

Virtual EMDR is online therapy based on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

 What was your reaction to it?..Did It help you?

She took her finger/hand and waved it across back and forth in front of me as I watch her hand with my eyes  never moving my head   she did this for about a minute or two( seems like longer) we did this 4 times

each time she stopped  she ask me just what was I thinking at the end  and ask me on a scale from 1 -10 my anxiety level???

I am confused as to what to say?  this is all new to me  my answer was '' I am sorry but I a confused or I really do not understand this? she said what was you thinking when I stopped my hand  and what was your anxiety level...I was confused  but told the truth my anxiety level was high.

Not sure just how this helps?  I will ask her that next session.

But if any of you have used this therapy method did it help you ?(explain) please

Thanks

Buck

[Sparrow]

Hi Buck, I didn't read the replies to your question so I apologize if you already got your answer. Basically there is a protocol to EMDR which should have been explained to you. I hope you were taught grounding techniques in case you need to sooth/calm yourself. Basically EMDR is based off of rapid eye movement, like when you are in REM sleep. Your eyes move back and forth as your brain processes the days events. By your therapist moving her fingers back and forth and wanting you to follow with your eyes this activates the brain to reprocess memory. Before you even start processing the event, there should be an instillation of a safe calm place. Then It's supposed to start with an event you want to process. You think of the event, and the image that comes to mind with that event, then you'll be asked to notice the physical sensations in your body so you can identify what you are feeling. Then you are supposed to identify the negative cognition (lie) you believe about yourself today because of the past event, and what would you like to believe instead. Then you go into eye movements. Your therapist will watch you for any sign for change in your facial expression or emotion coming up in you then stop the passes and ask "What do you notice" or "What's coming up for you?", the reason is because anything can come up, like a memory, feeling, thought, or even nothing, it can be anything. There is no wrong way to do it. Just allow yourself to free flow and whatever comes up comes up. Then you say whatever it is that came up for you, and you continue with the eye movements. This pattern continues until you've made it down a "channel" and have found the root of that lie. Then because the brain wants to heal itself, it will remind of you events that actually tell the truth of who you are. And this is how the trauma is reprocessed  from negative cognition to positive cognition. Once you get the positive cognition it is installed at a slow pace of eye movements to set it in. It's freaken amazing how it works! However, you'll need to do EMDR for each of your trauma events to get the full effect. Hope this helps explain it better. I use EMDR with my first responder clients and it has made such difference. I've also had EMDR done on myself for my trauma and I can tell you personally its been a life saver. It's been a while since you made your post, I'd be interested in hearing about your experience with EMDR. If by chance you did not continue with it, I'd like to hear about that as well. Take care!

Carol