EMDR for treatment of PTSD? Also Bipolar - Bipolar Disorder Message Board

vixation · 01-27-2004, 05:24 PM

[FONT=Garamond]

Hi folks,

After years of living a very drama-filled and traumatic life with early abuse; 4 marriages, some very traumatic scenarios (witnessing the suicide of my 2nd husband in 1981....never received any kind of counseling)...very idiotic decisions on my part through the years...I could go on and on about the drama. At age of 50 and after much suffering, I sought the help of a psychiatrist, who in September '03 diagnosed me with biopolar disorder and referred me to a therapist, who has also made me realize that I suffer from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)I realize that all the pain and abuse I suffered in my 20s is still rolling around in the brain and hasn't been dealt with. The therapist has suggested I be treated with EMDR Has anyone ever heard of this? It stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. I am reading a book on it which describes it as The Breakthrough for overcoming anxiety, stress, and trauma. My therapist has experience in this technique and states it will help me to overcome much of the trauma that still lives on inside of me, making me more proned to depression and panic that builds up.
This psychiatrist first in Sept '03 placed me on Abilify, which made me very jittery and couldn't stay seated...then tried it with Wellbutrin, which made me so lethargic,weak and hurting muscles...switched to Depakote, which was a diaster, which put me right back into a very low state. I had such a low this past week after stopping Depakote cold turkey...sunk into a low that I cannot even describe well...the fear and night terrors were horrible...guess I just needed the right med...the fearful night terrors were HORRIBLE. Just saw my psychiatrist on an emergent basis yesterday (Mon 1/26) who gave me lots of samples of Zyprexa (read it causes weight gain, which I cannot afford to have...)and saved my life my starting me immediately on Xanax 0.5 mg three times a day. The anxiety lifted and I feel so much better just with the Xanax, which helps me rest so well. Am working 1/2 days so that I can rest in the afternoons and "regroup" after such a horrible week last week.
I guess I just needed to vent....didn't mean to write a novel here. I mainly wanted to know if anyone had heard of the above EMDR therapy which is so helpful in freeing people from destructive memories, and that it has a very high success rate. Anyone heard of it???

Vixation

Lieph · 01-28-2004, 11:02 AM

EMDR sounds like a fancy word for hypnosis. You know the kind where they swing a pendulum in front of your eyes and ask you to recall the times you were abused, to let all that hidden pain out. I believe this is how they treat people with disociative multiple personality disorder. Also works on rape victims and basically anyone who suffered some form of abuse and the pain was too much for human coping skills, so it is locked away in the persons head and little memory of the events can be consciously recalled, so they need a way to "hack" into your subconscious mind, where all the pain is stored. I've heard it's extremly hard on the person and might cause them to go into deep disociation or panic.

BUT im not the professional and never had to go through this kind of threatment, so I might be completly off.