A former client of mine describes her EMDR trauma therapy experience

Doing as much trauma therapy as I do with EMDR, I have gotten pretty used to explaining what it is, how it works, and what a session looks like. I even have a number of blog entries on that. But perhaps the most powerful opinion is that of an EMDR client healing from trauma. In this statement, transcribed from a recording, a client describes how EMDR is different from her other experiences of therapy:

"I’ve done cognitive therapy and all that, on and off since I was nine, for years. Trying to explain to my family how EMDR is so different…It’s like night and day, it really is.

"I’m healing in here with EMDR, instead of covering up a festering wound, trying to not make me feel it or see it—and then doping me up with a thousand and one medications to cover up all the different things I’m feeling from all the stuff we were trying to cover up and shove down, and 'unfeel.'

"Now when I think about the stuff, you know, things from the past that we’ve worked on, I feel like, yeah, it sucks it happened, but it’s done, it’s over, and it doesn’t control me anymore, which is an amazing, freeing feeling. And it gives me so much hope."

What a powerful statement! If you are suffering from the effects of abuse or any other kind of trauma, please reach out to an EMDR therapist and start your own journey. If you need online therapy due to schedule, or you have found this site and aren't nearby, go to www.emdr.com, and if you can't find someone there, go to www.emdria.org. These are websites that only list therapists with an internationally approved EMDR training or certification. Many therapists claiming to have an EMDR training went through organizations that are not approved (for a reason!), which perhaps offer an easy, cheap training.

Note:

Client opinions are powerful and their use is regulated. In line with AAMFT ethical guidelines, this client opinion is given with permission, for informational purposes, and not to advertise my services or predict success for potential clients.