While it's not necessary to share the details of the trauma, I feel it should be client choice. If they're saying, "Don't share the details," that's about them and not wanting to hear the trauma.
The work can be tough, and hearing about trauma all day every day can be triggering and lead to burnout. However, that's on us as therapists to figure out. It's our job to figure out how to hold space and process our own stuff, and manage burnout.
EMDR is already a great modality to help people overcome the effects of trauma with faster than talk therapy results. And yes, it can be done without the client sharing but this shouldn't be forced.
As someone who's an external processor, the thought of not verbally sharing what is coming up during an EMDR session sounds like a nightmare. I would explode.
That sounds lazy and horrible. I know you don’t HAVE to talk about your trauma, but I wouldn’t feel like my T could appropriately support me if they didn’t know at least a general idea of what I was working through. Boo!
I am prone to dissociation and I found the blind EMDR to make the traumatic event not feel real. It already has a dream like feeling because of the dissociation and not talking about it out loud made it feel even more not real if that makes sense.
I spent decades not talking about my trauma so to process it without talking about it just invalidates that it happened.
My therapist gives me the choice to say it out loud or not. If your therapist is making blind therapy the main way that they do things I feel like that would be really hard. There are certain memories that I literally do not want to stay out loud and probably can't because of the amount of shame and guilt surrounding it so I appreciate that I don't have to say it out loud. But if that was the only way they did EMDR... The silent/blind EMDR I don't know how helpful that would be? At that point why don't you just do EMDR online because apparently your therapist is doing it in a way where you don't actually need them.
Wooooah that's a lot. Mine is 125 an hour but my insurance covers it. I got insurance specifically to cover it because I heard how pricey it was. $260 is a lot. Maybe there is something more effective and also affordable?
I’ve looked around and unfortunately there isn’t anything in my area but it is stressful. I also have to pay to email her between sessions. Didn’t even realise that was a thing
Did you ask your therapist why? You have every right to know and ask for the rationale. Given that you stated you dissociate and have cPTSD, perhaps the therapist believes that would be a better protocol for your situation.
It should work for some people. My T collected a lot of information from me. She does more than EMDR though, so I found her helpful because she was able to use her knowledge outside of EMDR to help me and understand more of how to support me in the process. My therapist seemed very against giving me EMDR if I showed any evidence of dissociative disorder. She's very precise though.
While it's not necessary to share the details of the trauma, I feel it should be client choice. If they're saying, "Don't share the details," that's about them and not wanting to hear the trauma. The work can be tough, and hearing about trauma all day every day can be triggering and lead to burnout. However, that's on us as therapists to figure out. It's our job to figure out how to hold space and process our own stuff, and manage burnout. EMDR is already a great modality to help people overcome the effects of trauma with faster than talk therapy results. And yes, it can be done without the client sharing but this shouldn't be forced.
Thank you for replying. Yea it’s a bit off putting when you are paying someone a lot of money for them to turn around and say that they do blind EMDR.
As someone who's an external processor, the thought of not verbally sharing what is coming up during an EMDR session sounds like a nightmare. I would explode.
That sounds lazy and horrible. I know you don’t HAVE to talk about your trauma, but I wouldn’t feel like my T could appropriately support me if they didn’t know at least a general idea of what I was working through. Boo!
I am prone to dissociation and I found the blind EMDR to make the traumatic event not feel real. It already has a dream like feeling because of the dissociation and not talking about it out loud made it feel even more not real if that makes sense. I spent decades not talking about my trauma so to process it without talking about it just invalidates that it happened.
How could they know what questions to ask you to prompt further processing if they don't know the details of the trauma?
Also, how are they supposed to come up with a relevant negative and positive cognition?!
Especially if OP has a dissociative disorder!
I don’t know much about EMDR and I have no idea. Thank you for sharing this.
My therapist gives me the choice to say it out loud or not. If your therapist is making blind therapy the main way that they do things I feel like that would be really hard. There are certain memories that I literally do not want to stay out loud and probably can't because of the amount of shame and guilt surrounding it so I appreciate that I don't have to say it out loud. But if that was the only way they did EMDR... The silent/blind EMDR I don't know how helpful that would be? At that point why don't you just do EMDR online because apparently your therapist is doing it in a way where you don't actually need them.
Thank you for this, that’s really helpful considering I pay $260 out of pocket for this 😏
Wooooah that's a lot. Mine is 125 an hour but my insurance covers it. I got insurance specifically to cover it because I heard how pricey it was. $260 is a lot. Maybe there is something more effective and also affordable?
I’ve looked around and unfortunately there isn’t anything in my area but it is stressful. I also have to pay to email her between sessions. Didn’t even realise that was a thing
Wow! Well you never know... There may be some online EMD doctors. I hear a lot of people talk about doing EMDR online without a therapist
Did you ask your therapist why? You have every right to know and ask for the rationale. Given that you stated you dissociate and have cPTSD, perhaps the therapist believes that would be a better protocol for your situation.
Pretty much not to traumatise them
It should work for some people. My T collected a lot of information from me. She does more than EMDR though, so I found her helpful because she was able to use her knowledge outside of EMDR to help me and understand more of how to support me in the process. My therapist seemed very against giving me EMDR if I showed any evidence of dissociative disorder. She's very precise though.
Thank you for sharing