I was sexually assaulted as a child.
For years I acted out. I had a difficult time worrking through the PTSD because I did not remember.
When I was 30 I was desperate. I went to a psych who specialized in EMDR.
I made sure she felt I was a good candidate for it.
I worked w it for abt 6 months, biweekly. We did not do the process itself every session. We would do a session and it would unfold... On it's iwnvtimeframe.
Before EMDR I suffered from severe constant panic disorder. It sprung up for me overnight in my late 20s. Don't know the trigger.
I had horrible sexual flashbacks, I was moody and occassionally suicidal.
After two sessions my panic disappeared. After 4 I stopped having serious mood swings.
From my perspective, I had made recollections of things that a part of me always knew. The emdr integrated the buried unconscious material that was driving my trigger life into my conscious everyday life. I cannot explain this. The revelation of the new "old" information was not jarring or overwhelming then. It just was like someone turned on the light and I could see what was in the dark room.
A very positive side effect of the EMDR work for me;
whenvi reactivsted, or re acknowledged or unstuvk the repressed memories that were causing md to act out through daily aversion, I also came into contact with some ling lost positive pieces of my past. It was incredibly joyful to have good memories, because I had framed everything as terrible, but it was all jumbled in with the stuck trauma.
It is a process of unraveling. I did not feel overwhelmed at that time.
Now, in 2007, I went to a local EMDR specialist in my city. I wanted to specifically look at the traumas that are at the core of my codependency, self destruction around feeling unable to leave my A who was very very abusive then.
We started doing the work, but at that time, the issues overwhelmed me. After 2 sessions I told the doc I needed more time. I had begun to feel more than a little unsteadied by the work.
I don't know if I just gauged it that way because now, being a mother, I feel like I need to stay grounded, or what.
I recommend EMDR.
The person should be in goof hands.
I suggest a facilitator with proven experience.
There will be movement.
Good luck