Emdr/dnms
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 689
Emdr/dnms
Hi,
A few of you asked about my experience with EMDR annd DNMS. I'll share what I can and hope it makes sense. Again, this is only my experience.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Some mouthful huh? It's aimed at reducing the impact of early painful events and trauma. It's why it's used a lot with PTSD, but is equally effective with childhood wounding and trauma. If you want detailed information you can check out www.emdr.com -- as it says there, EMDR "integrates elements of many effective psychotherapies and protocols including psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, experiential, and body-centered therapies."
The distinctive aspect of EMDR is focusing on a painful event or negative thought while simultaneously experiencing a left-right body sensation. This was originally done when EMDR was first developed by the client's eyes moving left and right following the therapist's fingers. But now, battery-operated tappers are often used and this is what I use in my sessions.
Ater identifying the painful event, feeling or negative thought we're going to work on, I hold one of these in my left hand, and one in my right, and there's a tactile 'buzzing' sensation that goes first from the left to the right and back. My eyes are closed and my therapist simply asks me to notice anything I feel, think, notice, etc. Neither of us is talking. For a while then I'll sit there, as things go through me, noticing. Then after several minutes, she'll stop the tappers and ask me to share what I've noticed or felt. Then this repeats several more times.
At the beginning of the time, she sometimes asks me to rank with a number the severity of the painful or negative feeling, memory or thought. I'm asked again at the end, and often it's less -- and definitely less over time. There's a lot more explanation of this on the site.
Here's an example of a recent session, one that doesn't have anything to do with childhood events, but difficulties today. I've been dealing a lot with fear recently, and its control over my choices regarding work and my view of my partner's work, and its impact on my emotional state and dynamics.
After some time of talking about the issue, my therapist asked me if I'd like to do some EMDR on this, handed me the tappers, and asked me to imagine my fear as a liquid. Then she asked me to give it a colour. Then she asked me to dive into it.
I seized up. I couldn't. I felt incredibly anxious, and actually began to feel a mini-anxiety attack coming on. It was so real. I felt like I was at the edge of a cliff and I simply couldn't move. I wanted to run back. I wanted to disappear.
I won't go through all the details of the session, but by the end of it, I had arrived at this image of riding through the puddle of my fear on a bike with my feet stretched out like a kid, feeling I could at least do that. We're now working on a more 'adult' like image but I've kept that bike one with me when I am aware of my fear over the past week or so. This was a bit less typical of many of the other EMDR sessions as she doesn't usually guide it as much. But it was really helpful in looking at and moving towards realligning my fear.
I don't know how this mind/body connection works -- but it's been remarkable at the kinds of things it brings up and gets me in touch with, and helps me process and manage. It's been far more effective than any insight or talk therapy that I've done in the past to getting me really in touch with the core feelings and issues. I've always been extremely analytical and have, to tell the truth, been able to 'fool' therapists in the past. Not that I fooled anyone but myself -- but I've always been very articulate and even going back to my time as a teenager, gave the impression that I had a good understanding of all the issues and relational dynamics around me and I'd be able to speak to all that and dissect it all -- while I continued to be in terrible pain, cut myself, have suicidal thoughts (did try at 16), make terribly destructive decisions and have terribly destructive relationships. In past therapy, even later as a married adult, staying in my head never got me anywhere.
This approach gets me out of my head, and seems to help me override the intellectual left-brain, and integrate my thoughts and emotions. That's what's been to me the very distinct thing about this process, and although I have respect for both CBT and DBT, I don't think I'd get the benefit of this integration.
Okay as for DNMS, for me that's more of a tool in the tool box with my therapist rather than a larger overall therapy approach like EMDR, and as I understand it, grew out of EMDR.
DNMS stands for Development Needs Meeting Strategy. Again, if you want to learn more visit http://www.dnmsinstitute.com/dnms-summary.html.
DNMS works on the premise that many of our developmental needs did not get met when we were children, and we get stuck in those child ego states as a result. This accounts for a lot of our unmanagable or destructive emotions, behavior and beliefs that are born out of that stuck child state. DNMS is a technique to get us 'unstuck' by 'installing' three different adult ego states: a Nurturing Adult Self, a Protective Adult Self, and a Spiritual Core Self. Each of these selves has a number of characteristics and traits which is 'installed' through an oral protocal, calling up times you have felt the characteristics, visualization and use of the tappers.
Once these are 'installed', you are then asked to invite your child nto the Circle of Resources. I have an image for each of these adults selves (and they're a little embarrassing, they're so kind of child-like) and I have called on them in my mind in times of stress or crisis.
It all sounds a little goofy as I've explained it -- but the result as I see it is equipping me with more of an ability to parent myself. To comfort, nurture, protect, guide, etc. And, oh yeah, love myself.
That's about it for now -- if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer.
Hope this helps,
best
gf
A few of you asked about my experience with EMDR annd DNMS. I'll share what I can and hope it makes sense. Again, this is only my experience.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Some mouthful huh? It's aimed at reducing the impact of early painful events and trauma. It's why it's used a lot with PTSD, but is equally effective with childhood wounding and trauma. If you want detailed information you can check out www.emdr.com -- as it says there, EMDR "integrates elements of many effective psychotherapies and protocols including psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, experiential, and body-centered therapies."
The distinctive aspect of EMDR is focusing on a painful event or negative thought while simultaneously experiencing a left-right body sensation. This was originally done when EMDR was first developed by the client's eyes moving left and right following the therapist's fingers. But now, battery-operated tappers are often used and this is what I use in my sessions.
Ater identifying the painful event, feeling or negative thought we're going to work on, I hold one of these in my left hand, and one in my right, and there's a tactile 'buzzing' sensation that goes first from the left to the right and back. My eyes are closed and my therapist simply asks me to notice anything I feel, think, notice, etc. Neither of us is talking. For a while then I'll sit there, as things go through me, noticing. Then after several minutes, she'll stop the tappers and ask me to share what I've noticed or felt. Then this repeats several more times.
At the beginning of the time, she sometimes asks me to rank with a number the severity of the painful or negative feeling, memory or thought. I'm asked again at the end, and often it's less -- and definitely less over time. There's a lot more explanation of this on the site.
Here's an example of a recent session, one that doesn't have anything to do with childhood events, but difficulties today. I've been dealing a lot with fear recently, and its control over my choices regarding work and my view of my partner's work, and its impact on my emotional state and dynamics.
After some time of talking about the issue, my therapist asked me if I'd like to do some EMDR on this, handed me the tappers, and asked me to imagine my fear as a liquid. Then she asked me to give it a colour. Then she asked me to dive into it.
I seized up. I couldn't. I felt incredibly anxious, and actually began to feel a mini-anxiety attack coming on. It was so real. I felt like I was at the edge of a cliff and I simply couldn't move. I wanted to run back. I wanted to disappear.
I won't go through all the details of the session, but by the end of it, I had arrived at this image of riding through the puddle of my fear on a bike with my feet stretched out like a kid, feeling I could at least do that. We're now working on a more 'adult' like image but I've kept that bike one with me when I am aware of my fear over the past week or so. This was a bit less typical of many of the other EMDR sessions as she doesn't usually guide it as much. But it was really helpful in looking at and moving towards realligning my fear.
I don't know how this mind/body connection works -- but it's been remarkable at the kinds of things it brings up and gets me in touch with, and helps me process and manage. It's been far more effective than any insight or talk therapy that I've done in the past to getting me really in touch with the core feelings and issues. I've always been extremely analytical and have, to tell the truth, been able to 'fool' therapists in the past. Not that I fooled anyone but myself -- but I've always been very articulate and even going back to my time as a teenager, gave the impression that I had a good understanding of all the issues and relational dynamics around me and I'd be able to speak to all that and dissect it all -- while I continued to be in terrible pain, cut myself, have suicidal thoughts (did try at 16), make terribly destructive decisions and have terribly destructive relationships. In past therapy, even later as a married adult, staying in my head never got me anywhere.
This approach gets me out of my head, and seems to help me override the intellectual left-brain, and integrate my thoughts and emotions. That's what's been to me the very distinct thing about this process, and although I have respect for both CBT and DBT, I don't think I'd get the benefit of this integration.
Okay as for DNMS, for me that's more of a tool in the tool box with my therapist rather than a larger overall therapy approach like EMDR, and as I understand it, grew out of EMDR.
DNMS stands for Development Needs Meeting Strategy. Again, if you want to learn more visit http://www.dnmsinstitute.com/dnms-summary.html.
DNMS works on the premise that many of our developmental needs did not get met when we were children, and we get stuck in those child ego states as a result. This accounts for a lot of our unmanagable or destructive emotions, behavior and beliefs that are born out of that stuck child state. DNMS is a technique to get us 'unstuck' by 'installing' three different adult ego states: a Nurturing Adult Self, a Protective Adult Self, and a Spiritual Core Self. Each of these selves has a number of characteristics and traits which is 'installed' through an oral protocal, calling up times you have felt the characteristics, visualization and use of the tappers.
Once these are 'installed', you are then asked to invite your child nto the Circle of Resources. I have an image for each of these adults selves (and they're a little embarrassing, they're so kind of child-like) and I have called on them in my mind in times of stress or crisis.
It all sounds a little goofy as I've explained it -- but the result as I see it is equipping me with more of an ability to parent myself. To comfort, nurture, protect, guide, etc. And, oh yeah, love myself.
That's about it for now -- if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer.
Hope this helps,
best
gf
Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Starting over all over again
Posts: 4,426
Thanx for all that info GF. My initial impression just from what I've read is that the skill of the therapist would be a big factor in how useful these techniques are. They sound very interesting, I'll have to try them out.
thanx again.
Mike
thanx again.
Mike
Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Litterbox City
Posts: 5,691
thank you SO much for posting the information - i am going to read it tonight at home when i can really take my time. very interesting stuff - i had read about EMDR a few years ago ICW looking into PTSD stuff related to my husband as he was a vet.
i think mike's right on (so what's new? LOL)
like any other therapy - you need to get one that knows their stuff and works for you.
i think mike's right on (so what's new? LOL)
like any other therapy - you need to get one that knows their stuff and works for you.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 689
Originally Posted by DesertEyes
the skill of the therapist would be a big factor in how useful these techniques are.
I like to make the comparison to teachers -- they've all gone to teachers' college and have degrees next to their names, but the skill level and quality of teaching from one teacher to another varies wildly. Usually you remember only a handful, if not just one or two, who really impacted you and made a difference in your education.
best
gf
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