My therapist is suggesting that I try EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy. She is brand new at it and seems to want new people to try it on. I am currently undergoing Cognitive Behavioral therapy. It has been helpful so far. EMDR is usually used on people who have PTSD. I do not have any history of PTSD. This makes me a good candidate in her estimation because I cannot really have flashbacks. The worst thing that can happen to me is that it doesn't work. I am skeptical of EMDR. No one has a satisfactory theory on why bilateral simulation helps people recover from trauma better than just talking it over. My mother said she went through it and it helped her. She did not say what her trauma involved. (I did not ask.) Has anyone gone through EMDR? If so, how did it help or not help?
I did! It won't make the memories go away completely or anything, but I went through it when I was having a bad period of being unable to stop ruminating on a particular shitty incident, and it helped me clear my head enough to put the memories away and function properly. It probably helped that the stimulation my counsellor used was a little light going in figure-eights and I was cheered up because it reminded me of my ferrets. My sister's also had it done regarding a one-shot traumatic incident and I don't know how much it helped in comparison with other methods but she went back to it multiple times so I presume it did help.
IIRC, the current theory as to why EMDR works better isn't really tied to bilateral stimulation, but is more like "reprocessing trauma while working memory is involved helps the brain discard the emotional part of the memories, since the way memory works is that you remember the last time you remembered something". That would, IMO, mean it doesn't exactly sound very useful for non-PTSD things.
