Applying EMDR to TMS healing

For the past several months, I have been following a regular EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) routine to attempt to heal any childhood trauma and repressed emotions as a result of it.

First of all, it works. I don't have a lot of experience with trauma therapy, besides reading about it, but it definitely provides a Cathartic release as powerful as an intense journaling session. It also helps that the EMDR tool I am using gives a structured set of questions you write responses to before every session (so its almost like a journaling-lite session, depending how much I write).

But, the days I choose to do the EMDR protocol are days that I am 100% not journaling in the traditional sense (too tired or lazy). So, I consider it as a separate activity in my healing routine, rather than a substitute for normal journaling.

Onto the good part - the results:

• I have uncovered several critical formative experiences of my past, which I had completely blocked out of my memory (some related to sexual trauma which helps explain my pelvic floor pain)

• Through the EMDR process, I have gained a practical, hands-on understanding of repression and how my Subconscious is simply trying to protect me by hiding certain thoughts until I am safe and ready to be with them. This is different than my experience with journaling, which for me, can be so action-packed and emotional as I "pour out" my emotional vat that I can't really take a step back and understand what's going on. With EMDR, during the actual bilateral stimulation phase - I am not actively writing or moving so it's easier to take a step back and notice what's happening psychologically. This has helped me "buy in" to Sarno's original thesis more (I already bought in, but the more proof the better) consequently fear pain less, etc. all the good stuff from the normal education process.

• Take it with a grain of salt but my "emotional distress" has consistently decreased from an 8+/10 to less than 3/10 after every session.

• The conscious focusing on a "Target" emotion or experience has given me a better understanding of my personality and biases that I have not received from traditional meditation (where I am trying to keep my mind empty) or journaling work. The structure of the EMDR program helps here I think, as it encourages me to keep fixating on my Target emotion / experience for the entire 10-20 min session, as opposed to journaling where I might be tempted to jump to the next A, B, or C emotion and so on. It really gets all the juice out of the squeeze.

Has it made a noticeable effect on my pain symptoms? It's hard to say, as I have already succeeded in healing my pelvic pain to at least an 80% return to normalcy. I do believe that I can heal 100% though, which is why I am reaching for further healing modalities like EMDR and maybe even real therapy if I can reach a point of financial stability and have the balls to do so

One key callout is my TMS seems to be "moving around again"... with increased bruxism at night and during the day. So maybe I have it on the run again. I hope one day we can just happily jog together.

See my full experience here: https://www.mindbodyfactor.com/p/the-lazy-mans-guide-to-uncovering (The Lazy Man’s Guide to Uncovering Repressed Emotions)

 

Thank you for sharing your experience with EMDR. This is really interesting.

 

EMDR was infinitely helpful to helping overcome many subconcious issues (many which happily remain subconcious… it gave me awareness and helped file those experiences as “past” in my mind). It did not cure or treat my physical pain but helped end my suffering).
I utilize the skills learned and the science behind the alternation of left and right (for myself the visual alternation does not work as well as physical sensation of alternation) to continue to work through new insights but also to deal with unravelling the old patterns of the physical pain in a unique and creative way. I believe that it can really assist in people who identify as or have presented as what is currently labeled as a “neuro divergent” person too.
The method can be used with people who are less verbally motivated, don’t like therapy much (or can’t relate to traditional methods) and I think it could have great use in people few language skills or who are not verbal communicators.