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hey everyone. as you might know, i'm doing EMDR right now. if you do any reading about EMDR, the first thing that usually comes up is how effective it is for trauma particularly, but also for depression, anxiety, etc. i do not have or suspect a PTSD diagnosis and do not suffer with the effects of trauma. i'm actually doing EMDR for personality disorder (OCPD) treatment. we only just started, but i have really high hopes based on how the first real session went. we focused on my belief that i cause people to leave me by not being good enough, even the cases of people moving for work/school or my dad's heart attack. this belief had been causing me a good deal of trouble recently, because a very good friend of mine just moved to another province with her boyfriend. at the end of the session, i had a crystal clear thought -- it's not my fault she left, and my actions wouldn't have made her stay. i feel far more at peace with her moving now, and no longer feel personally afflicted by it, aside from the usual feelings of missing our usual meetups. so, it might just be placebo so far, but i'm feeling encouraged that this might help untangle my other really deep-seated negative beliefs. has anyone else tried EMDR for non-trauma reasons? or, would you consider it?

Hi, I know that EMDR is typically used to treat PTSD but if you read the fine print at https://www.emdria.org/page/emdr_therapy (grr, proper hyperlinking is broken with "There was a problem loading this content.") , it's applicable for "... Panic Attacks, Dissociative Disorders, Phobias, Pain Disorders, Performance Anxiety, Stress Reduction...". And I have most of those and more. Not to mention that PTSD is probably 99% comorbid with depression. Anyway, has anyone tried EMDR for depression and/or OCD? How about those with depression who don't have "hallmark" PTSD symptoms (flashbacks, vivid nightmares etc.) ? I'm a Treatment Resistant Depression & OCD & Chronic Pain "lifer" who's tried pretty much everything (e.g. hypnotherapy, ECT, MAOI's, Ketamine...) and am basically scraping the barrel, kind of pretend-hoping that there's a treatment that will actually make a dent in my daily suffering. FTR I don't have the "hallmark" symptoms of PTSD but my depression and OCD stem from a traumatic period 23 years ago (got dumped, got severely depressed, was literally terrified I was going to kill myself) that has destroyed every day of my life since. The only things that have helped me somewhat to date are MAOI's with stimulants and ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention therapy https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/ocd-treatment/erp/). Any tips/accounts/info would be warmly appreciated. Cheers, Pete P.S. nuts, I just noticed there's a "Therapy - The Other Half of the Puzzle" forum. I guess the Mods can move this there if they so wish.

I met with my new tdoc today and she wants to try EMDR therapy to help me with driving anxiety related to a crash I was in earlier this year. Has anyone tried this particular type of therapy?

I am beginning to go to a trauma therapist and she practices this. So i looked it up on youtube.. to see how the session would look. EMDR I was wondering what was your experience? i am a bit doubtful, i hope this doesn't offend anyone, but it looks like hypnotherapy...is it a form? Do you feel it actually helped? How long did it take before you noticed a huge change? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpRQvcW2kUM Somatic Experience I would just like to know how the therapy session goes with this... what is the actual process? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByalBx85iC8 I appreciate anything you can share and you responding to this post. I posted this in this part of the forum because it's mostly used for PTSD. I am scared that once i tell my past to this therapist that she will just call me a big drama queen in nicer words lol. Anyway!! Thanx!