
As my thinking has been developing regarding EMDR Therapy, I’ve decided that there are three areas that I need to develop: 1. Trauma Resolution; 2. working with Internal Family Systems; and 3. Targeting Early Trauma and Implicit Memory directly.
The last one comes from having attended Katie O’Shea’s workshop, “When There are No Words: Targeting Early Trauma Held in Implicit Memory with EMDR,โ in Austin last month. (Thanks to Christie Sprowls, for bringing her to Texas.)
Some of the ideas I got and am starting to do are:
Safe “State” instead of Safe โPlaceโ.
- I ask myself regularly now, โIs it okay for me to feel safe when I am safe?โ That helps. It surprises me that I generally donโt feel as safe as I can, in any moment.
- When I teach this to clients, theyย seem to have the same experience, so, that it is helpful to them as well.
- In addition, when working with the “safe state” with clients, a lot of productive material is uncovered that may be processedย later with the standard protocol.
Processing Time Periods vs. Experiences or Events.
- Iโd never thought of doing EMDRย processing based on ‘time periods,’ย or knew you could do that. Even if I did, I donโt know if Iโd have seen the value.
- I think there is value in it now. ย Iโm going to find out what difference does it make if you process, โThe Time Before Were Born?โ, for example, vs. The time you had a traumatic experience and processing whateverย was done to you?โ. ย This equates to trauma processing vs. implicit memory processing.
Processing Affective Circuits Directly
- We learned that you can process different levels of the arousal of affective circuits, directly. The four levels of arousal in circuits are’ non-specific arousal’, โprimary’, โsecondary’, and โtertiary’ levels of affect. These different levels of arousal ‘effect’ and/or ย ‘affect’ brain processing (I never know which).
- The affective circuits are set at seven by Jaak Panksepp, and I try to pull them from memory but canโt always do it. Letโs see if I can do it now: Fear, Rage, Lust/Sex, Panic/Grief, Play, Caring, Seeking. I did.
- I think the โseeking’ circuit may be what drives behavior, so it would make sense to clear it out.
Shame is added as a โsocialโ circuit, as I recall, and is very strong, as we all know.
3 hour sessions
- I like the idea of 3 hour sessions. You could do two a day. I donโt know if you’d see the people weekly, monthly, or whenever.
- Advantage: Working more deeply with fewer clients.
- Disadvantage:ย Costs more.
Using the Container
- She taught using the container exercise in a way that the mind naturally flows and was different than how I learned it, or teach it.
- She obviously was able to adjust when things didn’tย work to find a way to do it (i.e. EMDR processing), differently.
- Iโve tried and done many techniques, like the container, or resourcing or the safe/calm place that didnโt seem to have a lasting effect. I think it’s less a matter of following a protocol strictly but more in adapting the technique or protocol to a personal style and situation. (Iโm not talking about the 11-Step EMDR Standard Protocol, in this case.)
Iโm sure there is more but thatโs a lot for me me to get from one workshop. ย Now, to put it to use.