Sam was the first patient I treated who expressed extremely violent emotional discharges during EMDR sessions.\u00a0\u00a0In the initial sessions, I acted as if I was accustomed to this process.\u00a0\u00a0In reality, I was terrified, saying to myself, \u201cHoly shit! What am I supposed to do now?\u201d I had read about these kinds of dramatic events and had been told about them in training, but had never witnessed any quite like his.<\/p>\n
Sam\u2019s outbursts could last an hour or more.\u00a0\u00a0He was usually exhausted but relieved after these sessions.\u00a0\u00a0He had an enormous amount of pent-up horror he had been keeping locked up for some fifty years.\u00a0\u00a0Once EMDR began, in each session, the emotion came spewing out like a dormant volcano finally permitted to erupt, and erupt it did, as quickly and as powerfully as he could endure.<\/p>\n
I began to rethink my role when working with such heroic people. Everything really started to change within me as I witnessed the incredible\u00a0transformations that happened to him and later to many others who came to see me for EMDR.<\/p>\n
The difference in using EMDR versus not using EMDR was that with EMDR there seemed to be a fast and complete transformation of the personality. By fast I mean months, not years.\u00a0\u00a0For example, after a few months, Sam was happy and felt safe for the first time in his life.\u00a0\u00a0I could not believe what was happening to him, nor was I sure exactly how or why it was happening. I knew that I had a small role in it, but I was not sure what exactly I was doing\u00a0or what exactly was happening to cause such incredible transformations.<\/p>\n
I recently read Jungian analyst and author Robert Johnson\u2019s biography, Balancing Heaven and Earth. He says that things go best for him when he reminds himself that he is nothing.\u00a0\u00a0Humility is always a better choice than egotism.\u00a0\u00a0There are visionaries in Medjugorje, a small village in Bosnia, who claim to speak to the Blessed Virgin Mary.\u00a0\u00a0They often ask for healings for people and the Virgin Mary says, \u201cI cannot heal anyone.\u00a0\u00a0Only God can heal.\u00a0\u00a0You must fast and pray, and I will pray with you.\u201d Her statement makes Robert Johnson\u2019s even more relevant.\u00a0\u00a0I was nothing in this process.\u00a0\u00a0Yet the changes were dramatic and stable in the lives of these people.<\/p>\n
These changes were far more comprehensive and complete than just getting over a trauma.\u00a0\u00a0Everything was changing for the better in Sam\u2019s life.\u00a0\u00a0He was grateful, but I did not feel\u00a0that I had much to do with it.\u00a0\u00a0I just sat there and watched it happen.<\/p>\n
EMDR is a very different kind of experience than most kinds of therapy. During EMDR, there is no talking, no reassuring.\u00a0\u00a0The person must surrender to the process to be healed.\u00a0\u00a0If you have lived with evil for years, learned you could trust no one, and a therapist says, \u201cThis works, but you have to re-experience these horrors\u00a0briefly\u00a0in order to\u00a0be healed and free of them,\u201d you might understand why they say, \u201cFuck you doc; I\u2019m not doing that.” This moment of denial is the first stage of the Christian Passion experience that the client goes through in EMDR. Denying they will make the journey is the first step. They\u2019re in my office because a part of them received an invitation.\u00a0\u00a0Once the invitation is accepted, there is no turning back.\u00a0\u00a0Their soul will not be denied its true path of wholeness and healing.<\/p>\n
What does denial of the journey have to do with the Christian Passion? It is the beginning of the Passion of Christ—Gethsemane\u00a0Christ expressed a similar denial Himself. \u201cFather, take this cup from me, for I do not want to taste it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Christ did, however, surrender to His reality, as we all must. This is the first stage of the six stages related to the crucifixion of Christ that occurs with EMDR in the psychological crucifixion many clients must endure.\u00a0\u00a0With EMDR, the patient has a psychological manifestation of Christ\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sam was the first patient I treated who expressed extremely violent emotional discharges during EMDR sessions.\u00a0\u00a0In the initial sessions, I acted as if I was accustomed to this process.\u00a0\u00a0In reality, I was terrified, saying to myself, \u201cHoly shit! What am I supposed to do now?\u201d I had read about these kinds of dramatic events and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emdreducatorsoffl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emdreducatorsoffl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emdreducatorsoffl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emdreducatorsoffl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emdreducatorsoffl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.emdreducatorsoffl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emdreducatorsoffl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emdreducatorsoffl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emdreducatorsoffl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}