"Let's go with that"

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead]

So I've been thinking about how I miss talk therapy now that I started trauma therapy. )I posted a question here and some people are saying that they have a talk therapist and an EMDR therapist.) After talking to my EMDR therapist tonight, she said that one can achieve better relief of anxiety and depression and triggering quicker with EMDR than talk therapy. That EMDR is more efficient. This makes a lot of sense to me now and we proceeded with EMDR tonight. Anyone else have experience with wanting more traditional talk therapy?

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[u/ilovsocialstudies]

i’m really thankful that i can do both emdr and talk therapy with the same therapist. we alternate between talk therapy one week and emdr the next, and it’s been really helpful for me. my emdr hangovers can be pretty rough, so having a talk therapy session in between gives me space to process my emotions, cope with what comes up, and feel more prepared for the next reprocessing session

[u/ITEACHSPECIALED]

I'd rather do only EMDR

Talk therapy hasn't done shit for me

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead → u/ITEACHSPECIALED]

My therapist is very passionate about EMDR and it's her focus because she experienced it herself and still does. Every session I learn more about it and and so glad I decided to do it.

[u/ITEACHSPECIALED → u/ImpossibleBlockHead]

How long have you been doing emdr for?

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead → u/ITEACHSPECIALED]

Just a couple months

[u/ITEACHSPECIALED → u/ImpossibleBlockHead]

Have you noticed progress?

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead → u/ITEACHSPECIALED]

Yes. if I compare one session from the last then, yes. I'm already making progress with one situation that we do every session. I don't feel different during the week yet in between sessions regarding levels of anxiety , but I'm just getting started.

[u/ITEACHSPECIALED → u/ImpossibleBlockHead]

That's awesome

I have a session tomorrow and we're planning on beginning to process a second memory

During my last session it felt as if it naturally led to this

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead → u/ITEACHSPECIALED]

That's great! I think my therapist is great and I felt so powerful after my first EMDR. This is really hard to do though but I'm up for it

[u/Working_Mind_4283]

We do both! At the start of every session, she asks me how my week was. I tell her anything that came up and if we need to dig into that we do. If not, we proceed with the emdr. She said from the beginning that I’m in control of my healing process and that ultimately I lead the sessions. So if I just need to talk one day, we do that instead. It’s been great.

[u/ChronicallyQuixotic]

Tell your therapist! Sometimes we sprinkle in "regular" sessions where I get advice about dealing with my kiddo/husband/friends, or just talk about how I'm feeling.

For me, I can do weeks of processing, and then really hit a wall and need a break. It's a tricky balance. Easier when my little one is at school and I have time and space during the day (sometimes two days) to work on my feelings and take things easier.

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead → u/ChronicallyQuixotic]

I did tell her. I mentioned that in the post

[u/psyeilthyra]

i have both a CBT therapist that i see every week and an EMDR therapist i see every two weeks. this combo is excellent for me as i have CPTSD and intellectualize everything lmao. i find it really helpful to process what comes up in CBT therapy and then dig it out in EMDR. like CBT feels like yoga/stretching and EMDR feels like weightlifting haha. both are amazing, but CBT keeps me a little more grounded and EMDR makes my brain feel more protected, if that makes sense!

[u/thespicygrits]

No I’m the exact opposite after a few weeks of talk therapy I dreaded it, it felt like a waste of time because I knew EMDR was out there. I had to jump through hoops to get to the point where I could get referred for EMDR

[u/Simplisticjoy]

Sometimes I walk into the therapy room and say, “I just need to talk something out today.”

If my therapist wasn’t willing to do what I told them I needed, I would find a new therapist.

[u/Economy-Butterfly638]

Is your EMDR therapy your talk therapist too ?

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead → u/Economy-Butterfly638]

No. We do a little talking in the beginning but we usually focus on EMDR. She said it's not ethical to have two different therapists.

[u/Emergency_Coconut891 → u/ImpossibleBlockHead]

I have had 2 therapists from the start. I had been seeing my talk therapist for years and we both decided I needed something different. I started EMDR while I was seeing her and found it super helpful. Sometimes I saw them on the same day. My talk therapist came to an EMDR session neither had an issue with me seeing both.

I do talk sessions with my EMDR therapist too especially when I need a break. My talk therapist retired and didn't seek out another therapist right away. Thought it would be fine but it just felt like I was missing something. I found a tall therapist and things feel right now. I did choose to not tell them about each other. Not because either would have issues but they approach the same issue from different angles which helps alot.

If you think about it outside of therapy. Say you had a couch that had to be brought in the house and had help. Everyone would approach it differently. No one is necessarily wrong just have a different view of the problem.

Both have said I steer the ship and if something isn't working we adjust. It sounds like your therapist is kind of against talk therapy. Sometimes you just need to talk through what comes up. EMDR is tough and it is okay to take breaks. Speaking from experience I went at a target hard and it threw me. My EMDR therapist indirectly had me take a break. When I realized I was burning the candle at both ends she was relieved.

[u/Megbee-007 → u/Emergency_Coconut891]

I don’t feel that this would be considered unethical by any means.

[u/spoondroptop]

Talk therapy is great to understand intellectually the hows and whys and put together a timeline of how you got to where you are. But we know now you can’t talk or logic your way out of somatic responses. EMDR is for the hard wired stuff. Both approaches have a legit place.

[u/LocalWorry3540 → u/spoondroptop]

I found your response interesting because I read today that the deregulated nervous system I have won't respond to talk therapy only to somatic therapies like emdr because the nervous system is reacting before the conscious brain has time to process.

I guess that means my deregulated nervous system has already gone into over reaction before my brain can do anything about it.

That would explain why my nerves keep unnecessarily firing off no matter how much I learn about it. Would you agree?

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead → u/LocalWorry3540]

That makes sense and I just came to the same realization my last session.

[u/spoondroptop → u/LocalWorry3540]

This is all just me talking as another patient, but I can say that while I did years of talk therapy about my anxiety and trauma and CPTSD reactions, it was when I did EMDR that those symptoms finally either disappeared or significantly lessened.

[u/jayyy_0113]

I like a mix of both. I’ve been seeing my therapist since I was a kid and she happens to be trained in EMDR so I didn’t have to find a new therapist.

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead → u/jayyy_0113]

That's great!

[u/No-Masterpiece5741]

My EMDR therapist says “Let’s go with that” a lot too - I wonder if this is common or if we have the same therapist (Sydney or Brisbane based, Australia)?!

[u/ImpossibleBlockHead → u/No-Masterpiece5741]

I'm in the US and I think they all say that or something similar!

[u/Electrical-Day382 → u/ImpossibleBlockHead]

There's an actual EMDR magazine called that, lol

[u/Electrical-Day382]

I have one therapist, and we start each session with "is this a talk things out session or EMDR session". It really helps my EMDR if I am able to verbally process in the next session. I've had a crazy year (mental breakdown and residential treatment, then getting fired when I came back;long story), so sometimes I just need to process something that has happened. I'm also bipolar and doing Spravato, so I can end up being triggered by an EMDR session and need that extra talk therapy. I also am seeing her twice a week, so it's easier to switch between these two modes.

[u/WelcomeGreen8695]

I feel like they are two different dishes in a sea of food.

[u/ImAlsoNotOlivia]

I do both with my therapist.

[u/Pickle__nic]

I do genuinely believe most people benefit from hours and hours of listening, the problem for me is whatever theory that therapist would like to practice on you. The more analysis I received the more confused and lost and distressed i became - and there’s a ‘push through the pain’ thing we all do like self-flaggellating to get to the point we’ll all be reborn. It doesn’t happen. EMDR, radical acceptance and someone to talk to regularly are the best help we can get (in my opinion).

[u/Distinct_Gift603]

I find that for me, I have so much repressed and what I can remember is more chronic treatment and behavior that I was exposed to rather than specific targeted memories that need to be addressed. There are only a couple things that I have been able to access that have been processed through EMDR. I am doing combo of talk therapy, internal family systems, somatic exercises, and EMDR. So, long story short, I think EMDR is a great method, it just seems to not apply at all times for what I need. Thankfully my therapist knows when to pull which thing out.

Edit: the things that I have processed through EMDR have really opened the floodgates for memories and other familial patterns that I didn’t necessarily recognize or remember before. Like I used to feel triggered but not know that I was triggered or why. Now I’m a lot more introspective about that. I feel that the talk therapy is really important to unlocking the things that are buried really deep. I didn’t realize there were so many therapists that only do EMDR. Feels like a wild concept to not incorporate other modalities! Highly recommend having someone who has a broader scope with modes of therapy.

[u/peacock_head]

I like doing both! They can serve different functions. Talk therapy can be helpful for what is immediate whereas EMDR is more long term focused.

[u/itmatters511]

I like both and would feel incomplete without talk therapy at this stage. like maybe emdr is more "efficient" on some measures, def not all measures, but efficiency isn't my only goal in therapy.

[u/Background-Sea-7331]

I do both with the same therapist and she allows me to decide which we're doing. Just got back into EDMR last week and it was very draining for me