A Client Describes the Advantages of EMDR: An Adjunct to Trauma Therapy

The following is a report from a client who benefitted from help using EMDR. The intervention itself is definitely not a panacea but it can be of great use to enhance the therapeutic work already being done for many clients. Not all clients benefit from EMDR but many find it very useful:

I have been a patient of Phillip Milligan for just over 2 years being treated for PTSD as the result of my work in law enforcement. One particular critical incident I was involved in resulted in having constant flashbacks, re-occurring nightmares and serious psychological issues for over 30 years.

Early on in our sessions Phillip advised me of a procedure that he had just completed training in, being ‘Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing’ (EMDR) and he believed that this treatment would be a suitable help for resolving my issues. Phillip described the treatment and how it was applied, and to be quite honest I was sceptical and apprehensive to try it, as it seemed a bit  ‘quirky’ and I couldn’t logically see how it could work.  Eighteen months into our sessions and Phillip again mentioned EMDR and the benefits that he could see me getting from it - this time I agreed.

I was anxious and quite nervous when I attended the session that would see EMDR begin. Phillip put me at ease by comprehensively explaining the treatment and so we began. During EMDR I was dismissive as to how Phillips ‘finger movement’ and verbalisation was going to assist in repressing something that had haunted me for over 30 years, but it didn’t take long for that to start to happen. After only a couple of sessions I found that this traumatic incident was being ‘boxed away’ inside my brain to somewhere it would stop hurting me. I eventually found that the memory of this incident was tucked away in my memory for recalling when and/or if I wanted it! Seldom, if at all, does some outside noise or other influence cause flashback memories and nightmares and finally I feel like I am regaining ‘normal’ sleeping habits and a more relaxed life.

Though I was sceptical about EMDR at the start, I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending this treatment to others.