I facilitated at an EMDR training last weekend. Molly Gierasch, the trainer, and Barb Maiberger, the other facilitator, flew in from Boulder to do the training in my house. After a day and a half, the class started to do the EMDR trauma protocol with each other. As I wandered around, coaching my three practice teams, I was priveleged to witness the "Oh my God! It really works!" moment, over and over again. I believe that this moment is why so many EMDR therapists become true believers. The trauma that they carried in their bodies/brains/minds fades away. Things are different now. We had the usual number of sceptics. They too had their experience as therapists and clients.
Much of the training and the coaching pertains to affect tolerance. People often experience emotion during their trauma processing. They may cry, or shake, or twitch. (That's not the transformational part--I've watched people who've done the same release 100 times in Re-evaluation Counseling or Movement Therapy finally clear the trauma with EMDR or Somatic Experiencing.) With EMDR, their brains finally get that it's over. Many people who are learning this technique have never witnessed clients releasing shock or any big emotion. We coached our students to "hold onto themselves" and allow the process to unfold. Many of the "clients" had never experienced the eye blinks, or releases and again were coached to let it move through. Each student "got it". It was way cool.
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