My Journey with EMDR - Healing and Nurturing my Inner Child

As a follow-up to my previous post: https://manage.wix.com/dashboard/354920de-3adb-4781-8867-8264e02d6849/blog/855b76ac-c5f9-4e7d-96c9-6ff69f76bf74/edit

From January 2023 to October 2023, I realised that my trauma was holding me back from living my life and as a result; I was in a constant cycle of low moods which prevented me from experiencing joyful situations. As for how I dealt with this, it wasn't exactly positive, I am a consistent ruminator, which after dealing with confusion surrounding my identity during my school life, I couldn't let it go.

And so in January 2023, as a spur of the moment choice thanks to my CBT therapist, I dove in the deep end and chose to participate in a consistent regimen of EMDR therapy, but what is EMDR therapy?*

EMDR, or Eye-Movement, Desensitisation, Re-processing therapy is a method by which you remove yourself from a traumatic experience and look back on it with a critical eye, but respecting your emotions, using open-ended questioning to bring your mind to realising that you are able to control your own life.

An example of what worked for me, was something called Binaural Stimulation, or Bi-Stimming as I see it. How it works is that you would cross your arms and tap your shoulders slowly, which allows for you to simultaneously shut down your brain's receptors for fear and allowing for sole focus on your breath. That is how I found my peace with my trauma.

A way I learned to deal with traumatic situations was to use the Bi-Stim technique to steady my breath when I'm in a situation that could trigger a traumatic response. If the technique doesn't work or can be complimented with positive soothing methods, such as playing a relaxing video game, reading a book, watching a funny YouTube series etc.

Whilst these things mentioned would sound obvious to most, they are a way of nurturing that inner child in me, as I can feel safe from harm in a comfortable environment. My journey of healing is still ongoing, but this was one large developmental milestone that I am truly proud of myself for achieving.

I'm hoping to keep my health in check.

*I am not a psychologist but this is seen from my experience.