I wanted to share this story that was provided by a mom who has gotten great benefit from EMDR. It gives a helpful picture of some of the changes people may experience with the help of EMDR.
*All identifying information has been changed. The original author provided the story unsolicited and requested that her story be shared to help people who may be considering EMDR learn more. Content has been lightly edited to deidentify the author and for clarity.
“I am so thankful that I found EMDR, it has truly changed my life and helped me to heal in a way I didn’t know I could.”
One day when I was answering a question from a friend about my daughter’s birth, tears came to my eyes, like they always did, and I got all flushed and stirred up remembering that day and the days that followed and feeling again just how overwhelming it had all been. I then felt immediately embarrassed, because I was okay and my baby was ok so why the heck was I crying about it years later!?! Sure, it was a tough birth and she had some medical problems early on, but in the grand scheme of things we had been really fortunate.
So why did I feel so overwhelmed every time I talked about her birth or infancy?
My friend knew about this therapy called EMDR and told me straight up:
‘You don’t need to keep feeling this way, go do EMDR. It will help.’
I was skeptical, I had actually seen a therapist before, and felt like I’d already done what I could to get past this and most days I felt fine. It honestly hadn’t even occurred to me that I could feel differently until my friend encouraged me to give EMDR a try.
So, I found a therapist who was trained in EMDR, and she and I worked on calming down the intense memories I had about my daughter’s birth and about her early infancy. After just a few sessions I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of me.
I found myself enjoying my daughter more and the low level depression and exhaustion I’d just kind of accepted as my new normal lifted as well.
I had never realized that the pain I carried around with me about her birth had been a small, but significant barrier between us.
With that cleared away not only was I able to talk about her birth and feel calm and centered, I fell even more in love with her and felt my heart open to her in a way I didn’t expect. I’m even thinking about trying for another baby, which I never thought I’d want to do!
I just wanted to share my story of how EMDR has healed me. Hopefully my story might help another woman who had a tough birth, or someone who struggled with a hard childhood, or really anyone who is carrying something painful around in their heart that they are ready to lay down. I had no idea how much better I could feel, and I wish I’d known about this incredible treatment years ago.
Please share this with anyone you think it might help. My advice to them is: don’t wait, give EMDR a try.”
– An EMDR client and mom of 2
