Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

This morning, Andi and I went to a therapy session that made all the difference in the world to her. It is called EMDR Therapy and I can't fully explain how it works. I know it involves the brain transferring the memories from one part of your brain where they are "stuck", to another part where they are filed and can be recalled without the overwhelming emotions you are currently experiencing. Andi has not been able to answer any questions or discuss the accident without getting horribly emotional.

In fact, we were told it wasn't so much a therapy as it is a Neuro Science process, because there really isn't a lot of talking to it. Basically, it starts off with just 2 questions.

Andi was asked to recall the most horrible part of the accident and rate it on a scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being the worst memory imaginable. She ranked a 10 as seeing me blue, under the water and eyes staring vacantly at her, knowing I was dead.

When asked to recall how she felt at that point and rank it on a scale of 1 - 7, she said, "I didn't do all I could to help her." and ranked it a 2.

Now - in reality, we KNOW this isn't so. There were 3 strong adults working as hard as they could to pull one tiny aluminum canoe off of me - the current was just too strong. They were all getting banged up head to toe in their efforts and trying their hardest, but I think she believes if they had done more, done it quicker, whatever, it wouldn't have ever gotten to that point.

With those 2 questions answered, the session began. It simply involved Andi watching a light bar about 3 feet wide with 25 tiny lights on it. She followed the lights with her eyes back and forth and every few minutes the lights would stop and Andi would say what she was seeing in her mind then - or how she was feeling. They started with the accident and went through Andi seeing me at the hospital later in the day. This process went on for awhile and then Andi re-ranked the memory. It was down to a 6.

The process continued and after a few more intervals, the memory was down to a 4. During the light flashing part, Andi was able to talk about things I hadn't heard her mention ~~ how she knew I was dead and she was going to have to tell Sophie and Keegan. She later said it was like seeing the whole day in little snips of a movie.

The therapist then started on the other part of Andi's reality. The fact she felt she didn't do enough to help.

By the time she was done, she acknowledged that they HAD done enough and ranked their efforts at a 6. That they had done all they could, as fast as they could under the circumstances. At one point, Andi was talking about how there wasn't anything to use for a wedge to get between the canoe and my head and that her own hand was even stuck in there as well where she had tried to grab me.

The therapist said, "There's always room for God's hand." Indeed.

The whole thing took about 90 minutes and Andi was amazingly calmer and less anxious about things. She was able to answer questions I hadn't asked anyone. She was able to discuss things calmly, without tears. She said the difference was astounding.

The therapist said she uses this method 1 - 2 times weekly and the results are always the same - phenomenal. So with Andi's permission, I wanted to help spread the word about this PTSD therapy. It doesn't matter if your trauma is new or old, it helps. She said sometimes it will even link up previous events in your life and helps them all. Sometimes it may take more than one session, but it's not a long term thing.

It's quick. It worked. It's unbelievable. We highly recommend it.