EMDR

[tia]

Please does anyone know if the treatment EMDR is any help for OCD. It is to do with eye movement. Thank you.

[Guest penny0305]

I had it and it didn't make a jot of difference. I found it quite bizarre to be honest.

[Caramoole]

I'm not sure of how effective it is or not but I've only ever seen it described as being useful for PSTD.

[Raffles]

I believe it's being investigated for applicability to OCD. A counsellor (not therapist) wanted to do it with me—the intrusive/hyper-vigilient elements of OCD can resemble PTSD—and urged me to look at Youtube testimonials. I turned my nose up at his because anecdotal evidence doesn't carry the weight of peer-reviewed studies. I doubt it would have worked for me because I didn't have confidence in it in the first place.

CBT has more evidence to back it up. However, EMDR is a newer therapy and is still accumulating evidence. People self-report it does them good, so I think it's really up to each individual to decide whether it's something they want to try in their OCD-treatment. I would advise doing it alongside CBT, though.

[Ashley]

Please does anyone know if the treatment EMDR is any help for OCD. It is to do with eye movement. Thank you.

Hi Tia,

There is no evidence, nor have I seen many posts showing it's benefit for OCD, my guess it is it is unlikely to help you at all. EMDR is mainly used for PTSD to my knowledge. CBT is the best treatment we have for OCD.

[Guest doris]

thank for posting this. I've been curious about emdr for ocd myself, having read that people are starting to experiment with it.

I know people who have used it for areas in life other than trauma with great results, but so far I don't now anyone personally who has tried it for ocd. I think I'm waiting for people to get confident with it before trying it myself as I'm limited in resources (money) and also don't so much like to be experimented on in case it has bad results.

[tia]

Thank you to all who replied to my post. I have been having cbt which has finished for the moment. I had heard emdr had good results for post traumatic stress but only that it was being tried for ocd.

[legalseagull]

I had it when I was being treated for OCD and vomit phobia. It was suggested because the therapist thought that the event that triggered the emetophobia was traumatic. It didn't help with the phobia or the OCD.