Chapters 15&16

 I have decided that I have a love hate relationship with Van Der Kolk. I like reading about his experience, but then at the same time he makes me start thinking of all sorts of things. I don't have time for this. Here is the rabbit hole of thoughts I had while reading these two chapters. 

I wish I had my life together sooner so that perhaps I would have done my masters while I'm not trying to be a wife, mom and full time employed. 

I waited too long to do my homework and we have a big assignment in this class and my other class. 

I wish I will have different experiences like Van Der Kolk. His experiences have shaped him to become what I believe an effective therapist. 

I can't practice yoga because I don't have enough time right now. 

There is a lot of content in all of these classes that I'm just going through the motions trying to absorb as much as I can. I'm just trying to survive and graduate while keeping everything else in my life in tact. 

There are so many modules of therapy that how will I know which to use? I want to become skilled in all of them, but then that requires more training, practice, etc. 

I found interesting that we don't need to know the client's narrative on their trauma for EMDR to work. But I struggle with that. How can I not know about the client's trauma to have a better understanding of how to treat this person? 

Also, a theme keeps popping up. Van Der Kolk describes working with people that have been in traditional therapy with no results. Why is this happening? Is this an ethical dilemma? Why do therapists continue to work with a client when there are no measurable results? 

What do we do first? EMDR and then traditional talk therapy or the other way around? 

I have one client right now focusing on EMDR. However, her sessions were dropped to every other week due to the client's schedule and feeling overwhelmed. Can we do EMDR every other session? I would ask this therapist my questions, but unfortunately that particular agency does not like working with my agency. I trust what my client is telling me. She thinks that EMDR is helpful and has come to the realization that she needs mental health therapy in order to continue her progress on long-term sobriety. 

Comments

  1. Mariah LaughlinApril 10, 2021 at 10:48 AM

    I appreciate your honesty in this blog post, Nari. The workload can be a lot, and I can't imagine meeting deadlines when you are also raising a family. However, you got this and there is a purpose and a reason why you are in this right now! I hope you are able to find encouragement and rest in these comings weeks!

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  2. Tara BoerApril 14, 2021 at 11:39 AM

    I feel you in being overwhelmed. You're doing a good job. We take one day at time. It is overwhelming to want to get trained in everything but you will just do 1 thing at a time and that will be enough when it happens. Soon you'll have 20 years post MSW under your belt and you'll be writing books too :) Hang in there!

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