Why Do I Feel Worse After Therapy? EMDR and Complex Trauma

About this episode

Ever leave a therapy session looking totally fine, then spend the next three days clenching your jaw, snapping at everyone, and wondering if you’re just bad at therapy? Or find yourself completely checked out mid-session with no idea how long you’ve been gone? In this episode, I answer two listener questions about feeling worse after EMDR and dissociating in therapy sessions. We talk about why therapy can stir so much up when you have complex trauma (CPTSD), the difference between being stirred up and being flooded, and what an EMDR session for complex trauma looks like in my office. That includes pacing, preparation, working with parts, and closing a session so you can actually leave inside your window of tolerance. We also cover: • Why “looking fine” in therapy is a survival strategy • Why self-blame was protective when you were a kid • The different kinds of dissociation and what each one needs • What to do between sessions when you’re flooded • Signs therapy is working, even when it’s hard • Exactly what to say to your therapist when you need something different Many of the metaphors in this episode, including the boat and the whale, the barn door, and brakes on a car, come