Written back in August 2012:
Just had my first session with EMDR Therapist. My nerves almost got the best of me beforehand. To help me cope, I dressed like an adult. But once I met her, I felt more at ease. I really liked her. We're not going to jump into the EMDR right away; she's going to be helping me establish a sense of safety first and teach me tools I can use to deal with being triggered. She doesn't believe in "it gets worse before it gets better", even though she was taught that in therapy school. She also thinks therapy should not disrupt the rest of your life. And she claims clients leave their sessions smiling. We'll see.
It all sounds very good and what I'm ready for.
The only catch: she strongly advised I not see Randy while seeing her. She said it's not helpful to be stirring things up in an additional session per week. Also, she and Randy would need to work closely together and consult on a weekly basis, so as to keep on the same page, and she would have to bill me for that ongoing consultation time, which makes sense.
So I'm going to see him next Tuesday and tell him I'll be taking a break for awhile. She says she'll have a better idea next week as far as how long my treatment might take.
In the meantime, she recommended I see a psychiatrist to have my meds evaluated; she thought zoloft might be a better fit for PTSD.
We also talked about tequila. And insomnia. She suggested a bedtime ritual that doesn't involve alcohol, forcing myself to get out of bed at the same time each morning, and exercising between 6 & 9 am each morning. She sounded quite confident that this would cure my insomnia.
I'm looking forward to working with a girl therapist. I like that she covered a lot of ground today (including how she handles running into a client in public) and gave me a good understanding of how she approaches things. I think we will be a good fit. I'm excited...and kinda nervous...and a bit sad about taking a break from Randy, even though I was all angry at him just a few weeks ago.
