EMDR for Preschoolers

amother

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 1:11 am

My preschooler's therapist mentioned that she wants to try EMDR with dc for anxiety. I didn't even know that it can be done with children this young, and I'm wondering if anyone has tried this with a child under 5? Was it successful? Does it have a chance of making things worse?

amother

White

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 8:50 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I’ve had EMDR as my form of therapy over a 3 year period it’s very intense and causes some emotional upheaval. I’d strongly recommend getting a second opinion. I have never heard of a child going through it. It also doesn’t make much sense. How is she asking a preschooler to gauge the physical body reaction and about what incident will she be trying to minimize the nervous systems pattern? I highly suggest doing me research

amother

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 9:01 am

amother [ Lawngreen ] wrote:

I have a feeling I know which therapist you are using. Is it JW (or YW)? If so, I have experience that leads me to have an opinion on this.

You had experience with doing EMDR with a young child? Would you be able to tell me more about how it went?

amother

Lawngreen

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 9:08 am

This therapist tried it on my 10 year old, and I can't really tell you about other therapists, but our experience with the one we used was not positive. She had trouble explaining to ds what he was supposed to do, and she ended up yelling at him for not doing it as she wanted. It didn't do him any harm, but it was not beneficial either.

If you are using an amazing, patient therapist who is able to explain herself well, then maybe there's a chance it can work. I don't know.

I guessed that you were using the same therapist we used because she seems to want to try EMDR on every patient. She doesn't seem to know a lot of other ways to deal with things.

amother

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 10:32 am

amother [ Bisque ] wrote:

EMDR can be very effective for children when done to treat trauma. Is there a history of trauma?

Not a specific traumatic event, but there was a time period in dc's life that was very unstable, so I guess you can call it traumatic. Dc has a lot of anxiety that started during/after that period.

amother

Bisque

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 10:57 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Not a specific traumatic event, but there was a time period in dc's life that was very unstable, so I guess you can call it traumatic. Dc has a lot of anxiety that started during/after that period.

It may be trauma, in which case EMDR would be appropriate and can be effective. I would encourage you to discuss this more with the therapist so you can make an informed decision.

amother

Gray

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 11:23 am

EMDR is a lot for such a young child to process. If the child was very young when the traumatic time period occurred, the child may not even be able to complete this type of therapy. If it was my child, I would feel so much more comfortable with sand play therapy with a properly trained trauma therapist. It's a lot more gentle, less traumatic, and requires little talk when done properly.

lilies

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 11:38 am

EMDR is a very powerful tool for treating trauma. Preschool seems a bit young though. I was told when doing research on this - even at age 8 one should be wary as there is not enough research on how this can affect children and a competent therapist will get the same results using play therapy for trauma. That is what I was told by a licensed, professional, EMDR certified therapist that works with children.

amother

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 11:40 am

amother [ Gray ] wrote:

We had limited success with the sand tray. Should I be nervous to put my child through it; can it cause more anxiety?

amother

Gray

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 2:25 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

We had limited success with the sand tray. Should I be nervous to put my child through it; can it cause more anxiety?

some therapists use a sand tray as a tool. It's important to make sure the therapist has had training in treating trauma using sand play therapy. I personally was successful in treating trauma with sand therapy with a trauma therapist.

amother

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 2:34 pm

amother [ Gray ] wrote:

Thanks. I will maybe ask her about her training in treating trauma using both EMDR and sand tray therapy.

amother

Mauve

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 2:36 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

We had limited success with the sand tray. Should I be nervous to put my child through it; can it cause more anxiety?

I would absolutely not do it under these circumstances. EMDR is not something to just throw at a child. It needs to be done carefully and with a lot of safety. Without a lot of caution and safety, it absolutely can be destabilizing, retraumatizing and increase anxiety. Based on amother who had experience with this therapist and a child, she sounds like absolutely the wrong therapist to do it with. Yelling at a child for doing it wrong? Not explanaining the process? No, no and no. Absolutely not. That is so wrong, it borders on malpractice. Honestly, I would not allow any therapist to experiment on my child like that. It's possible she is just not a good therapist, which is why the other approaches weren't helpful.

In any case, for a very young child, attachment based interventions and play therapy are the best approach. And parent training for advanced parenting skills in parenting an anxious child.

amother

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 2:40 pm

amother [ Cyan ] wrote:

My child had emdr done at age 5 and it was a lifesaver, but we had a specific trauma to clearly work with

Thanks. Did it help right away? Was it hard for your child to stay focused in session?

amother

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 2:44 pm

amother [ Mauve ] wrote:

Thank you. I really want to help my child and at this point I'm really frustrated because I just don't know what help will actually help, and what will make things worse!

ra_mom

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 2:45 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Thank you. I really want to help my child and at this point I'm really frustrated because I just don't know what help will actually help, and what will make things worse!

Don't allow your child's therapist to do EMDR. They should recommend a specialist who deals exclusively with EMDR and children. Do a lot of research before choosing a provider for something so delicate.

amother

Mauve

Mon, Dec 30 2019, 2:59 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Thank you. I really want to help my child and at this point I'm really frustrated because I just don't know what help will actually help, and what will make things worse!

Has she worked with you on parenting skills to address the anxiety?

Also, what are some of the anxiety based behaviors? What does the anxiety look like? Also, what was the nature of the traumatic events in your child's life?