For all the years we were on the radio and long before that as podcasters, the fact I had a mental illness was a taboo subject for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We did not talk about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Because our names were on book covers, magazine articles, satellite radio, and the Catholic speaking circuit, it was too embarrassing (and potentially harmful) to admit I wasn’t always “right in the head.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I’ve come to learn, however, is that I’m not alone with this issue, and this issue needs to be discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sharing the uncomfortable facts of our circumstances as we have on our podcast<\/a>, on videos<\/a>, and now on this blog has not been easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as a survivor of both childhood sexual abuse (from outside the family) and now as an adult suffering from PTSD from a more recent traumatic event, I believe it’s imperative that traumatic issues are brought to light so true healing can be provided, not just for me, but for the nearly 8 million adults suffering from PTSD during a given year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a 50-year-old, 6-foot-five, 250-pound bald dude, it’s embarrassing to admit that I suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder basically because I was lied to and deceived by people I trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, I’ve been suffering every single day from PTSD for nearly four years now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m hopeful, however, that after all these days, weeks, months, and years of pain, that healing is finally just around the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter EMDR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, a technique for addressing trauma and PTSD that was first used in therapy in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s designed to mimic REM sleep when your eyes rapidly dart back and forth. It’s then when your brain processes all the thoughts, events, and memories of the day and transfers them to long-term memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for people like me with PTSD, some of those vivid memories – particularly the traumatic ones – don’t get processed properly and remain stuck, sometimes for years, in the frontal lobes of your brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During an EMDR session, a therapist uses his hands, tapping, a light bar, or other methods to cause the patient’s eyes to move as they would in REM sleep. At the same time, the patient deliberately brings to mind clear images of the traumatic memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Doing so causes the memory to be “reprocessed,” moved out of the amygdala (the fight or flight part of your brain), and moved to long-term memory where it belongs, and where it ceases to cause ongoing pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Honestly, it sounds kind of nuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But last week I finally had my first EMDR therapy session<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I briefly explain EMDR in the video below (filmed in my truck immediately before and after my first session). It’s worth a quick watch before continuing.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNot your typical PTSD candidate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A strange new acronym<\/h3>\n\n\n\n