This is regarding a client of mine; I am trained but am new to counselling using EMDR and I felt my concern was similar to this topic and so I thought I'd continue on this thread.
My client was and is not dissociative in the usual psychological sense. However, after one session of EMDR, she reported not just 3 hours of crying the next day, but also a fever lasting 4 days and a throat or tonsil infection which she said she was prone to when younger, but not the las 15 years or more. She wondered if these physical symptoms where the result of the session. During the actual EMDR, she reported several physical sensations, gave very little verbal commentary even though she is verbal and is a person who can readily identify feelings. When she phoned me several days after this difficult session and when the symptoms were still present but abating, I reminded her of her "safe place". For our second session. I began with returning to the safe place but she reported feeling shame around having a sanctuary and so I abandoned thoughts of returning to the EMDR; I loaned her an CD that has relaxation visualizations on it. I am not sure, but I am indeed wondering if my client was dissociating to her body, even as she was very present. I should note perhaps, that this client reports no physical abuse/violence to her self. I'm thinking, if she stabilizes, if we should go back to that initial pesenting issue and memory and try and get it completed (we were incomplete at a 2) but to perhaps not continue with EMDR after that on other issues? Any comments would be appreciated.