Treating Medical Trauma with EMDR
A case story of a mammogram, a biopsy, and reconnecting with the body’s wisdom
Content Warning: The following includes descriptions of physical and emotional pain. Readers are advised not to use any of the techniques in this article without the guidance of a trained mental health professional. This article is not medical advice. If you are in pain, speak with your doctor. Client details have been changed to protect anonymity, and some transcript dialogue has been edited for clarity.
Jess was stressed.
A college administrator in her mid-forties, she originally came to me to work on issues in her relationship.
Six months into our work together, her doctor detected a lump in her breast and referred her for a mammogram and biopsy. The biopsy procedure was painful and left her severely bruised. She was then told she would get the results by Tuesday of the following week.
On Tuesday she received a call and was told “the tissue was all negative”, but they also said that the radiologist had sent the results back to the pathologist because the pathologist hadn’t commented on some “microcalcifications” the radiologist had seen. She was told to expect a revised result as early as the next day, Wednesday.
