The Flash Technique

When working with trauma or other memories that have an emotional charge to them, the first treatment option I will draw on is The Flash Technique. It is the closest thing I have found in my 30 years of trauma work to my being able to wave a magic wand. With this technique, the client only mentions the event they want to address without going into any details. The fear centers in the brain are never activated and as a result, the brain is able to process the memory in a way that it can’t when the fight or flight system is activated. Clients are amazed to see how the event shifts from something they are reliving to something that happened in the past that doesn’t have the same hold on them.

I will often use this technique on it’s own, or sometimes, in combination with Accelerated Resolution Therapy.

For more information about this technique, visit FT’s website.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is my treatment of choice for trauma that is having lasting impacts for clients. ART helps people address trauma-based problems resulting from things like car accidents, sexual assault, abuse, experiences during war, natural disasters, hate crimes, and the like.

The research that has been done indicates that it resolves a trauma in 1-5 sessions on average. As well, the changes appear to be long-lasting.

ART takes advantage of the brain’s natural properties:

The brain, like other parts of the body, has a natural drive toward healing. With trauma, the brain gets overwhelmed and is not able to process the event like it normally would. The event gets stuck, and as such, keeps getting triggered when something similar happens in our current life. ART uses eye movements to put the brain in a profound processing mode so that stuck issues can be processed to resolution. This is done in such a way that the images, emotions and body sensations associated with the issue get worked through, and so no longer cause triggers and trauma reactions.

Because of these natural properties of the brain, we say, “Keep the Knowledge, Lose the Pain”. By the end of processing the trauma, the issue you started with will still be factually in your mind, but the negative aspects of it are worked through and replaced with images and emotions that are in line with your goals for your life. It is the norm for clients to feel like a weight has been lifted from them.

When initially focusing on your problem during the session, you may feel the emotions connected with that problem with varying degrees of intensity. Within a minute or two, though, clients usually pass beyond these emotions into a feeling of calm and then as their problem loses it’s hold on them, relief.

Some people think this is hypnosis. To be clear, this is NOT hypnosis. This is a process that opens up your brains natural healing abilities and offers minimal guidance to let your brain do what it knows to do. You are in control at all times and will remember everything that happens.

For more information, visit ART’s website.