THE REWIND TECHNIQUE - it’s a quick effective short treatment, bringing you great results which can be life-changing, easily learnt, usually requires two to four sessions plus two follow-ups, to bring about closure for single traumas.
The International Association for Rewind Trauma Therapy (IARTT) state ‘Closure without disclosure’ which means the client does not have to disclose details of the original traumatic incident/s to the therapist.
Who is going to benefit from REWIND?
1. The survivor of the life threatening event
2. The onlooker, there but not being subjected to the trauma
3. The person who heard about the horrible situation and then arrived to see it for himself/herself. He/she then imagines how it must have happened. (includes firemen, policemen, ambulance men, relatives etc.)
4. The person who has only heard about what happened, imagines what occurred.
5. The Therapist
6. The perpetrator
REWIND can be used for single traumatic events or multiple traumas, such as:
- sexual abuse
- victims of violence
- combat
- past bullying
- car accidents
- pathological & traumatic grief
- attacks or robbery
- suicide attempts
- being trapped
- traumatic birth
- physical and mental abuse
- phobias, etc
When you have experienced or witnessed traumatic event/s, the trauma memories sit at the front of your brain and are triggered by thoughts, flashbacks, reminders of things you hear, things you see, things you smell.
IARTT explains “The Rewind offers a way of permanently stopping the involuntary recall by filing the traumatic event, so it comes under control. Voluntary recall remains”. Rewind can reduce or even remove traumatic or phobic symptoms quickly.
IARTT list the benefits of ‘Closure without disclosure’ to include:
- Minimizing the risk of the client being re-traumatized.
- There is no fear of disclosing sensitive information e.g. In the case of servicemen, for example, about deployment.
- For survivors of rape and sexual abuse the benefit of not having to disclose details of the event to a stranger is self-evident
- Minimizing the risk to the counsellor of developing compassion fatigue, particularly for those therapists involved with heavy workloads
What to expect on a session?
First of all, you will be asked to complete an IES rating score form which determines if you are suitable to do Rewind therapy.
On the day of the Rewind treatment, you should be prepared to stay until we have managed to successfully complete the exercise fully. This may take a few goes, but don’t worry you won’t be traumatised over and over as you will be dissociating from the trauma. If anything, it gets easier the more you do it.
Two weeks after the Rewind treatment you will be offered to attend (in-person or online) a follow-up and completes another IES form and this shows if there has been any improvement.
Usually you can tell if you feel different within two weeks, but some feel it straight away, or days after. Some clients feel something has changed but are not sure what, until they go out into the world again and try out things the used to do.
Please visit IARTT Rewind Page for further details of research and to view testimonials from people who have successfully benefitted from Rewind Therapy: http://www.iartt.com/the-rewind/
Rewind can be purchased as a treatment on its own or be combined with a block of Counselling sessions should you wish to explore other issues.