A real person’s experience with Accelerated Resolution Therapy

I’ve been eager to introduce a new modality, ART (Accelerated Resolution Therapy), to my clients. During training, we practice the scripted protocol with others learners, so I got to experience myself how remarkably it can help move trauma (in my case, a car accident years ago) out of the body and alleviate stress that is carried around- sometimes without our awareness.

ART was developed by a practitioner providing EMDR to her patients as she discovered more efficient ways of helping them heal. Though ART is traditionally thought of as a treatment for trauma, like for first responders, military service people, and survivors of abuse, ART also allows people to change negative thoughts, let go of harmful behaviors, and feel better about difficult situations.

Miranda* came to me asking for help with her feelings of anger towards her friends about the election. This was the week before Super Tuesday and she was upset by some of her close friends’ choices in how they planned to vote. Miranda said she felt angry, irritated and confused, but mostly angry. She didn’t want to be mad at her friends and she didn’t want to carry around anger and fear through the coming days.

Every ART session varies in length, for a variety of reasons. Some may take up to 90 minutes. Miranda processed the feelings she had about her friends and the emotionally-laden upcoming election day in about 40 minutes, after which she was smiley, and said she felt really good. The degree to which the “scene” she came in to process was bothering her in the beginning made the contrast of her positivity as she left quite drastic.

Miranda expressed gratitude for how great she felt then and there and I reminded her not to encounter any “triggers” (the friends she’d had a hard time understanding, election propaganda, etc.) or even actively think about the ART session we’d just had for at least 6 hours after our session.

When I saw Miranda again the next week, she was happy to report that she’d had no issues on or around election day. She said the anger and irritation she’d felt before was gone. She remembered her friends’ differences, but they didn’t bother her the way they had previously.

She did also say that she’d seen one of her friends (who’d been part of what she was processing) on social media announcing something about herself that was opposite what she’d said before. Miranda reported that she felt betrayed, having been lied to by this friend. She said, “I almost called you, but then I remembered that you’d told me that things may be uncovered after we process something. I realized that this was actually different than the election thing- a separate issue with her. The election stuff was a breeze!”

Miranda had done ART on another issue with another practitioner, before working with me, which may account for it taking less than 60 minutes. She knew what her “scene” would be and she understood what I was asking her to allow her brain to do as she followed my hand movements with her eyes during the session. Even though she was already familiar with ART, she was a bit skeptical that it would “work” on her tough feelings about the election. And she was pleasantly surprised when it did.

If someone you know would benefit from relief about something causing emotional distress, ART may be an efficient solution. Some issues, especially if they are on-going or chronic, may require multiple sessions to treat different aspects of the problem. However, relief is nearly always felt after one session. A new way of thinking about the previous problem, and other issues, thanks to the original problem being released, can be life-changing.

*Of course that isn’t her actual name.