EMDR Rewind in North Devon

SAND embraces a holistic approach to surviving abuse, and as such our counsellors specialise in techniques beyond traditional talking therapy.

The 2 particular techniques we are discussing and working with at present are:

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is a comprehensive psychotherapy that helps you process and recover from past experiences that are affecting your mental health and wellbeing. It involves using side-to-side eye movements combined with talk therapy in a specific and structured format.

Rewind Technique – a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTDS) and is a comfortable and effective treatment that can greatly reduce, and even remove, traumatic or phobic symptoms quickly through relaxation and guided imagery, all without even having to talk about the details of the traumatic incident(s) in question. The rewind technique originated from NLP and is also known as the visual/kinaesthetic dissociation technique.

We approach Trauma Stabilisation methodology and practice for all our clients entering SAND and work closely with Devon organisations to ensure our staff and team are working in a trauma-informed way.

EDMR is largely recognised as a treatment for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and at SAND we have adopted a slightly different approach to utilising this highly valued method of treatment. Once SAND clients have completed their 15 low cost sessions they are then offered the chance to receive 1-5 sessions for EMDR.

We have adopted this system in SAND for a few years now and have feedback and evaluations to show that this has proven to be highly beneficial process for the client to choose their own ending to their therapeutic journey within SAND. Empowerment and choice is highly necessary in all our healthy development and this then our clients this autonomy.

What are the 8 stages of EMDR?

EMDR is an eight-phase treatment method. History taking, client preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure and reevaluation of treatment effect are the eight phases of this treatment which are briefly described. A case report is also depicted which indicates the efficacy of EMDR.

Support for a sexual violence event can be treated with EMDR therapy effectively and efficiently. Safety and stability are of primary importance when dealing with survivors. The use of EMDR involves a client-centered approach where the clinician follows, listens, and makes adaptations to ensure client safety and comfort.

The International Association for Rewind Trauma Therapy (formed by Dr David Muss, who developed the Rewind technique in the early ’90s) has trained hundreds of UK mental health professionals in this technique.

Another organisation that strongly supports Rewind Therapy for PTSD is the Human Givens Institute. This is a group of professional organisations and therapists who believe the human experience is underpinned by traits given to them by their genes.

What does that mean?

The nurture v nature debate will always divide opinion, but it is irrefutable that all humans are born with genetic features that determine behaviours and emotions to some degree. It’s an ingrained part of our evolutionary process.

These features are sometimes referred to as the ‘givens’, the aspects of our genetic make-up and in-built drivers that cause us to act and respond in certain ways.

Our givens create physical needs which must be met. Such as the instinctive requirement to breathe, eat, sleep and get sensory stimulation from our environment.

However, genetic givens can also be said to drive our psychological needs. Humans have a fundamental need for emotional checks and balances. Such as, how safe we feel, how loved we are as we grow, and our sense of self-worth and connection to others.

When these emotional needs are not met, the result can be anxiety, depression and PTSD. If you use this method of explaining the human psyche, then the rewind therapy technique is a process of ‘rebooting’ some of your emotional givens.

What is Rewind Therapy?

You may hear this therapy option referred to as a visual-kinaesthetic dissociation technique. This is a formal way of saying that it enables you to review and revisit events, in a controlled and dissociative way. You expose yourself to memories without connecting to the emotional and mental impact they create.

The basic principle is that in one relatively short session (or a series of short sessions) a therapist enables you to rewind to the start of your traumatic experience, without having to retell or relive it in a way that potentially adds to its harm.

How does rewind therapy work?

When you undergo Rewind therapy, the trained therapist will help you to become totally relaxed and immersed in a ‘safe space’. This involves breathing techniques and your own imagination, taking you to a time and place where you felt happiest.

Then, the therapist will often ask you to place a screen in your safe space. You use this to rewind to the experiences that created your PTSD, without having to describe them out loud.

In this way, your recall is projected ‘remotely’ from you, and you can watch events from a distance, in your safe space. In theory, neutralising their emotional arousal.

The therapist may also ask you to become part of the action – taking a central role in this ‘film’ – or to press the fast forward button to get you from the start to the finish quickly.

Each ‘projection’ of events can be different speeds and levels of involvement, depending on your comfort and distress levels. The aim is always to achieve this rewinding of events in an unobtrusive way that manages your emotional pain levels.

Supporters of this therapy option believe that using the rewind process helps people with PTSD to disconnect their flight, fight and freeze reactions. You reprogramme your brain to associate feeling relaxed and safe with these key memories.

For example, if being in a car is a trigger, then during rewind, a person can see themselves driving one confidently, whilst relaxed and in control.

Benefits of the rewind technique

One of the advantages of Rewind Therapy in treating the symptoms of PTSD is that it’s a carefully measured and controlled way to explore traumatic memories. The person with PTSD can spool back through time, without revealing sensitive or private details of their trauma.

For example, you don’t need to name an abuser or reveal information about a military or commercial situation during the therapy session.

It can also be used for C-PTSD and other mental health issues that are not connected to one specific event. You can rewind memories and activities over a prolonged period, or replay perceived or imagined threats too, as a ‘dissociative’ technique.

Also, supporters and practitioners of this method of treating PTSD believe it to be an excellent way to permanently stop the involuntary recall of traumas. You control the narrative during your session, from start to finish, potentially releasing you from spontaneous recollection.

Some also believe it’s a quick way to address PTSD, as in some cases substantial progress can be made in a single session, or from just two or three guided rewind experiences.

The most commonly mentioned effects that the rewind technique can have are:

• increased confidence
• no more flashbacks
• more positive mood
• ability to speak about the trauma without triggering alarm or difficulty
• no more fear

Case Study SAND 2022 (female) 

I’d been stuck on waiting lists up to then, getting a 3 monthly phone call to check I’m still there, because those services are just so overtaxed.  

I like that it offers alternatives to talking therapy. My previous experience of talk therapy was phone counselling, which made everything worse, so I knew that I didn’t want that.  They recommended EMDR; it works on the neural pathways, uses eye movements etc. It’s less focused on talking and reliving the experiences. 

I’ve had lots of health problems and SAND have been really supportive with that. It’s made me feel more supported, legitimised and validated in what I’m going through when I go to see the GP or the consultant.  There’s just something so healing in being heard and acknowledged. 

The first few sessions of EMDR were half talking and half EMDR, they were very therapeutic, like meditation, and also building up trust.  In one session, I got the feeling that I get when I’m having a panic attack. I described the feelings to my therapist, and we used the technique to calm me down. It wasn’t pleasant, but I could see how to calm myself, relax; go back to the safe place of the meditation, in just one minute! Usually, if I have a panic attack it takes me an hour to get back to myself. We used the breathing techniques and the eye movements of EMDR. I know now that I can do that for myself. It’s really exciting! 

I get night terrors and sleep paralysis; SAND has given me lots of coping mechanisms to cope with those. I’ve lived with these things for a couple of years now without proper support. I now realise that there are all these techniques that I could have been using……. It’s great! 

SAND is incredibly helpful and supplies me with the coping mechanisms that I need.  {SAND Client}

With the therapist leading me through my particular two events, we gained something that I think is kicking in already: I am worthy and I deserve respect.

I am still uncertain but less than before and I think that I am opening a new window with my new me, the me who believes in myself, the me who is gaining confidence to express myself, the me who doesn’t need to put up with disrespect but just follow daily self-belief and trusting life.

We’ve looked at those few events with different eyes and what came to my mind very much this afternoon while relaxing and stretching my body was: watch your eye watching your eye. Well, I’ve seen that child and I’ve seen a young mistreated woman in a not nice image. But I am not there anymore. I moved and I am capable of many fine things. Thank you SAND {SAND client}