Psychotherapy Options
I primarily offer ART and EMDR, but I’m trained in several therapeutic modalities. While most sessions incorporate principles from multiple therapy approaches, sessions generally fall under two categories: trauma reprocessing and talk therapy.
Why would I do trauma focused therapy?
Trauma focused therapy can address specific events, nightmares, recurrent intrusive thoughts, and fears of the future. It can be adapted to help with difficulties in relationships, grief, loss, and fear of change.
ART
Accelerated Resolution Therapy, or ART, is a relatively new evidence based therapy, developed by Laney Rosenzweig in the late 2000s, that integrates several empirically based treatments into one cohesive protocol. Using eye movements (or other bilateral stimulus if eye movements aren’t recommended), distressing memories can be brought up and reconfigured to reduce symptoms, enhance emotion regulation, and improve functioning. Symptom relief can be achieved in one session, depending on the presenting problem.
For more information: https://acceleratedresolutiontherapy.com
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) was developed by the late Francine Shapiro in the 1980s. It is also evidence-based, incorporating exposure, psychodynamic, and cognitive approaches with eye movements. The treatment facilitates reprocessing of negative memories to reduce symptoms and improve functioning. EMDR has 8 phases and addresses the past, present, and future concerns relevant to the presenting problem, and there are many different protocols to address different symptoms.
For more information: https://www.emdria.org/
ART and EMDR compared
Some characteristics that they share:
- Use of eye movements (or other stimulus) bilaterally while visualizing a negative memory to achieve dual attention (doing two things at once- like driving and thinking about what you’re going to do at your destination)
- Use of standardized protocols to guide people through the negative memory to remove emotional, cognitive, and somatic sensations of disturbance
- Exposure to the negative memory is generally brief
- People do not have to talk/write about their memories at all, if so desired
- The protocols can be adjusted to address different presenting problems
- The protocols typically require 75-90 minutes to complete.
Some ways that they differ:
- EMDR relies more on the person’s free association ability to identify problematic parts of the memories, compared to ART.
- ART actively focuses on creating positive memory associations to improve symptoms; EMDR allows your brain to identify how it wants to resolve the problem.
- Due to differences in protocol structure/focus, ART tends to provide faster symptom relief.
CPT and PE
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE) are evidence-based trauma therapies that are completed in 10-12 sessions, each 90 minutes long. CPT helps individuals identify cognitive distortions that perpetuate their trauma symptoms, and uses written narrative exercises outside of session to help people change how they think about the traumatic event and the world around them. PE uses audio recordings to help people teach themselves that their bodies are safe and reduce somatic distress associated with the traumatic event. Both therapies require dedicated time to complete therapy assignments outside of the twice weekly sessions in order to complete the treatment.
For more information:
https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/ptsd/cbt-ptsd.asp
https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand_tx/prolonged_exposure.asp
