Rewind Therapy is a technique designed for the treatment of trauma/PTSD. It aims to address three key symptoms:

1)      to stop involuntary recall (i.e., intrusive thoughts, nightmares, flashbacks, ruminations, and hallucinations)

2)      to reduce the avoidance of triggers, and

3)      to restore some cognitive and emotional functioning.

In essence, the treatment involves replaying a memory backwards and forwards in your mind while visualizing it from both an experienced first-person perspective and an observing third-person perspective. Trust me that it is less complicated in practice than to write out.

Research limitations have made it difficult to know exactly why this works, but early studies have yielded a 90% closure/remission rate, indicating something positive is happening.

In my opinion, the reason is likely a combination of several theories. Facing rather than avoiding triggers with emotional safety strategies in place allows us to reduce their impact and integrate the experience into the rest of one’s life story (sometimes referred to as “exposure”). In the case of Rewind, repetition prevents avoidance while mild dissociation creates a safe emotional distance from the most intense aspects of the memory. Each aspect can then be separated and recontextualized individually so that encountering or dedicating therapy time to one trigger no longer automatically activates all other triggers.

You may be wondering why you would want to utilize this over other trauma treatments you’ve heard about (e.g., Prolonged Exposure, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing).

1)      The 90% closure/remission rate; few therapies for any condition can boast that statistic.

2)      Clients do not need to speak openly about traumatic experiences; the treatment can work without my knowing about the event. However, there is significant evidence that voicing trauma can be immensely healing, so I recommend both if clients are amenable.

3)      I find the imaginal complexity of the technique helps focus visual learners and limit distractions for those whose thoughts often jump around quickly.

4)      After trauma, you may find yourself spending more time “in your own head,” and it can be easy to forget what life was like before. Friends and family may or may not notice something is different for you, but they may struggle to understand your experience. Similarly, you may not see how changed you do or do not seem to them. Rewind, in my experience, provides a sample of how it would feel to once again be “clear-headed” and to observe oneself as such.

The main reason to take away, however, is that Rewind is simply what resonated with me. I recognize one of the other treatment protocols in the industry may resonate with you as they have resonated with their practitioners, and that’s fine. I may not offer those other treatments myself, but I respect your interest in pursuing them.