Written by: Sheri Johnson, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
It’s a pretty wild statement to make, isn’t it? For PTSD to be cleared in two hours, it would be a miracle for so many suffering people. But it is possible, I see it all the time, and I will attempt to demonstrate in this article how it is done using Rapid Resolution Therapy (RRT). If you read Part One of this PTSD series, you were introduced to this emerging, and highly effective, brain-based modality of clearing up PTSD, within 1-3 sessions. Here, I will explain what makes RRT different than other modalities, and share a case study of an adult client I successfully treated for the ongoing effects of childhood rape, using Rapid Resolution Therapy. All identifying information has been altered for privacy purposes.
THE RRT PERSPECTIVE
The Rapid Resolution Therapy perspective suggests that people generally know what they are thinking and what they are feeling but they don’t choose their thoughts and feelings. If we could consciously choose them, and ultimately be “responsible” for them, don’t you think we’d be choosing “happy” and none of us would suffer from PTSD?
The part of the mind where thoughts, feelings and sensations are being experienced (we’ll call this the conscious mind for these purposes) is different from the part of the mind where they are being generated from (we’ll call this the subconscious mind). By getting to the root and changing how the subconscious mind processes information, we automatically change how we think, feel, act and react on the conscious level.
THE PTSD CASE STUDY
Meet Jennifer, a 27-year old graphic designer from Toronto who emailed me asking for help with symptoms associated with a childhood rape. During our consultation, she disclosed a memory that she had buried since 10 years old, that only recently resurfaced, about being raped by her soccer coach during a private lesson. She found that she had been depressed for many years following, struggled with low self-worth, and avoided intimacy with all past partners including her husband.
As fragments of this traumatic event resurfaced in her memory and it became more clear, Jennifer began having disturbing nightmares. For years, her mind had protected her from the trauma of this event by repressing the memory, a phenomenal survival instinct of the human brain. However, her low mood, avoidance issues and nightmares tell us that even after 16 years, her survival mind was still activated, trying to protect her from an event that was long over.
Jennifer began talk therapy and a few other modalities, and although she noticed a difference, it was slow and relief was minimal. When Jennifer reached out to me, she was hopeful that an alternative approach (RRT) might be the answer for her.
HOW THE SESSION STARTED
Jennifer appeared on my computer screen, with a hopeful look on her face. I started our session by sharing the Rapid Resolution Therapy perspective, and inviting her to try it on to see how it felt. My priority was to keep Jennifer 100% present, engaged, connected with me, avoid any disagreement, keep the mood lighthearted, and get to the heart of the matter.
I asked Jennifer to share what she was troubled by presently and I didn’t ask any additional questions about the rape. I asked her to share with me only what she felt was necessary to know in order to really understand. She also answered a few clarifying questions to make sure she knew I truly got it. This was the most challenging but crucial part of the session as it set the stage for the deeper work to come.
THE RRT TRANSITION
Once Jennifer finished sharing her PTSD struggle, I explained that the way her mind was processing information was like a piece of data that got stuck in the funnel and never got fully processed, hence the mind was reacting as if it was still happening. I offered an explanation about what she was going through using stories, metaphors and specificity, to appeal to her subconscious mind. Rather than speaking in generalized terms, I created a very specific, shared intention for the outcome of this session.
For example, I intended that Jennifer was making eggs in the morning, looking out the window at the blue skies and then suddenly realizing how much she enjoyed her romantic evening with her husband the night before and there was no hesitation with her intimacy. I told her that I was imagining her sitting on her couch and talking with her best friend over tea one afternoon, and when her friend asked how she was doing with her nightmares, Jennifer had to think about it because she couldn’t remember the last time she had a nightmare. Jennifer was on board and visibly energized about our shared intention!
GHOSTBUSTING
Jennifer was in a good mood, we were on the same page, and our connection and rapport was strong. Again, it is only with this setup that we could create any form of deeper change within her subconscious mind and effectively “ghostbust” or clear up the PTSD symptoms. Here is the ghostbusting technique I used with Jennifer:
I asked Jennifer to very briefly remember the event as best she could, starting with the beginning when she was still safe, and ending when she was safe again and the event was over. I asked her to separate the story into seven chapters, imagining it shown on an old black and white TV screen, played by cartoon characters. Then I had her close her eyes and imagine each chapter on the TV as I stated the chapters out loud, and out of order. This began to scramble how her mind was processing the memory. I went fast and made it difficult for her to keep up. At the end, she was a little tired from the exercise, but said she was “good” and only felt a bit uncomfortable during chapter four. So we did the process one more time much faster. Her response was “it was difficult to keep up!” but reported no uncomfortable feelings at all. Then I had her recall the event silently from memory, while looking at me, and check out how she felt. She reported no discomfort whatsoever and with a sense of disbelief, she stated “it seemed like it’s just a movie”.
RRT has many “ghostbusting” techniques that help rewire how the mind is processing a trauma, and keep the person totally present while recalling it. When someone is present while recalling a trauma, it is impossible to have the emotional response designed for dealing with the event itself. The subconscious mind suddenly gets the message through this ghostbusting experience, that the trauma is over. The mind cannot unlearn this information, as a new neural pathway is formed.
THE RESULTS
Jennifer wrote a testimonial a couple weeks later saying “… exceeded my expectations. After only 2.5 hours, the haze had lifted from my mind and the world looked brighter and more clear, I kept looking for the pain that was always there and no matter how hard I searched in myself, it was gone… I was in shock... Everyone says that working through trauma is hard… quite honestly, it was one of the easiest things that I have ever done”.
THE MAGIC OF RRT
As you can see, most components of RRT are simple – active listening, connecting with the client, explaining how the mind works, setting a specific intention and of course rewiring techniques called ghostbusting.
But there is an art in the cadence, flow, and connection in RRT which contributes to a deep impact. Some of this is tied in with components of hypnotherapy, called “accelerators” in RRT. This involves imagery and meditative experiences designed to get the message to the subconscious mind that the event is no longer happening. From the very beginning of an RRT session for PTSD, precise language choices (or conversational hypnosis) are also used to help the subconscious mind know that the trauma is in the past, keep the client present, and move the person forward. This is very different than the typical empathic responses in traditional talk therapy that have the therapist meeting the client where they are at. When ghostbusters and accelerators are facilitated by the therapist with skill, it is a true game changer.
In my online private practice group FreeMind Therapy, we specialize in treating PTSD for a variety of traumas including military trauma, sexual violence, childhood abuse, and accidents, to name a few. For my clients presenting with ongoing symptoms of PTSD, the results and testimonials from RRT are consistently successful, usually within one to two 2hr sessions.
If you or someone in your life has been suffering from PTSD, reach out to me for a free consultation. I always keep space open in my calendar for PTSD survivors so there is no delay in feeling better. If you are a mental health professional or coach, connect with me as I am always happy to chat about Rapid Resolution Therapy.
Stay connected here and watch for Part 3 of this PTSD series, where I will share real-life testimonies of RRT with PTSD survivors!
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Sheri Johnson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sheri is the Founder, Clinical Director and Psychotherapist for FreeMind Therapy, the only group practice in western Canada that specializes in a highly effective, short term, and painless PTSD treatment called Rapid Resolution Therapy (RRT). Sheri is also the Executive Director for the Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence, a nonprofit organization she co-developed out of Palm Beach, Florida. Holding a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Calgary, Sheri is working on some PTSD research at the moment, based in Florida.
