Rewind for PTSD can help stop or reduce your nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, anxiety and avoidance after a traumatic event.
- You will not have to talk about your trauma
- You can get better after only 2-3 sessions, 2 weeks apart
- The process is easy to understand and to follow
- Rewind has an 85% reported success rate
Commonly reported benefits of the Rewind Technique:
- no more unwanted memories, nightmares or flashbacks
- ability to speak about the trauma without feeling overly anxious
- increased confidence
- more positive mood
- no more fear
What is Rewind Therapy?
The Rewind Therapy is a recognised treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
It was developed in the early 90s by Dr David Muss, the founder of The International Association for Rewind Trauma Therapy (IARTT).
Today Rewind is practised widely by trained therapists, including within the NHS.
You can read some objective appraisals of Rewind at PTSD UK.
How do you know if you are having a flashback?
A flashback is when something triggers you to go back to a past traumatic event.
Flashbacks are more than a memory. Instead, they can make you feel like the trauma you experienced is happening all over again.
For instance, if you experienced a car crash, you may feel back in that same car, with the same emotions you did at the time, acting in the same way and even having the same physical sensations.
During a flashback, you can experience sweating, confusion, increased heart rate, seeing images of the traumatic event, feeling pain and other physical sensations, hearing words or sounds related to the event, or feeling disconnected from your body and your emotions.
How does Rewind work in practice?
The basic principle is that you will learn how to visualise your traumatic memory as a short film, without having to re-tell or re-live it. This reduces the chances of you being re-traumatised by having to tell your story to the therapist.
You will then be taught how to ‘rewind’ the film in such a way that it is processed and stored in normal memory under your control.
Following Rewind, in the vast majority of cases, involuntary recalls of the trauma, such as nightmares or flashbacks, will stop or greatly reduce.
You will still be able to remember the event as something that happened in the past, instead of it feeling like it is happening again.
Typically, Rewind takes 2-3 sessions. The process will be explained fully and you will get a chance to practice it first.
If you find doing that the Rewind triggers you and makes it difficult for you to focus, we will spend part of the first session practising grounding techniques until we find one or several that work for you. This will then help you to stay focused and to complete the Rewind.
Each Rewind deals with one single traumatic event.
If you feel you need support with more than one event, you have the option to Rewind each event separately, usually up to 2-3 separate events. We would usually start with the event that causes you the most difficulties in your present life.
My Rewind qualifications
My Rewind training was conducted and certified by the International Association for Rewind Trauma Therapy.
I also undertook Rewind training with the NHS Psychological and Counselling Service during my work with them as a Wellbeing Practitioner in 2022/23.
Rewind Therapy
- Minimum 2 sessions required
- 2 weeks between sessions
- Each session lasts 50 minutes
- Total cost for 2 sessions: £120 payable in advance
- Therapy can be in person at one of two locations or online
To book Rewind therapy, please email me at ioana@alevacounselling.co.uk or text me at 07392 617 911.