{"id":34139,"date":"2017-03-01T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T16:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=34139"},"modified":"2018-01-24T12:21:25","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T20:21:25","slug":"accelerated-resolution-therapy-art-quick-fix-for-ptsd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/accelerated-resolution-therapy-art-quick-fix-for-ptsd-0301175","title":{"rendered":"Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART): Quick Fix for PTSD?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RearImagine being able to make significant progress in healing from posttraumatic stress<\/a> in one therapy session. Several mental health practitioners using accelerated resolution therapy (ART) have told me of such stories.<\/p>\n

ART is a relatively new brief therapy for treating a variety of behavioral health issues. Effective relief has been shown to be achieved even for combat veterans in only three to five sessions (Kip et al., 2013). It is now being used in a number of U.S. Army hospitals, such as Walter Reed and Fort Belvoir, and is expected to expand through the armed services rapidly. The Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has recognized ART as\u00a0an evidence-based treatment for depression and depressive symptoms<\/a>, personal resilience<\/a> and self-concept, and trauma and stressor-related conditions (PTSD) (Accelerated Resolution Therapy, 2015).<\/p>\n

What Is ART?<\/h2>\n

ART is an eye-movement therapy. The person in therapy moves their eyes back and forth following the therapist\u2019s hand, and the therapist gives specific directions before each set of eye movements. ART draws on a number of other established and evidence-based therapies, such as cognitive behavioral theory<\/a>, gestalt<\/a>, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)<\/a>. However, it is unique in being a procedurally oriented therapy. Other therapies typically focus on the content of the person\u2019s thoughts and emotions.<\/p>\n

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Since ART is procedurally oriented, the person in therapy doesn\u2019t have to talk about what happened. This makes the approach great when\u00a0working with people who may have trouble talking about their emotions<\/a>, as might some individuals in the military. It also may be easier on the therapist, who doesn\u2019t have to experience secondary (vicarious) trauma<\/a> as a result of hearing about terrible things.<\/p>\n

ART Is Said to Work Quickly<\/h2>\n

Very rapid healing is a hallmark of accelerated resolution therapy. Many therapists trained in ART report people can heal from a single traumatic event\u2014such as an auto accident, assault, or witnessing an atrocity\u2014in as little as one session. Some therapists report healing phobias<\/a> in one session as well.<\/p>\n

One consideration when choosing a therapy is how likely the person is to complete the full course of treatment. The longer a therapy takes to complete, the less likely it is the person will complete it. Because it is such a brief treatment, more people may be likely to complete a course using ART.<\/span><\/p>\n

I recently watched the developer of ART, Laney Rosenzweig, heal a woman from two phobias in less than an hour. These very rapid results may seem unbelievable to someone familiar only with other therapies. Most of the evidence-based therapies for treating posttraumatic stress expect to take between 12 and 20 sessions to be effective. ART, meanwhile, has been shown to be effective in only three to five sessions in scientific studies of both military and civilian populations (Kip et al., 2012; Kip et al., 2013; Kip et al., 2014).\u00a0 It was even shown to be effective working with a population of homeless veterans (Kip et al., 2016). Some of them didn\u2019t complete treatment because they found jobs or housing, but despite this, a study found a success rate of over 50%.<\/p>\n

One consideration when choosing a therapy is how likely the person is to complete the full course of treatment. The longer a therapy takes to complete, the less likely it is the person will complete it. Because ART\u00a0is such a brief treatment, more people may be likely to complete a course using this approach to healing.<\/p>\n

How Does ART Work?<\/h2>\n

Research is still pending, but eye movements used in ART are believed to have some link to the sort of eye movement seen in REM sleep, when the brain is believed to be processing the day\u2019s events. We used to believe memories<\/a> were fixed and that accessing one was like taking a book from a library, looking at it, and then putting it back. In fact, we have found accessing a memory makes it plastic; it can then be altered by the sort of techniques employed by ART. After four to six hours, the memory reconsolidates and the altered (new) memory is stored.<\/p>\n

Who Can Benefit from ART?<\/h2>\n

ART has been used with a wide variety of people. Children as young as 4 have been treated with ART, and I recently utilized the approach to help\u00a0a 16-year-old male with an IQ of 66. This method\u00a0has been researched in both military and civilian populations, and\u00a0similar effectiveness results have been obtained within\u00a0both populations. (Kip et al., 2015).<\/p>\n

Basically, three things are necessary for ART to be successful. The person receiving the treatment must be motivated to heal, capable of tracking the therapist\u2019s hand with their eyes, and able to hold on to a thought.<\/p>\n

How ART Differs from EMDR<\/h2>\n

Col. Charles Hoge, an Army psychiatrist<\/a> who trained in both EMDR and ART, compared the two and noted 10 points of difference (Hoge, 2015). Some of the major ones are:<\/p>\n