The EMDR Flash Technique is a recently developed, highly innovative, evidenced based therapeutic intervention developed by Dr. Philip Manfield that reduces the disturbance associated with traumatic or other distressing memories, without having to focus on these events.
Using the EMDR Flash Technique before starting the EMDR Trauma Protocol means that people are able to process traumatic memories during their EMDR therapy that they might otherwise find overwhelming or intolerable.
Like EMDR, the Flash Technique uses bilateral stimulation – ideally tapping – to help resolve unprocessed traumatic events stored in the brain. The Flash Technique can support adults of all ages with a wide range of mental health issues, including C-PTSD, PTSD, anxiety, OCD, depression and more.
• Your therapist will ask you to identify a traumatic memory, or a cluster (first, worst, most recent) of linked traumatic events, and to score this on a scale of 0 (neutral / no emotional disturbance) to 10 (the most disturbing you can imagine).
• Your therapist will ask you to identify a positive, engaging focus – ideally a moment when you felt happy and good in your body, or a positive activity, visualisation or piece of music that makes you feel good.
• Your therapist will start tapping with you, while you concentrate on your positive, engaging focus.
• Every so often, your therapist will say ‘Flash!’, and you will be asked to blink three to five times, not think about your traumatic memory, and continue tapping and concentrating on your positive, engaging focus.
• Your therapist will periodically ask you to interrupt your tapping and positive, engaging focus to think briefly about your traumatic memory / events, and to score it, before returning to your tapping and positive engaging focus.
• As you tap and focus, your emotional disturbance linked to your traumatic event/s should significantly, sustainably, reduce.
1. Reduced emotional discomfort during therapy sessions.
2. More rapid processing of traumatic events due to increased tolerability.
3. Supports the EMDR Trauma Protocol.
4. Provides severely traumatised people with a more emotionally containable therapy experience.
If you would like to see the EMDR Flash Technique in action:
• Dr. Philip Manfield – Flash Technique, two short videos
• YouTube Flash Technique Demonstration: Processing an Assault
If you would like to discover how the EMDR Flash Technique can support you, please contact Karen Croft at The Eaves.
For some people, the thought of talking about traumatic experiences can feel overwhelming. Techniques such as the EMDR Flash Technique can offer a gentler way to begin working with difficult memories, as part of an appropriate therapeutic approach.
If you’re considering therapy for trauma, PTSD, anxiety or other difficulties connected to past experiences, finding a practitioner who is experienced in the approach that feels right for you can make an important difference.
You can explore our practitioners and their areas of experience to find someone who may be a good fit for you.