Online trauma therapy in Arkansas

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Break the chains of painful memories and unlock the way forward with a trained therapist.

Explore the Flash Technique for reducing the distress of painful thoughts and memories associated with trauma and PTSD.

Do you have fears or memories that are so distressing that it’s hard to even bring them up in therapy?

There are things you want to bring up in therapy but the idea of even recalling the events, memories, or thoughts activates you. Your heart races. Your palms sweat. The mere thought of bringing it up with your therapist makes you feel like you’re right back in that moment when the hurt happened. The pain is too great to discuss.

And so you just… don’t.

The thoughts and memories continue to haunt you, but you’re overwhelmed any time you try to dig deep into them. You want to work on them. You want to take back the power but it’s hard to even start.

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The Flash Technique can offer a way forward.

Developed by Dr. Philip Manfield, the Flash Technique is a recently-developed method for reducing the distress associated with traumatic and painful memories and thoughts. Originally developed as part of the preparation phase of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), it has been found to be useful on its own. It is now recognized as an evidence-based therapeutic tool outside of EMDR.

While the Flash Technique also uses “bilateral stimulation” (stimulating both sides of the body) like eye movement or, more often, tapping on your own shoulders and legs, the key difference is that you don’t talk about the distressing memories or thoughts related to your trauma.

Instead, you talk about a “positively engaging focus.” In everyday words, that means you talk about something you like talking about! This may be a trip you took, a favorite movie, hobbies, or even singing your favorite song.  You only think about the hard stuff you want to work on briefly, just enough to connect with it mentally without getting hijacked by it.

It may sound too good to be true.

After all, you’ve been struggling for a while now. You might even worry that not struggling somehow invalidates your suffering.

But it’s not magic.

The Flash Technique doesn’t mean everything goes away. It offers a way to lower the distress you feel when you think of your traumas so that you can begin to focus on reclaiming your life rather than struggling with the pain of your fears and memories.

The Flash Technique can help you…

  • Lower the distress you feel when bringing up certain thoughts or memories.

  • Expose the blocks that keep you from moving past the hurt.

  • Free you of the debilitating triggers that keep you from working on the things you really want to work on in therapy.

  • Empower you to look to the future and build the life you want.

    Have more questions? Check the FAQ below or click the button to schedule a free, 20-minute call with no strings attached to see if you feel like we’d work well together.

Break the cycle of pain and suffering that keeps you stuck where you are in therapy.

FAQ for the Flash Technique

  • Clients are often surprised to find that they may lower their distress levels in 1-3 sessions dedicated to using the Flash Technique. Sometimes, however, it may involve a little more exploration to find the core memory that is at the heart of the distress.  Sometimes the thing clients think is the source of their distress is actually part of a greater problem - and finding the core of that larger problem can take a little more work.

  • It can be, however it is often used along with other trauma-informed therapy such as EMDR or Internal Family Systems Theory (IFS).

    The Flash-Technique is not a magic wand that will make all of your problems go away. Rather, it is a tool for lowering the distress you feel so that you can feel safer and more comfortable doing the work you really want to focus on in creating a life of meaning and purpose.

  • The Flash Technique generally works for things that are moderately to highly stressful. Imagine a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being not very stressful and 10 being super stressful!  The Flash Technique works well for things that you might rate at a 5-6 or above.  

    It may not be as effective for things that don’t bring a lot of stress. Those things can then be addressed with other forms of psychotherapy.

  • You certainly can. I’m happy to help work on your distress levels so that you can then feel more empowered to work with your other therapist.

    We’ll coordinate with your current therapist to ensure we are both aligned with your desired outcomes and that your existing therapist is on board with us briefly working together.