Flash Technique: A powerful Tool for Processing Trauma Quickly and with Minimal Disturbance

by Dr. Yakov Barton

From my experience treating trauma over the past few years, I have come to understand that much of our psychological suffering, particularly related to anxiety and self-worth, loops back to disturbing experiences from our past. The severity of these memories at first glance does not necessarily correlate with their impact on our current triggers. For most of us, this relationship is outside of our conscious awareness. The amazing thing is, by processing old traumas or “feeder memories,” we can dramatically improve our present day relationships, confidence, self-image, and overall ability to be calm and happy.

I received advanced training on Flash Technique, a trauma treatment intervention developed by Dr. Phillip Manfield. An offshoot of EMDR, this therapy tool can rapidly alleviate trauma associated with a disturbing memory or sequence. Since then, I have been blown away by its ease of use and fast-acting efficacy in a wide range of trauma applications. Flash Technique can lower a client’s subjective units of disturbance (SUDs) from a 10 or 9 to a 3 or 0 in as little as 5 minutes. This decrease in disturbance is often enduring and can can dramatically reduce or fully alleviate related symptoms, such as emotional triggers, flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigiliance, paranoia, and general anxiety. It can serve as a stand alone trauma processing technique or dramatically reduce disturbance levels (and thus avoidance or potential flooding during processing) associated with a specific trauma before moving into full EMDR treatment. More information on the use and mechanisms of Flash Technique can be found in the published article by Manfield et. al, Use of the Flash Technique in EMDR Therapy, as well as this recent blog post by Dr. Manfield:

By preventing clients from focusing on their disturbing memories, Flash Technique (FT) prevents the client from going into a traumatized state in which important parts of the brain necessary for resolving the memories are relatively unavailable.  The results have been startling. Earlier this year a study was published in which FT was used effectively with highly dissociative subjects in a group setting in a homeless shelter (Wong, 2019). Most recently, a research paper submitted for publication in June, 2019 reported the results of four almost identical studies involving totally 813 flash “sessions” of less than 15 minutes in duration conducted in a group format in which participants were given instructions that assisted them in performing the technique on themselves. Two of these studies were conducted in the United States, one in Australia, and one in Uganda. In the two U.S. studies, the mean disturbance level was reduced by over two thirds. In the other two studies, the reduction was over 80%. In all four studies, the results were highly significant (p<.001) and effect sizes were large. In all four studies mean benefits of FT were sustained or improved at four week follow-up. Moreover this technique has been shown to be extremely safe. In the four studies reported, only two sessions out of 813 reflected an increase, however slight, in [disturbance levels]. Both of these subjects then did a second session in which disturbance was reduced.