Accelerated Resolution Therapy

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is an evidenced-based practice that uses eye movements combined with guided voluntary image replacement in order to provide relief from distressing symptoms and sensations. You “keep the knowledge” about what is distressing, but “lose the pain” associated with those images and sensations. Similar to Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), it can help you to desensitize and reprocess disturbing sensations and emotions and then replace them with more helpful or neutral ones. ART is different from talk therapy as it does not require you to talk about any traumatic event or the problem you are trying to overcome. In fact, you don’t even have to tell your therapist what you are trying to resolve! ART will work well for you if you are unable or prefer not to discuss distressing events.

ART is utilized to treat trauma, grief, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, phobias, and other conditions. If you are struggling with traumatic or disturbing images, feeling emotionally dysregulated by sensations or memories, or finding that memories, images, or sensations are disruptive to your life, then ART can likely help you to process these sensations and replace them. ART has been described to “soften the edges” on the pain associated with distressing memories.

ART follows a treatment protocol for every session. The therapist guides you through it step by step, cueing you when to do eye movements and imagine the problem you are working on. It is safe and often yields quick results, sometimes in just one to two sessions. The amount of sessions can depend on the complexity of the issue and individual circumstances.

Although you do not need to discuss any trauma or distress, a full intake is required prior to your first ART session to further discuss your situation and coping skills. An ART session may run over 60 minutes so we would work together to plan accordingly. It is also recommended that you incorporate rest on the day you do ART since you may become fatigued through the eye movements and processing. ART sessions are currently only offered virtually.

Read more about ART here or check out this Ted Talk to get a better understanding of how ART can work. It’s totally normal to have questions about ART, so please feel free to reach out with any inquiries.