|
TAKING THE DISTURBANCE OUT OF DISTURBING MEMORIES:
A New Paradigm
Live Presentation
Thursday September 26, 9am - 10am PDT
with optional further discussion
10am - 11am.
The first hour will be a demonstration of, and the opportunity to directly experience, an adaptation of the Flash Technique, which reduces or eliminates the impact of a previously traumatic and disturbing memory without having to directly confront the
disturbing memory itself.
Personal sharing of trauma memories
will NOT be required.
No previous experience with or knowledge of EMDR or other trauma-informed therapies will be required.
In the second (optional) hour, we will discuss emerging research and clinical data representing this New Paradigm for treating and healing traumatic and disturbing memories:
The current paradigm for conventionally recommended "Evidence-Based Psychotherapies" (EBP's) for trauma and PTSD assumes that conscious exposure to the memory, even if titrated in small doses, is necessary,
While it can be effective, such exposure therapy can be distressing, which creates problems with treatment acceptance and dropouts.
New Paradigm:
The August, 2024 Psychological Bulletin article (Siegel & Peterson) reviewed results from several laboratories showing that "Exposure" can be effectively delivered unconsciously—and thus without causing traumatized or phobic people to experience distress. These results also shed additional light on consciousness and resilience.
Excerpts from Siegel & Peterson, 2024a:
“Research on unconscious fear responses has recently been translated into experimental paradigms for reducing fear that bypass conscious awareness of the phobic stimulus and thus do not induce distress. These paradigms stand in contrast to exposure therapies for anxiety disorders, which require direct confrontation of feared situations and thus are distressing…
...Clinical Implications:
The evidence supporting the efficacy and mechanistic basis of unconscious exposure for specific phobia is considerable. The replicated findings we have reviewed indicate that these interventions reduce a variety of fear-related responses in highly phobic persons, including real-life avoidance and reported fear of the feared situation, with at least a moderate effect size. The fMRI, physiological, and ERP findings establish a neurophysiological basis for this efficacy and suggest it occurs through unconscious extinction learning, which may be related to the reconsolidation of fear memories.....”
Siegel, P., & Peterson, B. S. (2024). "All we have to fear is fear itself”: Paradigms for reducing fear by preventing awareness of it. Psychological Bulletin. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ bul0000437
Siegel & Peterson's second August 2024 article on the new paradigm of unconscious exposure:
Siegel P, Peterson BS. (2024). "Advancing the treatment of anxiety disorders in transition-age youth: a review of the therapeutic effects of unconscious exposure. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2024 Aug 11. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.14037. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39128857.
Excerpts from Siegel & Peterson, 2024b:
"Methods: A PRISMA-based search yielded 20 controlled experiments based on three paradigms that tested if fear-related responses could be reduced without conscious awareness in highly phobic, transition-age youth: 14 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 5 fMRI studies (1 was also an RCT), 4 psychophysiological studies (3 were also RCTs), and 1 ERP study. We conducted meta-analyses of outcomes where feasible.
Results: Unconscious exposure interventions significantly (1) reduced avoidance behavior (range of Cohen's d = 0.51-0.95) and self-reported fear (d = 0.45-1.25) during in vivo exposure to the feared situation; (2) reduced neurobiological indicators of fear (d = 0.54-0.62) and concomitant physiological arousal (d = 0.55-0.64); (3) activated neural systems supporting fear regulation more strongly than visible exposure to the same stimuli (d = 1.2-1.5); (4) activated regions supporting fear regulation that mediated the reduction of avoidance behavior (d = 0.70); (5) evoked ERPs suggesting encoding of extinction memories (d = 2.13); and (6) had these effects without inducing autonomic arousal or subjective fear.
Conclusions: Unconscious exposure interventions significantly reduce a variety of symptomatic behaviors with mostly moderate effect sizes in transition-age youth with specific phobias. fMRI and physiological findings establish a neurophysiological basis for this efficacy, and suggest it occurs through extinction learning. Unconscious exposure was well tolerated, entirely unassociated with drop out, and is highly scalable for clinical practice. However, a number of limitations must be addressed to assess potential clinical impacts, including combining unconscious exposure with exposure therapy to boost treatment acceptance and efficacy."
The Flash Technique:
Developed independently from neurobiological laboratories cited by Siegel & Peterson, Philip Manfield and colleagues over the past seven years have been teaching a non-exposure-based process for traumatic memories that now has over 21 peer-reviewed articles - the Flash Technique. This intervention involves subliminal or nonconscious exposure to a wide-range of disturbing memories, has been effective with adults and children, and is a low-intensity individual or group process which rapidly lessens the distress of disturbing and traumatic memories
See a brief discussion of the Flash Technique here:
Flash Technique discussion, Drs. David Bullard and Bessel van der Kolk
and
UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences seminars 2022 and 2023
Three recent peer-reviewed articles
on Flash Technique are:
Manfield, Engel, Greenwald & Bullard (May, 2021). Flash Technique in a scalable low-intensity group intervention for COVID-19-related stress in healthcare providers. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research Vol 15 Issue 2,
https://doi.org/10.1891/EMDR-D-20-00053
article link
Cox, D., Fellows, J. L., & Goulding, J. M. (2022). Patient perspective on a novel psychological therapy approach (flash technique) for neurofibromatosis. Clinical and Experimental Dermatology.
https://doi.org/10.1111/ced.15064
article link
Yaşar, A. B., Emre Konuk, Kavakçı, Ö., Uygun, E., Gündoğmuş, İ., Taygar Afra, S., & Uludağ, E. (2022). A Randomized-Controlled Trial of EMDR Flash Technique on Traumatic Symptoms, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Life of Quality With Individuals Who Have Experienced a Traffic Accident. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.845481
article link
21 peer-reviewed articles on the
Flash Technique will be
provided to workshop participants.
Moderator:
Beverly Lehr, PhD,
Adult Outpatient Department of Psychiatry, UCSF
Presenters:
David Bullard, PhD, is clinical professor - volunteer, in the UCSF Departments of Medicine and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences. He is a licensed psychologist and marriage and family therapist, with advanced training in the trauma-informed therapies EMDR and Somatic Experiencing. David has been teaching an adaptation of the Flash Technique for the past six years, including for the San Francisco Psychological Association; University of California, San Francisco; SF Zen Center; and TibetHouse.US in New York City. David also presented at the First Annual International Flash Technique Conference and at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in 2022.
In 2023, David received the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology Award from the The California Psychological Association.
Celeste Himanek, MA, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor, speaker, consultant, and author who is passionate about helping people change their lives. Celeste is an empathetic therapist and enthusiastic educator who uses EMDR to help people move from trauma to transformation. Having worked with hundreds of individuals, groups, and families in agencies, private practice, hospitals, schools, and universities, and with over 17 years of practice, Celeste finds the Flash Technique an exciting addition to her work. She loves working with clients at her new healing space in Southern Oregon, where she offers Intensive Trauma-focused Retreats. To learn more about her work, visit: https://www.realizationscounselingcenter.com/
David and Celeste have no financial ties to Dr. Manfield or to the FlashTechnique.com seminars.
"I have attended David's previous presentations about the newest and absolutely the most interesting and powerful direction of the treatment of trauma. It will change how you view trauma treatment and possibilities for healing. Highly recommended."
Nancy Haugen, PhD, associate clinical professor, department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. Chairperson for disaster mental health for Marin County Psychological Association.
"I recently did a day-long EMDR therapy intensive/retreat with Celeste and recommend the experience whole-heartedly. I had contacted Celeste because I had already discovered EMDR and knew how amazingly effective it can be, and she far exceeded the already high hopes I had with her insight, skill and the safe energetic space she creates for doing that work.”
LW, Oregon
"I have had the pleasure of knowing David for several years and admire his ability to bring kindness and humor into his interaction with others with such ease. He is most known for his work with trauma and relationships, where, in addition to his professional expertise as a clinical psychologist, he also brings important Buddhist insights as part of his therapeutic approach. I recommend him as a caring and entertaining teacher."
Thupten Jinpa, PhD, principal English translator to H.H. the Dalai Lama since 1985, founder and chairman of the Compassion Institute and author of A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives (2015).
"We dug into intensely personal and deep places and I was able to stay with the process as Celeste guided me through it. I walked away feeling cleansed and ready to move forward in my life with more success than I had before. I can’t thank Celeste enough for the opportunity to move through these challenges. I can honestly say my life is better since working with her."
LS, AZ
Thursday, September 26, 9am-10am PDT
with optional additional discussion 10am-11am PDT
FREE for UCSF staff and faculty
| 
