Evidence-Based Approach to Resolving Trauma and Distressing Memories
Accelerated resolution therapy is a structured, evidence-based treatment that uses eye movements and guided imagery to help the brain reprocess distressing memories, often producing significant relief in fewer sessions than many traditional trauma therapies. At Transformation Health Services, our clinicians offer this approach across our Virginia Beach, Richmond, Suffolk, Fredericksburg, and Brooklyn locations for individuals dealing with trauma, PTSD, anxiety, grief, and other distressing experiences who want an efficient, well-researched pathway to relief. For many clients, this approach reaches a level of resolution in a handful of sessions that other modalities take considerably longer to achieve.
What is Accelerated Resolution Therapy?
Laney Rosenzweig developed accelerated resolution therapy and combines elements of multiple therapeutic traditions, including eye movement techniques similar to those used in EMDR, as well as guided imagery, voluntary memory reconsolidation, and brief psychotherapy. The treatment is designed to help the brain process and store distressing memories in a way that removes their emotional intensity, while leaving the factual memory intact. A distinguishing feature of this model is its use of imagery rescripting, which allows clients to consciously transform how a distressing memory is held in mind without dwelling extensively on the original distress.
How Accelerated Resolution Therapy Works
Sessions follow a structured, replicable protocol designed for efficient processing. Here is how the process unfolds:
Identifying the target memory:
Your therapist helps you pinpoint the specific distressing memory or experience to focus on in the session, along with the negative beliefs or sensations associated with it.
Eye movement processing:
Using a structured set of horizontal eye movements while briefly bringing the memory to mind, the brain is guided through a reprocessing sequence that reduces the memory’s emotional charge.
Voluntary image replacement:
A distinguishing feature of this approach is that you are guided to consciously transform distressing images associated with the memory into something less disturbing.
Checking and consolidating the shift:
Sessions conclude by checking the memory’s emotional intensity and ensuring the shift is stable, often revealing that the factual memory remains. In contrast, its distressing emotional charge has substantially reduced.
Benefits of Accelerated Resolution Therapy
- Significant reduction in the emotional intensity of traumatic or distressing memories, often achieved more quickly than many traditional trauma therapies
- Relief from PTSD symptoms, including intrusive thoughts, nightmares, and heightened reactivity, without requiring extensive verbal processing
- Resolution that does not require detailed disclosure of traumatic events, making the work accessible for clients who find extensive verbal recounting difficult
- A typically brief course of treatment, often producing meaningful change in a smaller number of sessions than other trauma-focused approaches
- Relief that extends beyond single-incident trauma to grief, anxiety, phobias, and other distressing experiences
Who Benefits from Accelerated Resolution Therapy?
Accelerated resolution therapy is appropriate for a range of trauma and distress presentations. It is commonly a strong fit when:
- You are experiencing PTSD, acute stress, or trauma-related symptoms following a specific distressing event or experience
- You want an efficient approach and are looking for meaningful relief in a smaller number of sessions than some other trauma therapies require
- You find it difficult or distressing to talk about traumatic events in extensive verbal detail, and prefer an approach that does not require that
- You are processing grief, loss, or a specific distressing memory that continues to cause significant emotional pain
- Other trauma-focused approaches have not fully resolved your symptoms, and a different evidence-based modality may be worth exploring
An initial consultation at any of our Virginia Beach, Richmond, Suffolk, Fredericksburg, or Brooklyn locations will confirm whether this approach is the right fit for you.
The Accelerated Resolution Therapy Experience at Transformation Health Services
Here is what treatment typically looks like:
Initial assessment
Your therapist gathers your history and identifies the specific memories or experiences to focus on in treatment, confirming that this approach is appropriate for your situation.
Structured processing session
Using the eye movement and imagery protocol, your therapist guides you through reprocessing the target memory at a pace that respects your comfort level throughout.
Voluntary image transformation
You are guided to consciously reshape distressing imagery associated with the memory, a distinctive and often powerful way this approach produces relief.
Review and consolidation
Sessions conclude by checking the stability of the shift and addressing any additional targets, with most clients noticing a clear reduction in distress by the end of the process.
Why Choose Transformation Health Services for Accelerated Resolution Therapy?
Clinicians trained in this specific protocol
Our therapists are trained in this structured model and apply it with the fidelity required to produce its documented, efficient outcomes.
An efficient, well-researched option
For clients seeking meaningful relief without an extended course of treatment, this approach offers a well-supported, time-conscious pathway.
Coordinated with other care when needed
For clients also engaged in other individual or family services within our practice, this work can be integrated into a broader treatment plan.
Available across five locations
Sessions are offered at our Virginia Beach, Richmond, Suffolk, Fredericksburg, and Brooklyn offices, with consistent clinical standards across all sites.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both approaches use eye movements as part of memory reprocessing, but this model adds specific techniques, such as voluntary image replacement, and tends to follow a briefer, more standardized protocol. Many clients who have tried EMDR find this approach produces faster results, though both are evidence-based, and your clinician can help determine which is the better fit for you.
No. The factual memory of what happened remains intact. What changes is the emotional intensity and distress connected to the memory, allowing you to recall the event without being overwhelmed by it.
No. This is one of the more distinctive features of this approach. You do not need to provide an extensive verbal account of the traumatic event for processing to be effective, thereby making it accessible to people who find detailed disclosure difficult.
Many clients experience significant relief from a single-incident trauma in one to five sessions, considerably fewer than some other trauma therapies require. More complex or longstanding difficulties may require additional sessions, which your therapist will discuss after the initial assessment.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If you are ready for an efficient, evidence-based path to processing distressing memories, Transformation Health Services is here to help. Contact us to schedule a consultation at any of our locations in Virginia Beach, Richmond, Suffolk, Fredericksburg, or Brooklyn.
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