The ‘REWIND’ technique is a non-intrusive, safe and highly effective psychological method for de-traumatising people, especially around birth and is performed once a person is in a state of deep relaxation.
When they are fully relaxed, they are encouraged to bring their experience to the surface and then are calmed down again by being guided to recall or imagine a place where they feel totally safe and at ease. Their relaxed state is then deepened and they are asked to imagine that, in their special safe place, they have a TV set and a DVD player with a remote control facility. They are asked to imagine floating to one side, out of body, and to watch themselves watching the screen, without actually seeing the picture. They watch themselves watching a ‘film’ of the traumatic event that is still affecting them. The film begins at a point before the trauma occurred and ends at a point at which the trauma is over and they feel safe again. They are then asked, in their imagination, to float back into their body and experience themselves back in the event – they can do this part as many times as they need.
The technique is safe, quick and painless, and has the advantage of being non-voyeuristic – it does not need the person to discuss the event in any depth or analyse it, meaning that it prevents them from being re-traumatised which is something that can happen when the person keeps repeating their birth story.
REWIND doesn’t remove the memory – the memory stays intact, but the emotions around it are what you choose them to be – so you could say for example you want to be calm and at peace with your birth experienced.
Juno PMHS offer subsidised therapy through Tricia Murray. Please get in contact with Tricia directly (hello@triciamurray.co.uk, www.triciamurray.co.uk).