More about BWRT

I discovered BWRT through personal experience. Here’s my story: In 2019 I suffered a mental breakdown after a couple of years of trying to cope with not living in my Family after my Marriage broke down. I went to see a Psychiatrist, who diagnosed me with Complex PTSD and ADHD.Due to my therapeutic background, I was aware of new developments in neuroscience-based therapies such as EMDR. My local NHS trust didn’t have any EMDR Therapists available. But I was only offered a course of talking Therapy that failed to teach me anything I didn’t already know.

For the next few weeks, I could barely eat, drink or even talk without being triggered into the kind of visceral anxiety where my whole body went into a state of shock and residual horror.

As a psychotherapist, I knew what was happening and could try any of the calming techniques in my ‘toolkit’. But I was constantly getting triggered – and the trigger was almost anything to do with my being rejected.

I started looking into alternatives to EMDR, with half a mind on re-training. Funding was available due to the Pandemic on condition I would be available for front line workers in trauma.

My friend and colleague had recently completed her training in BWRT. All I knew at the time was that it worked for all kinds of trauma. I called her in interest and a bit of desperation and she said she could do a BWRT session with me over the phone. My presenting problem was being rejected by my father. In less than 30 minutes, something changed.

At the time, I was in such a state that I didn’t listen properly (and in fact, I misunderstood an important instruction), but I found that it helped me a lot. My distress level went from 10/10 to about 5/10. I felt an instant improvement and could function in the world once more. I felt happy to go back into training for level 1 BWRT, I was also able to complete my treatment over the following few months, using both Level 1 and level 2 BWRT.

From that moment on, I couldn’t wait to start BWRT practice myself. I completed my certified BWRT level 1 training in June 2020 and after experiencing even more benefits in my own life, completed an additional Level 2 course in 2021

Only psychologists, psychiatrists and registered counsellors and Psychotherapists can undergo BWRT training and implement the standardised protocols of the technique, but each clinician may apply it at different times according to their approach, or have a slightly different approach to administering it.

If you and I agree that BWRT is likely to be helpful for you, we’ll start by identifying the issue we’re going to work on. BWRT is great when there’s a specific unhelpful pattern, something or someone that you’re grieving, or a traumatic memory that you’re struggling with.

We start with a full explanation of BWRT. Then a cognitive interview to allow a better understanding of you. Then just one BWRT session to see whether you like it and feel like it could help you. If you want to continue, we make a list of issues and can begin tackling that list systematically.

Most importantly, BWRT is driven by you as a client. You choose what to work on, and when. This fits in well with my collaborative style as a Psychotherapist and Hypnotherapist. It’s possible to do two or three BWRT sessions in a row (within one therapy appointment) but you might find that one is enough – it’s your choice.

Chronological time isn’t important to your brain, which is why you react in the here-and-now when you’re triggered or when you have a flashback. Your response is always in the present, even if the root of the response is long in the past. 

It doesn’t matter which bad memory or unhelpful response you choose to work with, or how far back in the past (or how recent) it is. What matters is that when you think about it, or when the picture is in your mind, you feel as if you’re “in that moment”, as if you’re experiencing (or almost experiencing) the reaction you had at the time the situation or event happened.

The traumatic story of my experience actually being told by my father to f**k off is a really good example of this. Subsequently any perceived rejection or feeling different or outside looking in would trigger anxiety and depression and a feeling of hopelessness

I’ll spend some time introducing the technique to you, and explain to you what I’m going to do (even if you’ve read this article). Then I’ll guide you step by step through each part of the BWRT process. Most of the time your eyes will be closed because we want to remove any visual input that might distract you.

You’re in a safe space, even if you do briefly have to think about the memory or event or situation which upsets you, and you might feel triggered in that moment. This part is very brief and lasts only seconds, not even minutes. Some clients feel afraid to “go there” but the upsetting response you feel when you get triggered is something you’re already living with.

Most likely, you get triggered at odd times and places in a way that you can’t control. It’s much better to briefly think about that memory in a safe space while knowing that this process is going to relieve or remove your unhelpful reaction.

I’ll then guide you through the steps in which you actively use your imagination to create different ‘memories’. At one point I’ll loop very quickly through all the different visualisations or memories, and you’ll try your best to keep up. You won’t be able to, but the act of trying to keep up with me is important.

These active visualisations and the looping process disrupt the original, unhelpful pattern-and-response, and permanently replace it with a new, more helpful pattern-and-response.

BWRT therapy isn’t hypnosis because you don’t go into any kind of trance. Indeed, the success of BWRT depends on you being wide awake and using your imagination. It can feel a bit hypnotic in that you focus completely on the ‘tasks’ that you’re doing in your mind. Yet you are completely conscious throughout the process and you use your conscious mind in a deliberate, intentional way.

If the memory we work on is something traumatic that haunts you or something that often bothers you, it’s likely you’ll feel instant relief when we complete the BWRT therapy process. After my experience, I was able to study and feel I had a worthwhile contribution to make,  like a normal person without going into acute anxiety, and could go back to the BWRT Practitioner to finish my treatment.

You could feel not very different at all. Only when you encounter a situation that would have triggered you in the past, will you discover that you’re not triggered. Perhaps after some time, you’ll realise that the intrusive thought or image that used to bother you no longer shows up in your mind.

BWRT has only been around for a few years but there’s already a large and growing body of evidence supporting this client-centred technique. It works for all kinds of people, from all age groups and cultures. What’s more, it works for a wide range of mental health difficulties. 

Whether you do BWRT online or in person, one of the very best things about BWRT therapy is that it cannot harm you. Even if you are one of the (very rare) people who don’t find it helpful, it can’t hurt you or leave you worse off in any way.

Your preparation for your online BWRT session with me is pretty much the same as any online therapy session. It’s ideal if the following conditions are in place:

1. You’re in a silent, private space – it’s better if there aren’t any interruptions. Ideally, your phone is on Do Not Disturb or Airplane Mode, and no one tries to open your door
2. You have a good, clear internet connection. It’s a bit frustrating for both of us if the connection suddenly glitches in the middle of you doing a visualisation.

You have some tissues. Just like any therapy session, the possibility exists that you might shed some tears.

It’s not a big deal if something goes wrong or the session gets interrupted in some way. If Zoom does freeze or your cat jumps on you – we can simply reconnect and carry on. Because BWRT is a process that consists of several stages – if something interrupts us we don’t have to start the whole thing again from the beginning. We will just return to the beginning of the stage that we were doing when the interruption happened.

If the internet really can’t reconnect, then I we can rearrange to continue the session when the internet is fixed.

In the unlikely event that you feel that BWRT wasn’t helpful, you and I will unpack the process. If there was some kind of miscommunication between us that impeded the process, we’ll address it.

BWRT replaces an unhelpful automatic response pattern in your brain with a better, more helpful response. It doesn’t turn you into a robot with no feelings at all. Frequently the emotions left after BWRT therapy are neutral or even happy, but you will clearly remember everything that happened. And depending on your specific experience, you may still feel sadness or grief.

But it will be normal sadness or grief. The feelings will no longer be traumatic, unbearable, or intrusive.

It is very unusual to get through life without pain, loss, bad experiences and even traumas. These form patterns in your mind that stay with you and block you on your journey towards reaching your full potential. Within a safe therapeutic relationship, BWRT is a kind of key that unlocks:

• The horrible patterns in your brain that prevent you from living your life to the full
• The phobias that make  you scared of things that other people don’t fear
• The unhealthy response patterns in your relationships

That’s up to you. Some clients are attracted to the idea of needing just a couple of BWRT sessions to release them from something that is blocking them. Others use BWRT as part of their therapy journey, in conjunction with talk therapy. Some people prefer to stick to talk therapy alone (which is a beautiful journey in a different way). Whichever approach feels right for you is probably the best for you. After all, you’re the expert on yourself.

If you’d like to find out more about BWRT or to try a session with me to reprogram your habitual responses, please get in touch to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.

You can also call my clinic, 07985205341 to make an appointment with me.