ART helps people change how troubling memories are stored in the brain, reducing emotional and physical discomfort. It’s designed to process traumatic experiences and lessen symptoms like anxiety and depression.

Our brains naturally update and reorganize memories each time we recall them. ART guides us to intentionally choose how we want those memories stored, focusing on the lessons we want to learn. For example, instead of focusing on the pain or struggles we've faced, we can shift the narrative to highlight our strength and resilience.

During ART sessions, the therapist guides the individual through eye movements (similar to those that occur when dreaming, and used in other therapies such as EMDR). These eye movements are relaxing and help the brain quickly reprocess information. As the brain reorganizes the memory, it becomes less distressing.

While guiding eye movements, the therapist also guides clients to process either the problem scene or the body sensations that comes up as a result of the problem scene. Usually the client spends 30 seconds to a minute on a task, so they are not stuck seeing distressing images or feeling distressing sensations for long.

ART has been shown to be effective for a range of issues, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD, panic attacks, disordered eating, addictions, and more.

In addition, ART is helpful for managing everyday stress and improving performance in various situations.

Consent is key in ART—clients never have to share details about the memory they are processing and always have control over how to proceed, so ART is particularly helpful when there are details that clients don’t want to share.

I love using ART with neurodivergent brains! It:

-reinforces body-based regulation strategies;

-requires very little language (you never have to tell me anything about the scene you are processing, so it reduces the challenge of translating experience into language);

-can allow the processing of multiple connected events at the same time (studies show that autistic folk have a significantly higher experience of trauma than neurotypical individuals, and therefore cPTSD is more common);

-is very structured - which I have observed to be helpful for those with ADHD. ADHD brains also tend to be very good at reprocessing information, often completing a task before I’ve even finished describing it!