Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may manifest in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, serious accident, terrorist act, war/combat, rape or have been threatened with death, sexual violence or serious injury.

PTSD has been known by many names such as “shell shock” during World War I years and “combat fatigue” after World War II however, PTSD does not just happen to combat veterans; it can occur in people from any ethnicity, nationality, culture and of any age.

Symptoms of PTSD fall into four categories. Specific symptoms can vary in severity.

Intrusion: Intrusive thoughts such as repeated, involuntary memories; distressing dreams; or flashbacks of the traumatic event. Flashbacks may be so vivid that people feel they are re-living the traumatic experience or seeing it before their eyes.

Avoidance: Avoiding reminders of the traumatic event may include avoiding people, places, activities, objects and situations that may trigger distressing memories. People may try to avoid remembering or thinking about the traumatic event. They may resist talking about what happened or how they feel about it.

Alterations in cognition and mood: Inability to remember important aspects of the traumatic event, negative thoughts and feelings leading to ongoing and distorted beliefs about oneself or others (e.g., “I am bad,” “No one can be trusted”); distorted thoughts about the cause or consequences of the event leading to wrongly blaming self or other; ongoing fear, horror, anger, guilt or shame; much less interest in activities previously enjoyed; feeling detached or estranged from others; or being unable to experience positive emotions (a void of happiness or satisfaction).

Alterations in arousal and reactivity: Arousal and reactive symptoms may include being irritable and having angry outbursts; behaving recklessly or in a self-destructive way; being overly watchful of one's surroundings in a suspecting way; being easily startled; or having problems concentrating or sleeping.
(2020 - American Psychiatric Association - Website)

Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories Protocol (RTM) is a clinical breakthrough in PTS treatment. RTM Protocol eliminates the symptoms of PTS by restructuring its traumatic imagery. No drugs or costly equipment are necessary, and the procedure can be completed in less than five hours in a normal therapy room, while the recipients are completely relaxed and comfortable.

The protocol has been tested four times under strict scientific standards and more than 90% of the veterans completing the program finished treatment (3-6 hours of treatment) with measured loss of their PTS Diagnosis and complete elimination of their PTS nightmares, flashbacks and directly related emotional symptoms with results lasting out to one-year follow-ups. Additionally, clients mention far-reaching benefits that extend into their daily living including significantly improved sleep, concentration, optimism about the future, comfort driving on roads and going to public places, plus resuming social and recreational activities.

The RTM Protocol is brief, requiring 3-4 individual therapy sessions of 90 minutes each, during which, the client sits in a comfortable chair and projects imaginary pictures onto an imagined movie screen using specific and systematic steps that separate the traumatic memories from their traumatic feelings. The sessions require no homework or practice outside of the therapy sessions. The RTM protocol is a client-friendly method designed to maintain comfort and relaxation throughout the session, with particular focus on guidance through the steps that reconfigure traumatic imagery. Its non-traumatising focus is a standout feature of the RTM Protocol and ensures both client and clinician edge forward making timely but safe progress.

The RTM Protocol is a brief, non-traumatising, trauma-focused behavioural therapy (TFCBT) derived from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques. It is closely related to the Visual Kinesthetic Dissociation Protocol (Gray & Liotta, 2012) and the Rewind Technique (Muss, 1991, 2002) but differs from them in that it relies explicitly upon the syntax of reconsolidation to enhance outcomes (Gray & Bourke, 2015; Gray & Liotta, 2012; Tylee, Gray, Bourke and Glatt, 2017; Gray, Budden-Potts & Bourke, 2017).

RTM is targeted specifically at clients expressing the intrusive symptoms of PTS, especially when they are experienced as sudden, uncontrollable sympathetic responses either to the trauma narrative, elements of the narrative, or stimuli known to elicit flashbacks and nightmares. This style of responding represents an automatic and unconscious response style which some authors have identified as being particularly susceptible to “reconsolidative modification” (Kredlow, Unger, & Otto, 2015). Flashbacks and nightmares and the automaticity of response are crucial indicators for the use of the protocol.
(2020 - R and R Project - RTM Protocol Manual)