Would You Like To Free Yourself From Past Events Which Continue To Disrupt Your Life?

Do you find yourself continuously replaying a traumatic event in your mind? Have you been plagued by fear, a racing heart, and shakiness following a car accident? Would you like to rid yourself of more general negative feelings such as a lack of confidence or feeling highly sensitive to what others think of you? Do you fear social situations? Do you avoid a specific person because of an on-going difficult relationship with them? If you have tried other solutions, but you continue to struggle with disruptive thoughts and feelings, then Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) may be the solution you are looking for.

What Is Traumatic Incident Reduction?

When something happens that is physically or emotionally painful, such as a car accident or a sudden death, we can choose to acknowledge the pain or try to block out the event from our memory. When we fully address a painful experience, we can put the event in the past, but if we choose to block the pain, the event and feelings become repressed, and they can have a negative impact on our lives.

Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) provides the opportunity to experience the feelings that have been blocked and significantly reduce or eliminate them. Clients report a significant improvement in the quality of their lives following TIR.

Who Developed TIR?

 Traumatic Incident Reduction is a method of treatment that was developed by Dr. Frank Gerbode, a California psychiatrist. Gerbode developed the concept of Applied Metapsychology which allows a person to examine his or her experiences, decisions, fixed ideas, and successes, with the goal of resolving areas of emotional charge and returning to a more productive and satisfying life.

How effective is TIR Therapy?

Traumatic Incident Reduction Therapy has been shown to be highly effective in easing the pain of intense emotional experiences and in resolving related mental and emotional stresses with a wide range of people. TIR  Therapy’s effectiveness has been illustrated in a number of research studies (Bisbey, 1995; Figley, in press; Figley & Carbonell, 1995; Gerbode, French & Bisbey, 1993;).

How Does TIR Therapy Help People Who Have Had Painful Or Overwhelming Experiences?

When a person has a traumatic experience the mind-body system becomes overwhelmed. The mind begins to block-out the event to moderate the pain. Then, there is a need to continue keeping the painful memories blocked-out of consciousness. This is because the painful event has not been adequately processed. Since the mind never processed and defused the experience it remains raw and sensitive. Anything that reminds a person of such a painful experience then reactivates the pain that is connected to it. TIR allows the mind to review and reprocess the event, to gain new perspectives, awareness, insight and sometimes bring new meaning to the experience.

How Does TIR Therapy Work?

TIR Traumatic Incident Reduction Therapy follows a simple process. The first step is to identify a traumatic incident. Next, we identify when it happened, how long it lasted and where you were at the time. Then you will be asked to imagine going to the start of that incident. The starting point is that moment just before the upsetting event began. Once at the starting point you will close your eyes, report what you are aware of and then imagine moving through the incident until it is over. At the end of the incident you will open your eyes and report what happened as you moved through it.

I will then ask you to repeat the process of going back to the beginning of the incident, moving through it in your mind to the end and reporting what happened. You will repeat this process of reviewing the incident multiple times. Every time you review the incident you may remember different details and release a range of feelings. As a result of TIR your feelings will start to shift and you will find the incident less emotionally charged.

This method of reviewing the trauma facilitates the mind to desensitize the pain, reprocess the event and enables you to move toward recovery. We will end the protocol when you feel at peace or at least note less of an emotional charge around the incident.

What If I Don’t Have A Specific Incident To Work On But Rather Feelings I Don’t Want To Have?

Traumatic Incident Reduction Therapy can also be used to work with themes such as “feeling I don’t fit in” or “feeling incompetent”. This is called Thematic Traumatic Incident Reduction Therapy and I use a similar protocol to help you process the feelings.

What Results Can I Expect?

You can expect to notice a reduction in intrusive thoughts about past events. You may also notice relief from anxiety, worry about the future and/past, second-guessing your actions in a crisis, and overwhelming feelings related to a loss.

What If I Am Still Not Sure That TIR Can Help Me?

I am happy to discuss the protocol further with you over the telephone. Please call me for a free 15-minute consultation at 215-939-6476.