Human givens rewind trauma treatment: description and conceptualisation

Pages98-111
Date02 July 2019
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-06-2018-0016
Published date02 July 2019
AuthorShona Adams,Steven Allan
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Mental health
Human givens rewind trauma treatment:
description and conceptualisation
Shona Adams and Steven Allan
Abstract
Purpose Human Givens (HG) Rewind t echnique is a graded trau ma-focused exposure tr eatment
for post-traumatic str ess disorder and trauma. Th e purpose of this paper is thre efold: first, to describ e
the technique; second, to provide an outline of its p otential benefits; and t hird, to present some
preliminary evidence .
Design/methodology/approach This paper provides an overview of HG therapy and describes the
stages of HG Rewind trauma treatment and its potential benefits. Similarities and differences between
Rewind and other Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques are explored. Possible underlying mechanisms
are discussed.
Findings Preliminary evidence suggests that Rewind could be a promising trauma treatment technique
and that HG therapy might be cost effective. The findings highlight the need for further research and a
randomised controlled trial (RCT) on Rewind is warranted.
Practical implications During the rewind technique, the trauma does not need to be discussed in detail,
making treatment potentially more accessible for shame-based traumas. Multiple traumas may be treated in
one session, making it possible for treatment to potentially be completed in fewer sessions.
Social implications This UK-based treatment may be cost effective and make treatment more accessible
for people who do not want to discuss details of their trauma.
Originality/value This is the first description of HG Rewind in the peer-reviewed literature. Alternative
explanations for mechanisms underlying this trauma treatment are also presented.
Keywords Human givens, PTSD, Trauma, CBT, Exposure, Rewind
Paper type Conceptual paper
1. Introduction
Exposure treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have the strongest evidence
base compared to other treatments (Cusack et al., 2016). Human Givens (HG) Rewind technique
is a graded exposure treatment for PTSD and trauma but is not well known by either clinicians or
researchers. Furthermore, the HG Rewind technique has not yet been described in any
peer-reviewed journals and consequently there has been no discussion about the theoretical
underpinning of this technique.
In the early cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) literature a graded form of exposure called
systematic desensitisation was found to be an effective treatment for PTSD (Brom et al., 1989)
and was later developed into prolonged exposure (PE; Foa, 1992). There are now a variety of
other exposure-based treatments such as narrative exposure therapy (Robjant and Fazel, 2010),
cognitive processing therapy (CPT; Resick and Schnicke, 1993) and virtual reality exposure
therapy (e.g. Rothbaum et al., 2001). Similar to some of these techniques, Rewind incorporates
graded exposure in the protocol and utilises imaginal exposure. However, it remains distinct from
other exposure techniques in that the protocol includes graduations of exposure based on
decreased psychological distancing (i.e. observing oneself observing the trauma, then observing
the trauma and finally feeling the trauma). As patients do not need to talk about the trauma(s)
in detail this may make treatment potentially more accessible for shame-based traumas and
multiple traumas could be treated in one session (Adams, 2017).
Received 8 June 2018
Revised 11 October 2018
29 January 2019
Accepted 19 February 2019
Shona Adams is based at
Health and Counselling
Services, Simon Fraser
University, Burnaby, Canada;
was based at Specialist
Therapies Team, Central and
North West London NHS
Foundation Trust, London, UK
and Department of
Neuroscience, Psychology and
Behaviour, University of
Leicester, Leicester, UK.
Steven Allan is based at the
Department of Neuroscience,
Psychology and Behaviour,
University of Leicester,
Leicester, UK.
PAG E 98
j
MENTALHEALTH REVIEW JOURNAL
j
VOL. 24 NO. 2 2019, pp. 98-111, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1361-9322 DOI 10.1108/MHRJ-06-2018-0016

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