The effectiveness of Human Givens Rewind treatment for trauma
| Published date | 29 August 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-10-2018-0033 |
| Pages | 228-242 |
| Date | 29 August 2019 |
| Author | Shona Adams,Steven Allan |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health |
The effectiveness of Human Givens
Rewind treatment for trauma
Shona Adams and Steven Allan
Abstract
Purpose –Rewind is a trauma-focussed exposure technique that is part of Human Givens (HG) therapy.
However, there have been no controlled studies examining the effectiveness or acceptability of Rewind, and a
previous study comparing HG therapy outcomes with cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) benchmarks has yet
to be replicated. The paper aims to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach –This preliminary investigation used an observational, quasi-experimental
design. Using both between-subject and within-subject designs, the outcome measures of those who had
Rewind in the second session and participants who had treatment-as-usual (TAU) in the second session
followed by Rewind in the third session were compared. Pre–post treatment scores were used to evaluate
the overall HG therapy and to compare with benchmarks.
Findings –Rewind was more effective than control treatment sessions, with 40 per cent recovered and
57 per cent having reliably improved or recovered after the Rewind treatment session. Rewind sessions were
rated as acceptable as other treatment sessions. The effect size of HG therapy was above the CBT Clinical
Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome-10 (CORE-10) benchmark of 1.22. The recovery rate for treatment
completers was 63 per cent, with 91 per cent recovered or reliably improved and was equivalent to the top
quartile of services.
Practical implications –Rewind is a promising alternative trauma treatment, as people need not discuss details
of the trauma, multiple traumas can be treated in one session and fewer treatment sessions may be needed.
Originality/value –There are few HG studies reported in the peer-reviewed literature. This preliminary study
is the first controlled study of Rewind. The findings are also in line with previous research on HG therapy.
Keywords Human Givens, CBT, PTSD, Exposure, Rewind, Single session
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Human Givens (HG) Rewind is a relatively under-researched treatment for posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and trauma. HG Rewind is a trauma-focused imaginal exposure technique.
Similar to other trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy (TF-CBT) techniques, such as
prolonged exposure that utilise graded exposure (Foa, 1992), Rewind uses graded exposure;
however, it is the psychological distancing during exposure that is graded. Psychological
distancing involves observing the trauma from the perspect ive of a distant observer
(Koenigsberg et al., 2010) rather than re-experiencing the trauma, and this has been shown
to be an effective method of emotional regulation (Ochsner and Gross, 2008). While people have
been encouraged to imagine seeing the trauma from another perspective in some TF-CBT
techniques (e.g. Ehlers and Clark, 2000; Sloan et al., 2012), with Rewind the psychological
distancing is systematically graduated with exposure starting with observing oneself observing
the trauma, then observing the trauma and then finally experiencing the trauma quickly
backwards. Low arousal levels, psychological distancing during exposure, the orienting
response and memory consolidation have been proposed as possible mechanisms for HG
Rewind (see Authors, linked article).
Although TF-CBT has the strongest empirical evidence for the treatment of PTSD (NICE, 2005),
drop-out rates for TF-CBT in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have tended to be lower than in
Received 13 October 2018
Revised 27 April 2019
Accepted 2 August 2019
The authors would like to thank
Katie Palmer for her assistance in
scoring questionnaires and Rachel
Adams for her assistance with
preparing references.
Shona Adams is based at the
Health and Counselling
Services, Simon Fraser
University, Burnaby, Canada;
was based at the 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.
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VOL. 24 NO. 3 2019, pp. 228-242, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1361-9322 DOI 10.1108/MHRJ-10-2018-0033
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