Screen technique

Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive · David Muss · 1991

What it is

The screen technique, also called rewind or V/KD, is a brief imagery procedure for intrusive trauma memories (flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive images) and for single-event phobias. The client imagines watching the event as a film from a safe, detached position. The film starts before the event,…

Format

• Stage A: Assessment and target selection (start of session 1, or a prior assessment session)
• Stage B: Preparation (same session)

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Training: in the RCT, experienced NHS therapists had 2.5 days of training, had to treat two PTSD cases satisfactorily first, and then received fortnightly group supervision from the developer. HG College runs a two-day workshop. NLP and hypnotherapy courses vary in content and are not standardised.
• Status: Rewind is a single, brief, manualised-in-training procedure, not a full therapy. Clinicians normally use it inside a formulation-led trauma treatment. Psychology Tools advises using it within a formulation-driven approach, and the RCT authors call their evidence preliminary.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• connectivity problems, which the RCT linked to attendance and dropout.
• a cascade of new memories within one session (park them and schedule them).
• distress spiking on entering. Keep this moment brief and go straight to the rewind.
• the MJCP study had one observer participant whose symptoms had risen at three months.
• ratings that stop falling across 3–4 cycles (see 5.1). It is working when ratings drop steadily toward 0–2.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.