Flash technique

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · Philip Manfield · 2017 · San Francisco Bay Area

What it is

The Flash Technique was developed by Philip Manfield (San Francisco Bay Area) and colleagues. It started as a technique for the preparation phase (Phase 2) of EMDR therapy. It reduces the disturbance of a traumatic memory before standard processing, and it is now also used on its own or alongside…

Format

• FT has no multi-phase course of its own. It is a procedure inserted into a wider trauma treatment, most often EMDR's 8 phases. The usual sequence:
• Other published formats:

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Group for highly dissociative shelter residents: a 30-min individual training session 2 weeks before, then group sessions for at least 7 weeks (Wong 2019).

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 intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• 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

• Sleepiness or glazing. Return to the grounding steps.
• The full group script was not opened. Session details are.
• Lag that desynchronises the cues. Keep cues spaced and clear.
• Havens does not bundle the most intense memories (SUD 10). Do those singly.
• Unlike current FT, this involves deliberate brief exposure. Keep each touch very short.

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.