REM desensitisation

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · Khodabakhsh Ahmadi, Majid Hazrati, Mohammadjavad Ahmadizadeh · 2015 · Iran

What it is

Rationale. REM sleep is proposed to support the processing and integration of traumatic memories. The method pairs a calming cue, conditioned in waking sessions, with REM periods of sleep, and asks the client to face the nightmare scene if they become aware of dreaming. Population in the trial: men…

Format

• Rationale. REM sleep is proposed to support the processing and integration of traumatic memories. The method pairs a calming cue, conditioned in waking sessions, with REM periods of sleep, and asks the client to face the nightmare scene if they become aware of dreaming. Population in the trial: men…
• What to use instead. For an established trauma treatment (EMDR, the trial's comparator), use guide 030 EMDR (standard, group and recent-event protocols). Do not present EMDR steps as REM desensitisation.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• What the method is. "REM" refers to REM sleep. The authors' rationale is that REM sleep helps process and integrate traumatic memories. The method has two parts. First, a piece of light music is made into a calming cue by playing it in at least three waking desensitisation sessions, sometimes with soothing images the client has chosen. Then, during night sleep, the client wears glasses with infrared sensors, and REM…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• What is published. The only source for a therapy by this name is one trial: Khodabakhsh Ahmadi, Majid Hazrati, Mohammadjavad Ahmadizadeh and Sima Noohi (Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran), "REM Desensitization as a New Therapeutic Method for…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• 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?

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.