Accelerated Resolution Therapy
A trauma therapy that works on the picture, not the paragraph
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) uses guided eye movements to help your brain reprocess what a difficult memory left behind. You do not have to tell the story out loud. For many people that is the difference between starting and putting it off again.
What ART is
Accelerated Resolution Therapy is a structured, brief therapy developed in the United States in 2008. It belongs to the same family as EMDR: both use sets of bilateral eye movements while a client holds a distressing memory in mind.
What makes ART distinct is the second half of the procedure. After the body sensations attached to a memory have settled, ART deliberately works on the imagery — you replace the distressing picture with one of your choosing. The facts of what happened are untouched. What changes is what your mind reaches for when the memory comes up.
Clients often describe the result as the difference between remembering something and reliving it.
What actually happens in a session
- We agree what we are working on. One specific memory or theme, not everything at once.
- You notice what your body is doing. ART pays close attention to physical sensation, because that is where a trauma response shows up first.
- Sets of eye movements. I move my hand horizontally across your field of vision and you follow it with your eyes, in sets of roughly forty. In between, we check what has shifted.
- The sensations settle. This is usually the part people notice most: the tightness, nausea or racing heart attached to the memory reduces.
- The imagery is reworked. You choose what you would rather see. This is directed but it is your material, not mine.
- We check the memory again. And we close the session properly. You are not sent out of the room mid-process.
A session commonly runs longer than a standard therapy hour. I will tell you the expected length in advance.
What the evidence shows — and what it does not
ART has been studied in randomised and open trials, including with military populations, with promising results for post-traumatic stress symptoms. The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has previously listed it in its registry of evidence-based programmes.
It is important to be straight about the size of that literature. ART is newer and less studied than EMDR, prolonged exposure or cognitive processing therapy, which are the trauma treatments carried in the major VA/DoD and APA guidelines. Trials to date have generally been small, and much of the research has been conducted by groups connected to ART’s development.
That is a reason to be honest, not a reason to avoid it. It does mean you should be sceptical of anyone citing a success percentage or a guaranteed session count at you.
What people use ART for here
Post-traumatic stress, single-incident trauma such as an assault, a crash or a natural disaster, grief, phobias, and intrusive memories that keep surfacing years after the fact. It is also used alongside other work for anxiety, depression and the trauma that often sits underneath a substance problem.
It is one tool among several. The other approaches I use, and when each makes sense.
Who it is not for
Screening before the first ART session is genuine, and sometimes the answer is no or not yet. Reasons include active psychosis, current intoxication, certain neurological or eye conditions, and circumstances where you are not currently safe — in which case stabilising that comes first. If ART is not right for you, I will say so and we will talk about what would be.
Common questions
Do I have to describe what happened to me?
No. ART works on the imagery a memory carries rather than on the narrative, so you can keep the details to yourself and still do the work. Many people find this is what makes starting possible. You are welcome to talk about it if you want to.
How many sessions will I need?
That is decided individually and I will not quote you a number before I know your situation. ART is often shorter than open-ended talk therapy, and some people notice a change quickly. Others need considerably longer, particularly where the trauma was prolonged or repeated. Anyone promising a fixed number of sessions for a person they have not assessed is guessing.
Will I forget what happened?
No, and that is a common misunderstanding. The memory stays. What can change is the physical charge it carries — the jolt, the racing heart, the images that arrive uninvited. People generally describe it as being able to recall the event without being pulled back into it.
Is ART the same as EMDR?
They are related but not the same. Both use bilateral eye movements and both are used for trauma. EMDR follows an eight-phase protocol and has the larger research base and a place in major clinical guidelines. ART uses a different, more directive procedure that includes replacing distressing imagery, and its evidence base is smaller and newer. I am trained in both.
Can ART be done over video?
For a first course of ART I generally recommend meeting in person. The eye movements are directed in real time and it matters that I can see how you are doing. Whether telehealth is appropriate for you is something we decide in the consultation rather than by a blanket rule.
Is there anyone ART is not appropriate for?
Yes. It is not a fit for everyone, and screening before we start is part of the process rather than a formality. Active psychosis, acute intoxication, some eye and neurological conditions, and situations where you are not currently safe can all make ART inadvisable or mean something else should come first. Being told “not yet” or “not this” is a clinical answer, not a rejection.
Sources
- SAMHSA — National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices listing for Accelerated Resolution Therapy — registry listing; check current status
- VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder — for the guideline-recommended trauma treatments
- American Psychological Association — Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of PTSD in Adults
- Kip KE et al., randomised controlled trials of Accelerated Resolution Therapy — see PubMed for the current trial literature and its limitations
Written and clinically reviewed by Jim Denning, MA, LPC. Last reviewed 1 September 2026.
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What ART does not promise
No cure, no guaranteed number of sessions, and no claim that it works for everyone. Whether it suits you is assessed, not advertised.
Wondering whether ART would suit you?
That is a question worth a short conversation rather than another week of reading. Tell me roughly what is going on and I will tell you honestly whether this is the right approach.