Brian Anderson is a medically-retired Green Beret who spent 14 years serving our country.
But after returning home, he struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or P.T.S.D. following horrific memories from the war.
"I left my last deployment after losing two teammates, five friends in total. And when I got home, I started having these intrusive thoughts. I would have images of bullets going straight through my head, and these things were real to me, and so I felt like I was going crazy," Anderson explained.
Anderson tried many traditional modes of therapy, but the trauma still haunted him.
However, that changed when he tried Accelerated Resolution Therapy or A.R.T., which can retrain the brain to process trauma and resolve it in just one to five sessions.
"It is brain fitness on steroids," Anderson said.
So how does it work?
"It's using rapid eye movements in order to reprogram those negative thoughts and emotions and replace them with positive images, emotions, etc. to resolve the trauma, end the suffering literally with the wave of a hand," explains Dr. Ann Witt, a licensed Mental Health Counselor, who has done over 4,000 cases for the last seven years.
She says traumatic events often get stuck in the brain, and Accelerated Resolution Therapy can move that memory, erase it and replace it permanently.
"It never went through that process of consolidation and moving when you sleep from episodic memory to semantic memory where it has meaning, and it's all ordered. This is basically disordered thoughts that never actually process properly," she explained.
Research shows A.R.T. can help with many issues, including:
- P.T.S.D.
- Child Abuse
- Sexual Abuse
- Car Accidents
- Dog Attacks
- Addiction
- Eating Disorders
- Chronic Pain
- Grief & Loss
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Depression
- & More
"I do believe it is an amazing cure to a problem and an element that has plagued our world for centuries," Anderson said.
And after Anderson's empowering experience with A.R.T., he started Veterans Alternative, offering the therapy for free to present and past military members, their family members and gold-star families.
"I felt like it saved my life," Anderson said.
For more information on Veterans Alternative's free A.R.T. program, which is completely confidential, visit www.veteransalternative.org, call (727) 939-8387 or email info@veteransalternative.
And if you're interested in Accelerated Resolution Therapy, click here.
Dr. Ann Witt is a local therapist in Tampa who practices A.R.T. and many other forms of therapy.
Her profile can be found at https://www.goodtherapy.org/therapists/profile/ann-witt-20130611 or you can call her office at (813) 531-7694.