What Therapists Should Know About Accelerated Resolution Therapy
If you are a therapist hearing more about Accelerated Resolution Therapy, or ART, you may be wondering what it actually is, how it differs from other trauma therapies, and when it might make sense to refer a client.
You may also be wondering whether ART is meant to replace ongoing therapy.
That is an important question.
Many clients who seek ART are already doing meaningful therapy.
They may have a strong relationship with their therapist.
They may understand their patterns.
They may have language for their attachment wounds, protective parts, trauma responses, grief, anxiety, or shame.
And still, something remains stuck.
A memory still feels charged.
A grief image keeps returning.
A betrayal keeps replaying.
A medical experience still lives in the body.
A trigger takes over faster than the client can access their insight.
That is often where ART may be worth considering.
Not as a replacement for good therapy.
Not as a cure-all.
Not as a promise.
But as a focused trauma therapy that may help clients work with distressing memories, images, emotions, sensations, and meanings in a structured way.
What is Accelerated Resolution Therapy?
Accelerated Resolution Therapy, or ART, is a focused therapeutic approach that uses eye movements and a structured protocol to help clients work with distressing material.
ART is often associated with trauma therapy, but clients may seek ART for a range of emotionally charged experiences, including grief, anxiety, betrayal, medical trauma, shame, panic-related memories, intrusive images, and emotional triggers.
During ART, the client remains awake, aware, and in control.
The therapist guides the process.
The client does not have to retell every detail of what happened.
This is one of the reasons ART may feel more approachable for clients who are reluctant to engage in trauma work because they do not want to describe the painful event in detail.
ART is structured and active
ART often feels different from traditional talk therapy.
It is usually more structured, active, and focused.
The client and therapist identify a target, such as a memory, image, emotional response, sensation, or anticipated future situation.
The therapist then guides the client through the ART process using eye movements.
The client notices what comes up internally.
This may include images, sensations, emotions, thoughts, or shifts in how the memory is experienced.
The work is not primarily about analyzing the story.
It is about helping the brain and body process distressing material differently.
ART does not require detailed verbal retelling
For many therapists, this is one of the most clinically significant aspects of ART.
ART does not require the client to give a detailed verbal account of the trauma.
The therapist needs enough information to assess appropriateness, understand the focus, and guide the work responsibly.
But the client does not need to narrate every detail.
This can be helpful for clients who:
feel ashamed,
are afraid of being overwhelmed,
have already told the story repeatedly,
feel protective of the details,
do not want to disclose everything to another provider,
worry about being judged,
or struggle to put the experience into words.
This can make ART a useful option for clients who avoid trauma work because talking about the trauma feels like too much.
ART may be useful when insight has not reduced activation
Many clients who may benefit from ART are not lacking insight.
They may be highly reflective.
They may understand their family system.
They may know their trauma history.
They may recognize their nervous system responses.
They may understand the protective function of their symptoms.
They may be able to say, “I know exactly why I feel this way.”
And still:
Their body braces.
Their mind replays the scene.
Their shame spikes.
Their grief image intrudes.
Their anxiety surges.
Their anger feels bigger than the moment.
Their avoidance continues.
Their freeze response takes over.
This is not necessarily a failure of therapy.
It may mean that the client needs a modality that engages the emotional, sensory, imaginal, and physiological layers of the stuck point more directly.
ART can be adjunctive to ongoing therapy
ART can sometimes be used adjunctively while a client remains with their primary therapist.
This matters for referral sources.
A client does not necessarily need to leave their therapist in order to do ART.
In an adjunctive model, the primary therapist continues to hold the broader treatment relationship.
That may include ongoing support, relational work, meaning-making, attachment work, coping, identity, emotional processing, boundaries, and integration.
The ART therapist focuses on a specific target.
For example:
a traumatic memory,
a grief image,
a betrayal trigger,
a medical trauma,
a panic-linked memory,
a shame memory,
an intrusive image,
or a body-based emotional response.
The goal is to support the existing therapy, not compete with it.
Why therapists may hesitate to refer for ART
Therapists may understandably hesitate before referring a client for adjunctive trauma work.
They may wonder:
Will this disrupt the treatment?
Will the client feel abandoned?
Will another therapist understand the case?
Will ART be oversold?
Will the client expect a guaranteed result?
Will the adjunctive therapist respect the ongoing therapy relationship?
These are good questions.
ART should not be presented as magic.
It should not be framed as superior to all other therapy.
It should not be used to bypass clinical judgment, stabilization, or the importance of the primary therapeutic relationship.
When used adjunctively, ART should be clinically thoughtful and clearly framed.
When therapists might consider referring a client for ART
A therapist might consider referring a client for ART when the client has a specific stuck point that remains charged despite meaningful therapy.
Examples include:
a trauma memory that still feels present,
a grief image that keeps intruding,
a betrayal discovery the client keeps replaying,
a medical event that still triggers panic or avoidance,
a shame memory that remains intense,
a public speaking image or performance fear,
a body sensation linked to panic,
or a relationship moment that still feels unresolved.
ART may be especially relevant when the client can identify the target and has enough stability to engage in focused work.
ART may be especially helpful for images and body-based reactions
Clients do not always come in with a coherent narrative.
Sometimes what remains is an image.
A look on someone’s face.
A room.
A hospital bed.
A phone call.
A screenshot.
A moment of impact.
A sound.
A physical sensation.
A felt sense of helplessness.
A scene the client cannot stop seeing.
ART may be useful when the distress is organized around an image, sensation, or emotional response that continues to feel alive in the present.
ART and grief
ART can sometimes be useful when grief includes traumatic images or highly charged moments.
This does not mean grief should be treated as pathology.
Grief is not something to erase.
But traumatic images connected to loss can complicate the grieving process.
For example, a client may be haunted by:
the final days,
the moment they found out,
a hospital scene,
an image of suffering,
a phone call,
a funeral memory,
or guilt about a decision.
ART may help reduce the traumatic charge around a specific grief-related image so the client can continue grieving with more room for sadness, love, meaning, and integration.
ART and betrayal trauma
Betrayal trauma often involves intrusive replay.
Clients may repeatedly revisit the discovery, the lies, the timeline, the confrontation, the imagined details, or the moment trust collapsed.
Ongoing therapy may be essential for attachment, boundaries, grief, anger, decision-making, self-trust, and repair or separation.
ART may be useful as a focused adjunct when a specific image, memory, or emotional response keeps hijacking the client.
The work does not need to replace relational therapy.
It may help the client engage that therapy with less activation around the target.
ART and medical trauma
Medical trauma is often missed or minimized.
Clients may present with anxiety, panic, avoidance, anger, body mistrust, or fear before appointments without identifying their experience as trauma.
They may have experienced:
a frightening diagnosis,
emergency care,
surgery,
hospitalization,
invasive testing,
fertility treatment,
birth trauma,
chronic illness,
medical dismissal,
or loss of control in a medical setting.
ART may be useful when a specific medical memory, image, sensation, or future fear remains charged.
ART and high-functioning clients
Many clients who seek ART are high-functioning.
They work.
They parent.
They lead.
They manage.
They are often the people other people rely on.
They may not appear outwardly impaired.
But internally, they may be using enormous energy to contain distress, avoid triggers, manage shame, replay events, or keep functioning around unresolved trauma.
These clients may not want open-ended additional therapy.
They may want focused work that respects their intelligence, privacy, schedule, and existing insight.
For some clients, ART intensives may feel more aligned than adding another weekly therapy relationship.
ART and therapy intensives
ART can fit well within a therapy intensive model because ART is focused and structured.
A therapy intensive allows for more protected time than a standard weekly session.
Instead of trying to open, process, and close deeper trauma work within 50 minutes, an intensive creates a longer container for preparation, ART processing, integration, and follow-up planning.
This does not mean every ART session needs to be an intensive.
It also does not mean intensives are right for every client.
But for clients with a clear target and sufficient stability, an ART intensive may offer a useful format for focused work.
ART vs. EMDR
Therapists often ask how ART compares to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR.
ART and EMDR both use eye movements and may be used in trauma treatment.
But they are not the same therapy.
They have different structures, protocols, pacing, and therapist roles.
Many clients experience ART as more directive and structured.
Some clients may be drawn to ART because it does not require detailed verbal retelling and is often used in a focused, short-term way.
That said, ART and EMDR should not be framed as enemies.
Both may be useful.
The more clinically relevant question is which approach fits the client, the target, the therapist’s training, and the treatment context.
ART should not be oversold
This is especially important when talking to referral sources.
ART can be powerful for some clients.
It can also be the wrong fit for others.
No responsible therapist should promise a cure, guarantee a number of sessions, or imply that ART works for everyone.
ART may not be appropriate when a client is actively unsafe, in acute crisis, significantly unstable, or needing a higher level of care.
Some clients may need stabilization, substance use treatment, psychiatric support, or ongoing weekly containment before doing focused trauma work.
Clinical factors such as significant dissociation, psychosis, active mania, seizure history, traumatic brain injury, or medication-related concerns may also require careful assessment.
Good ART work requires discernment.
What therapists can tell clients about ART
Therapists do not need to give clients a complicated explanation.
A simple, clinically balanced frame is often enough:
“ART is a focused therapy that uses eye movements and a structured process to help work with distressing memories, images, and emotional responses. You do not have to retell every detail. It may be worth exploring for this specific stuck point while we continue our work together.”
This keeps expectations realistic.
It also reassures the client that they are not being passed off or abandoned.
What makes a good referral for adjunctive ART?
A good referral for adjunctive ART usually includes:
a clear reason for the referral,
a specific target or stuck point,
realistic expectations,
enough client stability for focused trauma work,
respect for the ongoing therapy relationship,
and an understanding that ART is one part of care, not the whole story.
The best referrals are thoughtful, not desperate.
They are not “nothing else worked, so try this.”
They are more like:
“We have done important work, and this specific target may benefit from a focused trauma modality.”
Referring to Laura Geftman, LCSW for ART
I offer adjunctive ART and therapy intensives for adults seeking focused support around trauma, grief, anxiety, betrayal, medical trauma, emotional triggers, shame, and feeling stuck despite insight.
Clients may continue working with their primary therapist while seeing me for focused ART or therapy intensive work around a specific target.
I am licensed in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Florida.
In-person therapy intensives are available in Ardmore, PA, on the Main Line near Philadelphia.
Virtual ART may also be available for adults located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Florida when clinically appropriate.
For clients in New York City, Ardmore is also reachable by train, making in-person intensive work a realistic option for some clients who want focused care outside the city.
For therapists considering ART referrals
If you are a therapist considering whether ART could support one of your clients, the question is not simply whether the client has trauma.
The better questions are:
Is there a specific stuck point?
Does the client have enough stability for focused work?
Has insight helped, but not fully shifted the activation?
Would adjunctive ART support the ongoing therapy rather than disrupt it?
Would the client benefit from a focused intensive format?
Those questions create a more thoughtful referral.
ART is not the answer to everything.
But for the right client, at the right time, with the right focus, it may be a useful addition to the work already happening.
Interested in referring a client for ART?
If you are a therapist considering whether adjunctive ART or a therapy intensive could support one of your clients, you are welcome to reach out to discuss whether the fit may be clinically appropriate.
Laura Geftman, LCSW offers focused ART and therapy intensives for adults in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Florida.
In-person intensives are available in Ardmore, PA, near Philadelphia.
Virtual ART may also be available when clinically appropriate.
Suggested Reading
If you are a therapist, referral source, or client considering whether ART or therapy intensives may be a good fit, these related articles may be helpful:
Can ART Be Used Adjunctively While a Client Stays With Their Primary Therapist?
Therapy Intensives in Ardmore, PA for Philadelphia, Main Line, and NYC Clients
FAQ
What should therapists know about Accelerated Resolution Therapy?
Therapists should know that Accelerated Resolution Therapy, or ART, is a focused therapy that uses eye movements and a structured process to help clients work with distressing memories, images, emotions, sensations, and meanings. ART does not require clients to retell every detail of the trauma.
Can ART be used adjunctively?
Yes. ART can sometimes be used adjunctively while a client continues therapy with their primary therapist. This can be helpful when the client has a specific stuck point that may benefit from focused trauma work.
Does ART replace regular therapy?
Not necessarily. ART may be used as a standalone focused therapy or as an adjunct to ongoing therapy. Many clients continue with their primary therapist while doing ART for a specific memory, trigger, image, or emotional response.
When should therapists refer a client for ART?
Therapists may consider referring for ART when a client has insight but remains activated around a specific trauma memory, grief image, betrayal, medical trauma, shame memory, intrusive image, or body-based trigger.
Does ART require clients to talk about trauma in detail?
No. ART does not require clients to verbally describe every detail of what happened. The therapist needs enough information to assess fit and guide the work, but ART does not depend on repeated detailed retelling.
Is ART the same as EMDR?
No. ART and EMDR both use eye movements, but they are different therapies with different structures and protocols. ART is often experienced as more directive and focused, while EMDR follows its own established process.
When is ART not appropriate?
ART may not be appropriate when a client is actively unsafe, in acute crisis, significantly unstable, needing a higher level of care, or requiring stabilization before trauma processing. Clinical factors such as significant dissociation, psychosis, active mania, seizure history, traumatic brain injury, or medication-related concerns may also require careful assessment.
Can therapists refer clients to Laura Geftman, LCSW for ART?
Yes. Laura Geftman, LCSW offers adjunctive ART and therapy intensives for adults in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Florida. In-person therapy intensives are available in Ardmore, PA, near Philadelphia, and virtual ART may be available when clinically appropriate.