The Trauma
Relief Unlimited method took nearly 20 years to develop. The first fifteen
years, I used a variety of art related exercises with myself as a form of
self-therapy. At a very early stage, I recognized the psychological value of
art to bolster the human spirit and to cleanse those residuals from the self
that tended to sap the spirit. In effect, I observed that art was an incredibly
powerful process for ridding oneself of excess anxiety and for raising one’s
spirits. In short, the incredible renewal, rejuvenation and revitalization
power of art was recognized and acknowledged.
Approximately eight years ago, a professionally traumatic episode
changed the course of my career. I had been treating abuse survivors for years
using traditional, left-brain, talk therapies. In this instance, it took nearly
two years for this particular patient to access and to share one of the most
disturbing and ghastly episodes of physical/sexual abuse I had heard before or
since. Within twenty-four hours of that disclosure, this person made a serious
suicide attempt resulting in hospitalization. I can recall sitting in the
psychiatric hospital reflecting on this episode. I knew then there had to be a
better way.
The convergence of the recognition of the revitalization power of art
and the need to find a more effective way to treat trauma survivors resulted in
the birth of the T.R.U. method. Seven years ago, I began using what I knew
about art to treat others. I began developing a right-brain, non-verbal
protocol to treat patients. After many changes and refinements, the T.R.U.
method was developed into what it is today. (Note attached T.R.U. brochure and
Description of Treatment). In effect, the T.R.U. method is a streamlined version
of traditional Art Therapy. Whereas Art Therapy takes several months to get
results, T.R.U. takes one to six weeks. In the case of a one-episode trauma
consistent and reliable results occur in one 45-minute application. Unlike
traditional Art Therapy that has historically been used almost exclusively with children under age
12, the T.R.U. method is user friendly for all ages. In short, the T.R.U.
method represents a major breakthrough in treating trauma survivors surpassing
in effectiveness of both traditional Art Therapy and more commonly used
left-brain, talk therapies.
From the experience of the very first T.R.U. treated patient, I knew the
power and effectiveness of this new methodology. A one-episode molestation
survivor was able to unload nearly fifty years of weekly flashbacks and
nightmares with just three applications of the treatment. Today with
refinements to the T.R.U. process, symptom extinction would likely occur in
this case with one application of T.R.U. After treating hundreds of similar
patients during the past seven years, the results are convincing.
However, in this empirically/scientifically based culture of ours, there
is a need to produce more than one’s personal experiences or even one’s
professional observations. In January 2000, I began looking for a sponsor for a
pilot project (Note attached Pilot Project Report) that would produce the first
empirical evidence of the power and effectiveness of T.R.U. Completed in
September 2000 that Pilot Project yielded that evidence.
The completion of the Pilot Project was a good beginning. However, there
was a need to subject T.R.U. to more rigorous and extensive testing. Moreover,
there was a need to demonstrate whether or not T.R.U. could be performed by
another therapist. Furthermore, there was a
need to see if the results could be replicated in general, and by
another therapist in particular.
Thus, in January 2001 efforts began to develop a broader Research Study.
With the funding assistance, once again, of the Rhode Island Foundation and
with the technical assistance of Brown University a T.R.U. Research Study was
commenced in March of 2001. This T.R.U. Research Study Report is the
culmination of efforts to provide a full T.R.U. Research Study that includes 40
subjects, a control group and a second treating therapist.
In
effect, this Research Study Report provides even more impressive scientific
evidence of the power and effectiveness of T.R.U. Specifically, this report
includes data that meets all the objectives and goals of the Pilot Project
recommendations set forth by the consulting psychometrist. In short, three
Research Study goals have been met. One, to increase the original sample from
ten Pilot Project subjects. Two, to introduce a control group to determine if
T.R.U. effectiveness could be demonstrated vis-à-vis a non-treated control.
Three to demonstrate that another therapist, one other than the method founder,
could replicate the results. At this
writing, I am happy to say all three goals have been met. The results speak for
themselves.