The nonprofit Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is one of the latest treatments for trauma
By PTSDJournal Staff
Therapist Laney Rosenzweig conceived ART in 2008. The therapy combines techniques from other successful psychotherapies, reprogramming how troublesome memories are housed in the brain so that they can no longer trigger adverse reactions.
The founder and CEO of the Rosenzweig Center for Rapid Recovery, she trains clinicians in ART domestically and internationally, with training in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy. Locally, Rosenzweig does a lot of work with the military population at Walter Reed Military Hospital, Fort Belvoir, Fort Benning, and Fort Hood.
In 2016, the University of South Florida College of Public Health contracted with the U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School, Department of Behavioral Health, to train military mental health clinicians in ART. The contract with USF provided ART training for military psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and licensed clinical social workers.
Kevin Kip, a professor at the USF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, explained the long-term goal of the program. “We to amass sufficient evidence such that ART becomes widely recognized as a first-line and often preferred the method of treatment of symptoms of PTSD across a range of patient populations,” he says.
Funding for ART comes mostly from entrepreneur Chris Sullivan, one of the founders of the Outback Steakhouse franchise. The Sullivan Foundation, in conjunction with community partners, targets funding in three crucial areas: therapist recruiting and training, expanding access to the therapy, and a clinical study to compare ART with other PTSD protocols.
“What motivated me to get involved in connecting more patients and therapists to ART are the staggering number of military, active and retired, deeply and perhaps permanently damaged by PTS,” said Sullivan. “The published data that speaks to the effectiveness of ART. One in five veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is diagnosed with PTS. Multiply that number by family members and you realize the urgency of ART International’s mission.”
ART-trained therapists may be found at: acceleratedresolutiontherapy.com