Do you have a habit of self-sabotaging your relationships or job opportunities despite your best intentions? Do you suffer from anxiety, depression, feelings of unworthiness or even a pain related condition such as Fibromyalgia or migraines?  Have you exhausted countless options from self-help books to therapy and everything in between with the sole purpose of trying to understand why you never seem to succeed in relationships, work, or life in general? And as much as you would like to break free from your anxiety or depression or OCD, does the thought of going to see a therapist to rehash all the most devastating events in your life just seem too much to handle?

Have you had ENOUGH of anxiety ruling your life?

If this sounds familiar, or if you know someone that ticks some or all of the above, then keep reading, because it turns out there really is a profoundly effective method that not only helps you move forward to become a thriving and well-balanced individual, it does so without you having to revisit every traumatic and distressing event of your life, and all within only three to four sessions.

You’re probably thinking that this sounds way too good to be true, but the incredible testimonies from individuals who have effectively completed TRTP therapy, and the positive feedback from over 200 mental health practitioners who use the method on their own patients with great success are testament to what a powerful and effective tool this really is.

So what is TRTP and where does is come from?

The Richards Trauma Process (TRTP) was developed by Judith Richards. Having experienced traumatic abuse from a very young age which paved the way to further extreme and extensive physical and psychological abuse as an adult, Judith has an intimate understanding of how trauma effects the mind and body. As a result of her trauma, she suffered extreme physical and mental illness for many years, however with incredible courage and fortitude she never gave up and with sheer determination she found a way to move past the trauma to a place of healing and into a life worth living. The result of this journey is The Richards Trauma Process. 

To understand how TRTP works, we first need to understand how the body deals with trauma or ‘distressing events’ as Judith prefers to call them, and understand why some people get ‘stuck’ in trauma?

Let’s look at the physiology of a calm, well-balanced person. A ‘normal’ individual functions in a state of calm, and when they experience a stressful event, their body releases a rush of stress hormones including adrenaline. Once they see that the stress has passed their brain files that event away in the long term memory and closes the door on it and they automatically go back to a state of calm. Or perhaps they have a life –threatening event in which case their body will be triggered into the fight, flight or freeze mode, and once again when the danger passes, their brain recognises that they are no longer in danger so it files that incident away in the long term memory and closes the door on that event, and they once again self-regulate and move back into a state of calm, and that is pretty much the story of their life.

What happens to people who get stuck in a trauma response however, is that the person’s brain becomes overwhelmed by the stress hormones and they never come down from the fight, flight or freeze state. Once the event has passed, their brain does not store the memory away where it belongs, and instead it stores it in the form of a video tape loop in the unconscious that repeatedly plays the incident, constantly triggering the trauma. Sometimes more than one video loop can be playing at a time, for example a trauma from when the person was 5 years old, and another from when they were 16 and another from when they were 22, and these play continuously in the unconscious which eventually builds up like pressure in a balloon and eventually blows out in the form of anxiety, extreme panic attacks, depression, or perhaps even physical conditions which clients often present with, such as Fibromyalgia or CFS to name just a few.

The reason for this reaction, is that everything in this person’s being is screaming, ‘I am not safe!” Consciously the individual knows that the incident or incidents happened last month or even years ago, and they should move on, but unconsciously, as far as the mind and the body are concerned it’s repeatedly happening, over and over again, signalling the body’s stress responses to react.

So considering that this is happening on an unconscious level, how do we fix it? How do we turn off those video tape loops and get a person from an anxious state to self-regulate and go back to a calm state again? How do you let the unconscious know that it’s over, and “I’m safe now?” Well, we have to speak the language of the unconscious. What language is that you may ask? That would be the language of the imagination.

You see, the body and the unconscious don’t know the difference between what is real and imagined, so as long as the tape loops are running in your mind, your unconscious believes that they are happening right now. Just think about when you watch a sad movie, you may actually feel your heart breaking for the individual on screen, tears creeping into the corners of your eyes as you try to resist the urge to cry, or a horror movie that makes you sit on the edge of your seat, heart racing, body tense as you hide your face or jump in fright. You know very well that it is just a movie, so why then do you react with such strong emotions? Consciously you know that what you are watching is not real, but unconsciously you are immersed in the storyline and your unconscious has taken it for real. Considering that it is estimated that the unconscious mind is five times more powerful than the conscious mind, it should come as no surprise to you that your body reacts so strongly to situations that it perceives as real, and that right there is what is happening over and over again in the unconscious mind as you replay those tape loops.

Put your past behind you, and return… to calm.

So back to the language of the unconscious, the language of the imagination. How do you speak to the imagination? Through hypnosis. Now before you worry about blurting out all your secrets or end up clucking like a crazy chicken, you need to understand that contrary to what many stage performances want you to believe, in hypnosis, you are in full control at all times and cannot be made to say or do anything that goes against your will. You can rest easy in the fact that a hypnotized person retains self- control and overall awareness, so they do not reveal anything they want to keep secret or aren’t ready to make public. You will be in full control during the session. Not the hypnotherapist. You, the client.

After an introductory session with your therapist, the goal of the first session of TRTP is to access the unconscious and let it know that is safe now and that the trauma has passed, and to bring the unconscious and conscious mind in sync with each other. This step is crucial as it eliminates the chance of your unconscious sabotaging any efforts going forward. Once the unconscious mind realizes that it is safe, and the unconscious and conscious are in sync, real, powerful, life-changing healing can begin. The practitioner will then work with you to remove the emotional charge that has been a trigger for so long, and finally lead you to a place where you are in a state of calm, able to self-regulate when stressful events do occur (because life still happens), and confidently focus on the future.

The TRTP method is an innovative and revolutionary method that is elegantly simple yet comprehensive, and it achieves profound results quickly, effectively and safely.  If this calls to you, then I would highly encourage you to check it out. Investigate the many success stories that are testament to the fact that, with this method, you too can finally break free from the cycle of self-sabotage and enter a future filled with clarity, calm and confidence.