I observed a devastating aviation accident on May 30, 1972, at Greater Southwest Airport. As an air traffic controller and private pilot, I had spent over three hours flying with the three pilots the day before as they prepared for their FAA captain’s certification. Post-flight, I arranged to have dinner with the check pilot and our spouses the next evening.
Tragically, the next day, I witnessed the loss of these pilots and an FAA inspector in a catastrophic runway explosion. Standing outside the control tower, I saw the Delta DC-9 enter the wake turbulence of a preceding jumbo jet (DC-10), leading to a horrific accident.
The aircraft tumbled wing over wing down the runway, and I was engulfed by the sights, sounds, and heat of the explosion as it erupted into a massive fireball. The shock was immediate, and within minutes, I was called upon to replace the radar room controller who had been handling the flight.
The aftermath of this event haunted me for over a decade with PTSD. Despite my extensive education in psychology, nothing seemed to alleviate the symptoms. I sought help from five different therapists, but one particular approach, “Exposure Therapy,” inadvertently intensified my flashbacks.
I felt compelled to keep my struggles hidden due to the stigma (believing I wasn’t normal) and the fear of forfeiting my FAA Class 2 physical, which would mean losing my career as an air traffic controller. The flashbacks, sometimes a near-daily occurrence, persisted until 1984, when I participated in a therapeutic workshop in Houston.
It was there that I stepped forward to undergo the NLP Trauma/Phobia Cure, also known today as “The Rewind Procedure,” “NLP Fast Phobia Cure,” or “Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM).” Remarkably, the treatment was successful in under fifteen minutes, bringing an end to my flashbacks.
Among the three air traffic controllers who witnessed the crash, I am the sole survivor beyond the age of fifty-seven. Now at seventy-eight, I reflect on the two other guys who lost their medical certifications, were medically retired, and relied on medication until their premature passing in their fifties.
Had I not attended that transformative workshop in Houston 40 years ago, I doubt I would be in a position to assist others dealing with trauma or even share my story as I am today.
I have used this procedure in person and over the telephone/Zoom with hundreds of people over the past thirty-nine years. I have never had an unsuccessful client session with a client experiencing PTSD flashbacks.
Depending on the issue, talk therapy can be great and all that is needed to help someone. However, there may be an event and/or belief that continues to feel “stuck” no matter how many times you’ve processed it with someone. This is where effective trauma therapies like those posted on this blog should be used. People can really heal their traumatic memories. They no longer have to just cope with their unwanted emotional states.
Around the same time period (1984) a brilliant therapist/teacher, Steve Andreas (1935-2018) recorded a therapy session with a lady using this procedure to cure her phobia to bees. Steve did a followup interview twenty-five years later with her. More on Steve later..
Thirty-eight years later, I still find it amazing and disappointing that less than 20 % of practicing therapists are familiar or have ever heard of the NLP Trauma/Phobia Cure, also known as the “Rewind Technique” or the “Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM)”.
Steve Andreas until his death in 2018 had tried to get the attention of the mainstream therapy community of this simple, but wonderful life altering procedure, This is the YouTube video of the Psychotherapy Network Symposium where Steve was a presenter in 2014. Steve gives a demonstration of the procedure and appropriately titled the 20 minute video:
“Therapy Isn’t Brain Science “ & The Procedure
Her 25 year follow up:
I believe this procedure is more effective for PTSD “Flashbacks” than EMDR. One great positive offshoot from this procedure was EMDR. Francine Shapiro noticed the client’s eye movements of people doing the NLP Trauma/Phobia Cure when at the time she was employed by the co-developer of NLP, John Grinder. With greater development of the processes over the years and outstanding marketing, the EMDR process has been taught to more than 200,000 therapists worldwide to work on a wide range of psychological issues.
See these postings for more information:
July 11, 2023: https://clintmatheny.cdn-pi.com/opinion-the-best-ptsd-treatment-youve-never-heard-of/
:https://clintmatheny.cdn-pi.com/nlp-trauma-phobia-cure-ptsd-cure-10-year-follow-up/
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