Why HMR®? (for practitioners)
This synopsis was graciously provided by Brent Baum, developer of HMR®.
Holographic Memory Resolution® is a unique body-centered, client centered approach that facilitates the mapping and resolution of a wide range of memory-based pathologies including many types of migraines, chronic pain, anxiety disorders, certain seizure disorders, illness and trauma. Uniquely merging somatic, energy and color psychologies, HMR enables the articulation and mapping of the etiology of memory-based illness and pathology, while empowering the client and facilitating resolution at the moment of encoding, by-passing the need for abreaction or re-live of the event. Using “clean language” to target “T-1,” the precise moment of trauma encoding, and utilizing a nervous system support technique that enhances sensory access to memory while grounding the client, HMR has been identified by leading addictionologists as one of the most powerful and effective relapse-prevention tools available today. HMR revolutionizes the psychopathology model and medical model by enabling the client’s own bodymind to map the precise etiology and path to resolution of memory-based pathology.
Holographic Memory Resolution® has been employed in clinical settings for the treatment of trauma by psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, neurologists, marriage and family therapists, art therapists, social workers, licensed professional counselors, addictions counselors and nurse practitioners (Brandman, 2005). Discoveries in the early 1990’s about the induction and resolution of trauma (Grove, 1990) led to innovations in the treatment of addictions and relapse prevention (Gorski, 1990). Efforts to resolve the trauma underlying addictions, eating disorders, depression, panic/anxiety disorders and chronic pain led to new and highly effective strategies for resolving the memory triggers which reside at the core of many of these disorders and their recurrence. The precise mapping of the psychobiology of trauma contributed greatly to these breakthroughs (Rossi & Cheek, 1988). Recognizing that many of these diagnoses originated or were exacerbated by the presence of trauma, inpatient facilities sought effective, brief therapies that would diminish the symptoms of trauma and reduce recidivism while preventing abreaction. These innovative strategies uniquely incorporated metaphor and symbolism into psychotherapy (Grove, 1989). David Grove was involved in the training of therapists and staff at treatment centers such as Sierra-Tucson around 1990, prior to his sabbatical and untimely death. The effectiveness of these methods led to their implementation in trauma resolution work with over 25,000 trauma survivors, including the rescue personnel from Oklahoma City Bombing, staff working with the crash of TWA Flight 800 in New York City (Baum, 1997), and 9-11 survivors and rescue personnel in 2001.
The original intention of Brent Baum in the development of HMR® was to resolve the therapeutic hiatus occurring in inpatient treatment that failed to effectively address the various levels of relapse triggers evident in the addicted populations. From the beginning it was evident that “non-abreactive” but effective approaches were sought that would not destabilize a patient during treatment, but provide effective tools that they could employ upon discharge to better maintain recovery. In the early stages of development of this work, a client-centered, body-centered approach seemed to prove the least intrusive and most effective. In its subsequent application with over 50,000 trauma survivors, there have been no lawsuits or challenges to the efficacy of HMR®, largely due to its strictly client-centered implementation. Emphasizing the need for the management of emotions and memory triggers for the addict, Baum sought methods for “emotionally reframing” a traumatic event and transmitting “proof of safety” to the bodymind while preventing relive and abreaction. Color psychology was introduced into the methodology by 1992 as a gentle, natural way of “reframing” traumatic experiences without affecting historical memory. Color, as an infinite language articulated uniquely by each individual’s nervous system (Baum’s thermal scanning research with NASA, 1984) can be employed to transmit complex emotional and biological information. The manner in which these personal, but simple signals anchored the “emotional reframing” in the bodymind became evident by 1993. In the effort to enhance safety in cases of complex trauma, an additional non-intrusive “nervous system support technique” was discovered and integrated in 1994, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of HMR and inducing an “Alpha-Theta” brainwave state – the state researchers have indicated is missing in much of the alcoholic population.
Peniston & Kulkovsky’s (1989; 1991) evidence suggesting that expert manipulation of specific brain frequencies could lead to the remission of traumatic symptoms in alcoholic patients and war veterans with PTSD was revolutionary for its time. They were the first to use technology to tap into the brain’s ability to unlock traumatic memories, showing that unresolved emotional issues could, after all, be retrieved and potentially deleted from memory in an objective and systematic way.
With enhanced Alpha-Theta access, the effectiveness of HMR® increased greatly and attracted the attention of Dr. Andrew Weil at the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Arizona. Medical residents in the Integrative Wellness program were invited to observe the application of HMR® at Cottonwood in the inpatient setting.
Once fully developed, HMR® demonstrated effectiveness, not only with the original, targeted addicted populations, but with chronic pain patients, anxiety/depressive disorders and many other memory-based pathologies. Many migraines, panic attacks, some seizure disorders, chronic pain conditions, inexplicable pain, and even some allergies resolved with the emotional reframing achieved through HMR. Brent’s first book: The Healing Dimensions, chronicles the discovery of the principles of HMR® and contains several case studies that established HMR® as a viable trauma resolution approach. The combination of somatic, color and energy psychologies enhanced access to the reframing of memory-based physical and emotional pain and enabled HMR® to be introduced within a dynamic group process at Cottonwood Treatment Center in 1994. By 1995 Baum began training therapists and introducing them to HMR® and Cottonwood’s unique trauma resolution program. This led to Cottonwood’s involvement in treating the rescue personnel from the Oklahoma City Bombing (1995) and working with TWA Human Resources after the TWA Flight 800 crash in July of 1996. HMR® was approved by TWA Human Resources and Administrative personnel for use with employees sent for treatment. Cottonwood then incorporated HMR® into the entire treatment spectrum: addictions, anxiety/depressive disorders, dual diagnosis, PTSD, etc., with both adolescent and adult patients.
The need to train more therapists to address large-scale trauma events reduced Brent’s presence at Cottonwood and led to the decision to form his own company: Healing Dimensions ACC in 1999 (healingdimensions.com). Upon leaving Cottonwood, Brent was invited in the fall of 1999 to meet with Joseph DeNucci, manager and part owner (along with Bill O’Donnell) of Sierra-Tucson Treatment Center and Miraval (one of the world’s leading integrative wellness spas), involving some discussion at the time about whether involvement at Sierra-Tucson, Miraval, or both facilities would also be appropriate. Given his time-constraints due to travel, the flexibility of the Miraval schedule seemed to serve everyone’s best interests. Dr. Andrew Weil was later invited to Miraval to spearhead an “Integrative Wellness Program” that continued for several years, once again incorporating HMR® into the innovative program design. With the advent of Sept. 11, 2001, the need to train health care professionals in trauma resolution became paramount. Brent’s main international training site for five years turned out to be Sendai, Japan, the city nearest the site of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster seven years later.
During these years of training, it became evident that HMR®, when effectively employed, bypassed the need for more traditional hypnotic induction (a somatic component that Milton Erickson had always sought), enabling the complex mapping of pathology while empowering the client to resolve a broad spectrum of memory triggers. Using this client-centered approach permitted a gentle, non-intrusive approach to memory which greatly reduced the possibility of abreaction and adapted to those with more damaged boundary formation. At its best, HMR engages the bodymind in a unique way that allows the client’s own “expert within” to map the complex etiology of an issue, behavior, pattern or blockage. The past seven years have been devoted to developing a research tool which reflects the bodymind’s remarkable capacity to map and reframe its memory-based pathology. This unique software, internet based and HIPAA compliant, enables the recording, mapping and somatic viewing of memories, memory-patterns and pathology. Developed specifically with research goals in mind, this software is soon to be available to both trainees and certified practitioners in HMR®. There are now 53 certified HMR® practitioners and over 1200 health care professionals in training. This software has not, to date, been fully incorporated into the clinical setting, though this is the next step in implementation. HMR® has been utilized by a variety of practitioners in various clinical settings: neurology departments, the Cleveland Clinic, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and is drawing the attention of neuroscience research institutes and trauma centers of various universities. HMR is also the longest surviving independent contractor service offered at Miraval (seventeen years), and was incorporated into the “Integrative Wellness Program” of Dr. Andrew Weil at Miraval. Miraval continues to focus on leading-edge integrative wellness approaches and therapies.
Research began in 2000 on the impact of HMR® on diverse populations. Initial findings with three subjects indicated that HMR® induced an Alpha-Theta type brainwave that induced calm (Alpha) while providing enhanced sensory access to memory (Theta). The record of the brainwave activity and sympathetic/parasympathetic responses of one of the principal subjects in the 2000 measurements is included below.
BIOFEEDBACK MEASUREMENTS & RESPONSES
Preliminary research in 2000 indicated consistent “Alpha-Theta” brainwave states: relaxed (Alpha) though conscious with significant eye movement (visual Theta access), galvanic skin response, and heart rate variations consistent with the moment of accessing and with the instant of emotional reframing of the memories (4 in this session) in color.
Theta brain waves (3-8hz) have been connected via extensive study to many different phenomena in the brain. Research on subjects as diverse as memory, emotion, neural plasticity, sleep, meditation and hypnosis have all drawn links to theta activity. A theta state is associated with stage 1 sleep- very light sleep from which subjects can easily be awoken.
Connections between meditation and theta activity have been researched and documented thoroughly, particularly in the case of both Zen and Transcendental Meditation. Meditative theta states are often associated with vivid mental imagery, peacefulness and generally pleasant experiences.
More recent research highlights the interesting role that theta may play in memory function. One theory proposed by Lisman and Idiart suggests that short term memories are constantly refreshed in order to retain their presence in the brain while they are being accessed. They suggest that individual memories are refreshed at the gamma rate, while the whole refresh cycle pulses at a theta rate. They believe that this may be why an average of 7 items can be held in short term memory by most people - per each 6Hz theta cycle, the 40hz gamma can cycle an average of 7 times. (Lisman, J.E. and Idiart, M.A.P. (1995) "Storage of 7 ^ 2 short-term memories in oscillatory subcycles." Science 267, 1512-1515)
On the significance of theta brain waves, Gabe Turow writes: "The links between the theta frequency and memory, emotion, and neural plasticity on a localized level provide relevant clues to questions on why visualizations of meditators in theta are so vivid, why meditators have such good memories, and why hypnosis can create lasting changes in the brain."
In the use of HMR with research subjects in 2016, all ten candidates reported a decrease in pain or stress after the initial session. Dr. James Kowal, overseeing the research and measurements, observed the correspondence between the initial brainwave presentation, the memories accessed and reframed, and the changes in brainwaves that correlated with the types of traumas reported and addressed during the session. Of note was the presence of “deep Theta” and “deep Delta” waves after the application of HMR®. This was also observed in candidates in the 2000 research. Analysis is continuing to integrate the data after the last round of final QEEGs with the latest research subjects.
HMR® Research is now focused on integrating evidence-based findings with current breakthroughs in understanding the “mechanisms of action” which enable the emotional reframing of memory-based pain and pathology. Among the possible mechanisms of action, discussion centers upon theoretical foundations involving:
A.) Reintegration of Memory:
1. The Patient centered aspect of HMR® allows the patient to reintegrate the memory by creating the solution. This creation allows the patient to take the active step they wish they had done to escape the trauma and to be soothed and calmed following it in the way they wish had happened. Since the body and mind is unable to know the difference between actual events and physical sensations experienced in real time and "virtual sensations" experienced in the mind and body, the body and unconscious mind responds in the same way. This has been demonstrated by Dr. Ramachadran when he used the mirror box to treat phantom limb pain. Levine, Trauma and Memory, page 60.
2. Hypnosis - earliest documented successful treatment: Pierre Janet. Dr. Fran Moore, Medical Director at Cottonwood Treatment Center, while supervising and observing the delivery of HMR® at Cottonwood Treatment Centers in 1998, stated that HMR® was safe
and clinically effective as a “modified form of Ericksonian hypnosis,” requiring no authoritative induction and therefore no intrusion or compromise of memory content.
a. "Janet and his colleagues learned from bitter experience that the traumatized women under their care could not be cured by reasoning or insight, behavior modification or punishment, but that they did respond to hypnotic suggestion: Trauma could be resolved by reliving the events in a hypnotic state. By safely replaying the old events in their minds and then constructing an imaginary satisfactory conclusion - something they had been unable to do during the original event because they had been too overwhelmed by helplessness and horror - they could begin to fully realize that they had, in fact, survived the trauma and could resume their lives." Bessel Van Der Kolk, page xii.
b. Hypnosis was the most widely practiced treatment for trauma from the late 1800’s until after WW2. The Body Keeps the Score, page 220. Hypnosis, Van Der Kolk states:
i) “Can induce a state of relative calm from which patients can observe their traumatic experiences without being overwhelmed by them.”
ii)“Since the capacity to quietly observe oneself is a critical factor in the integration of traumatic memories, it is likely that hypnosis, in some form, will make a comeback.”
Key piece - To process trauma, there is the evident need to be able to access memories without being overwhelmed by them. The hallmark of HMR®, the readily observable Alpha-Theta/Delta state, also in evidence during QEEG measurements of research subjects in the fall of 2016, indicates that a profound state of calm can be maintained while the “refreshing” of memories occurs during Theta/Delta-Theta.
B.) Echo memories and experiences - Trauma and Memory, page 121.
1. We know that multiple memories may be found at the same location but accessed with different holograms.
2. Most recent memories are often accessed first followed by later memories.
3. Peter Levine suggests that echo traumas, traumas where a person’s experiences an event similar to the original event but is of different context, may be layered on top of the original trauma when the later experience does not resolve in a satisfactory way.
4. We also find that an individual event may hold more than one “T-1” moment per event that needs reframing. It may be related to physical trauma that occurs prior to the emotional trauma.
C.) Physiology during and after a successful resolution with HMR®.
1. Autonomic discharge includes heat, gentle trembling, tears and other spontaneous movements. - Trauma and Memory, page 132.
2. This may suggest that autonomic nervous system is accessed and reset during HMR®. D.) Safe scene followed by Hologram description:
1. The analogous process in Somatic Experiencing familiarizes the patient/person with the here-and-now body sensations and restrain a person's compulsion from immediately identifying the source of his trauma. Trauma and Memory, page 133.
In the age of dual diagnosis and poly-addicted populations with complex trauma, the need for a non-intrusive, non-abreactive, integrative approach to treating the trauma component accompanying such populations became paramount. We can no longer effectively treat the bipolar client, for instance, without also addressing the trauma factors sustaining and exacerbating their symptoms. Recent research indicates that the average amount of time before proper diagnosis of the bipolar client is ten years, revealing a clear pattern of traumatization accompanying such pathology. The importance of addressing the trauma underlying and sustaining such complex diagnoses has never been more pronounced.
Through observation and the spontaneous sequencing and mapping of over 150,000 memories, several observations can be made:
1) Among the safest and least triggering methods for reducing the impact of trauma are to be found the body-centered, client-centered approaches that empower the client’s own internal resources for the gentle accessing, mapping, and reframing of complex trauma patterns.
2) Abreaction and “relive” are greatly reduced when the client’s own bodymind provides the degree of access and precise language needed to safely navigate the subconscious mind. David Grove’s development and contribution of “clean language” was pivotal in this development.
3) HMR® also assists by inducing an “Alpha-Theta/Delta” brainwave state that enhances sensory access to memory while grounding the client’s nervous system, thereby inducing the requisite state of calm for the emotional reframing of memories.
4) Color is a highly effective and infinite language that can be employed to transmit “proof of safety” for the emotional reframing of memory, anchoring these emotional updates in both the physiology and meridians of the bodymind. Both must be addressed for effective trauma release. The earliest evidence of the effectiveness of color resides in the fact that our first emotional imprinting outside the womb derives from the eye contact with our mother, described in “Object Relations Theory” as “mirroring.” Color, therefore, speaks to both hemispheres of the brain and forms the foundation for our earliest identity imprinting.
5) Memories may imprint in the subconscious mind as complex patterns that must be addressed by both single scene (level 1) and pattern (level 2) interventions. Our earliest therapies focused on one or the other but failed to address both and their interdependency.
6) In cultures and situations where boundary formation is impaired or greatly reduced, memories often “blur” together to form associated patterns that require both single scene (level 1) and pattern (level 2) interventions for significant pain reduction or resolution to occur.
7) Random or therapist-centered accessing approaches hold a higher risk of triggering a cascade or flooding of memories that are pattern-related and may result in increased emotional or physical pain until the related sequence or pattern is addressed. A client centered, body-centered approach reduces such risk, as was evidenced in Japanese clients.
8) Empowerment of the client to “emotionally reframe” their own experiences is the principal focus of the therapeutic process. All therapy is, in a manner of speaking, a “reparenting” process which assists the client in establishing safety with respect to memory, and in “completing” the emotional charge of memory.
9) HMR® functions by assisting the client in addressing the “emotional charge” of stored memory, thereby freeing the client from the effects of the “state-dependent” or “state-bound” physiology and emotional (brainwave) states.
10) The focus of HMR® is the “emotional reframing” of past experiences and the empowerment of the client’s own “healer within” – emphasizing safety, boundary repair, anchoring, and grounding. Health care professionals have gratefully embraced the empowering nature of HMR® and its capacity to be integrated as a regular “emotional reframing” self-care practice.
In using the principles of HMR® with over 150,000 memories, these observations are offered as we move forward into our next research phase. Risks of abreaction, decompensation, flooding of memories, secondary triggers, inadvertent accessing of emotional or physiological pain triggers are all greatly reduced when client-centered, body-centered approaches are employed for the gentle accessing and emotional reframing of memory-based pathology. As a result, risks of legal liability for practitioners and facilities also diminish. HMR® is easily integrated with other therapeutic modalities and may, in fact, offer a secure framework within which other modalities may prove more effective.