- Gray, R., & Bourke, F. (2015). Remediation of intrusive symptoms of PTSD in fewer than five sessions: A 30-person pre-pilot study of the RTM Protocol. Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, 1(2), 85-92. doi:10.3138/jmvfh.3119.This pilot study treated 30 veterans suffering with severe PTS and measured their PTS remission rate at 96% (25 of 26) and alleviation of their PTS intrusive symptoms in under five sessions. It provided validation for funding additional, more sophisticated research.
- Tylee, D. S., Gray, R., Glatt, S. J., & Bourke, F. (2017). Evaluation of the reconsolidation of traumatic memories protocol for the treatment of PTSD: a randomized, wait-list controlled trial. Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, 3(1), 21-33. doi: 10.3138/jmvfh.4120.This first Wait List Designed, Random Control Trial (RCT) study, measured 90% of the 30 male veterans, PTS diagnosis free, at their two-week, six-week, and twelve-month follow-ups. Given the 90% PTS remission rate and the high suicide rate among the veteran population, the Wait List Design was ethically necessitated over a comparison study with 40% Treatments, but the format still allowed psychometricians to be blinded as to control and experimental groups providing more than reasonable confidence for additional studies. Because PTSD patients have a high suicide risk, and because our participants were all high risk, and often homeless, double-blinded studies were not attempted, and under these conditions would have been unethical if not impossible.
- Gray, R. M., Budden-Potts, D., Schwall, R. J., & Bourke, F. F. (2020, November 19). An Open- Label, Randomized Controlled Trial of the Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories Protocol (RTM) in Military Women. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0000986. 96% PTS remission of the 30 women veterans on the PCL-M and PSS-I at two weeks and all subsequent measures to one year, follow-ups. A 96% PTS remission rate was obtained for the 30 women veterans on the PCL-M and PSS-I at two weeks and all subsequent measures to one year, follow-ups.
- Gray, R., Budden-Potts, D., & Bourke, F. (2017). The Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM) Protocol for PTSD: A Case Study. Journal of Experiential Psychotherapy, vol. 20(4): 47-61. This case study describes Carl, a Vietnam veteran, diagnosed with PTSD who volunteered for treatment in a 30-person waitlist RCT of the RTM protocol. Carl completed three 120minute sessions of RTM. Post-treatment measures found significant reductions in PTSD symptoms that were maintained at 2, 6, 26, and 52-weeks post-treatment. Carl was chosen as representative of Vietnam Era participants for whom RTM has been effective in the larger study. Carl has experienced the intrusive symptoms of PTSD for more than 40 years.
- Kitchiner, N.J., Lewis, C., Roberts, N. P., & Bisson, J. I. (2019). Active duty and ex-serving military personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder treated with psychological therapies: systematic review and meta-analysis, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 10:1, 1684226, DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2019.1684226. Their scientifically formatted, meta-analysis found RTM to be one of only two of the treatments examined to meet their efficacy criterion for consideration as effective for treating military PTSD”.
- Astill Wright, L., Horstmann, L., Holmes, E. A., & Bisson, J. I. (2021). Consolidation/reconsolidation therapies for the prevention and treatment of PTSD and re- experiencing: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Translational Psychiatry, 11(1), 453. doi:10.1038/s41398-021-01570-w. Investigated the potential of novel ‘memory consolidation/reconsolidation therapies’ to treat re-experiencing symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the efficacy of so-called memory consolidation/reconsolidation therapies in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for prevention and treatment. Twenty-five RCTs met inclusion criteria (16 prevention and nine treatment trials). Only three protocols (hydrocortisone for PTSD prevention, Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM) for treatment of PTSD symptoms, and cognitive task memory interference procedure with memory reactivation (MR) for intrusive memories) were superior to control. A discussion of RTM is provided on Page 10.
- Steenkamp, M. M., Litz, B. T., Hoge, C. W., & Marmar, C. R. (2015). Psychotherapy for Military- Related PTSD: A Review of Randomized Clinical Trials. Jama, 314(5), 489-500. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2015.8370. This review of military and veteran populations, trials of the first-line trauma-focused interventions stated the need for improvement in existing PTSD treatments and for development and testing of novel evidence-based treatments. It pointedly admonished the broad range of researchers using statistics, that are still widely employed, labeling PTS Treatments as “successful” where 60% to 70% of the clients treated still maintained PTS Diagnoses at the conclusion of “successful” treatment.
- Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories in the Treatment of Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD): A Case Study by Gunjan Y. Trivedi, PhD: Cureus 16(9): e68927. doi:10.7759/cureus.68927. This case study explores the memory reconsolidation-based technique of reconsolidation of traumatic memories (RTM) to address complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). Using the framework of CPTSD and the components of International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ), several presenting symptoms and the history of childhood trauma (adverse childhood experiences assessment) were assessed. The individual, based on the trauma-informed care approach, went through a total of eight sessions after the initial consultation that included RTM on index trauma events, reframing, and self-regulation techniques. CPTSD and several internalizing symptoms were measured before and after the intervention. The findings suggest that memory reconsolidation-based RTM protocol, coupled with the constructs of CPTSD using ITQ and index trauma, could provide benefits for individuals with symptoms from prolonged exposure to trauma during childhood.
- ISTSS RTM Walter Reed Presentation Michael Roy (2024) Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories to
Resolve Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (RECON)-An MTBI2 study presented at the International Society for Traumatic
Stress Studies (ISTSS) Sept 2024 Conference.
