The Dreams without Dreaming project explores the therapeutic application of the Cultural–Social Model of dreams using the SEER Method. (You can find out more in this Imperfect Cognitions interview with Dr Louise Moody and Prof Tom Stoneham.) The aim of the project is to advance the therapeutic understanding and treatment of sleep disturbances using the Cultural–Social Model of dreams. Researchers at the University o York led by Tom Stoneham are working with specialist trauma therapists to conduct original research, contribute to CPD workshops, and support the development of a national training programme for practitioners. See our Training & Events page for details of forthcoming meetings. 

The Embodied Reprocessing Method applies to both normal dreams and nightmares, and was developed by Dzmitry Karpuk, a systemic psychotherapist as a set of interventions for working with trauma in response to a limited choice of trauma recovery therapies. Accordingly, our focus is often on nightmares. The Method is specifically designed to address the high drop-out rate related to re-traumatisation during trauma-focused therapies. It uses a range of systemic, experiential, and embodied tools that facilitate re-evaluation of problem-saturated narratives, while minimising the risk of re-traumatisation. Distinctive elements of the Embodied Reprocessing (formerly known as the SEER method) includes encouraging the therapist to take time to develop the client’s internal safety by utilising a scaffolding concept, and to support clients to avoid focusing on feelings and emotions at the time of trauma reprocessing. The method also supports clients to change focus from narrative interpretation of their dreams or traumatic experiences to working with bodily sensations and experiences where therapists facilitate the client’s dialogue with these sensations and experiences.

This research project is part of a larger collaboration between the University of York and the Complex Trauma Therapists’ Network, UK (CTTN).
The principal investigator is Professor Tom Stoneham; Dzmitry Karpuk is the external partner and Dr Robert A Davies is a researcher on the project. A primary aim of the project is to advance the therapeutic understanding and treatment of sleep disturbances, and the collaboration has multiple strands of activity, including CPD training and original research. This strand of activity focuses on the concept of re-traumatisation. The project’s research into re-traumatisation is funded by the Research Champions Culture and Communication Research Priming Fund at the University of York. To read more about the project, please visit seer.org.uk ; 

http://embodiedreprocessing.uk/

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Re-traumatisation is a core concept in psychotherapy and related contexts—it is commonplace in everyday work discussions and specialist literature; and minimising re-traumatisation motivates the development of new practices. Unusually for such an established and well-used term, it has evaded consensus definition in specialist literature, and there is no agreed operational definition. The term ‘re-traumatisation’ does not appear in DSM-V. However, there appears to be widespread tacit understanding of the term, and a widespread recognitional capacity in the psychotherapeutic field (i.e. clinicians talk about it and can tell when it is happening). An important part of advancing our therapeutic understanding of re-traumatisation will involve getting a clear picture of the everyday senses in which the term is currently used by clinicians.