Funded by Forces in Mind Trust, King’s College London undertook a small-scale study of ex-Service personnel with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which compared Trauma Focused Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (TF-CBT) with the new therapy, Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM).

Forces in Mind Trust is now co-funding a large follow-on study to further explore the viability of a new therapy. It is co-funded by FiMT and a partnership between the Medical Research Council (MRC) and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories

Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories is a ‘talking therapy’ with its roots in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) which seeks to understand and change verbal and non-verbal language patterns to enable someone to think differently about something that has distressed them.

The feasibility trial was conducted with 35 ex-Service personnel undertaking the Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories therapy over two to four sessions in a period of three weeks, and asked participants to recall their memory of their experience, without requiring them to directly visit the traumatic event.

The results from those who took part in this new psychological intervention showed a large reduction in their PTSD scores and nearly half (48%) of participants no longer had a PTSD diagnosis at 20 weeks after therapy, compared to just 16% of those receiving TF-CBT in the study. In addition, no adverse effects were reported by the participants.

Trial Results

The trial met seven of the eight tests necessary to demonstrate feasibility, with the results highlighting the possibility of Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories as a viable alternative to the current Trauma Focused Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, offering greater reductions in PTSD over a shorter time period, also resulting in notable cost-savings.

However, this was a small-scale study to show the feasibility of this new intervention in the UK, and requires further research with a larger sample.

Next Steps

Thanks to the promising results in this study,  Forces in Mind Trust has awarded £329,000 for King’s College London to further explore the viability of NLP-based therapies as a treatment for PTSD in UK veterans in a larger trial.  The remainder of this £1.9m study will be funded by the MRC and NIHR partnership.

The new study will trial an NLP-based intervention for PTSD called Fast Imagery Reversal Script for Trauma-release (FIRST), which has modified and improved upon Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories.

A further study delivering the intervention is now also being trialled with NHS workers with PTSD in a study funded by the NIHR.

Jackie Sturt, Professor of Behavioural Medicine in Nursing, King’s College London, said,

“Mental health therapies too often have long waiting lists and, unfortunately, therapies offered do not always have the best scientific evidence supporting their use. We are grateful to FiMT, MRC and NIHR for supporting our research to develop and test brief and effective interventions to military veterans and NHS staff living with PTSD. These communities give so much in the course of their employment and yet can suffer so much as a consequence. Our research holds the real opportunity of shortening those waiting lists and getting welcomed therapies to people much more quickly so they can continue to live their working and personal lives to the full.”

Michelle Alston, Chief Executive of Forces in Mind Trust said,

“Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories has shown positive results so far in helping veterans with PTSD. The non-trauma focused nature of the intervention, its quick time-scale and lack of adverse effects are impressive, and offer a potential promising alternative for those ex-Service personnel living with PTSD. FiMT are very pleased that funding has been awarded by the NIHR to further explore NLP-based trauma intervention treatment, and that we are able to co-fund the next step in bringing a new treatment for ex-Service personnel experiencing PTSD.”

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Notes

Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories was delivered to 35 ex-service personnel over 2-4 sessions in a period of three weeks.

The report can be found in full here.

About King’s College London

King’s College London is amongst the top 40 universities in the world and top 10 in Europe (THE World University Rankings 2024), and one of England’s oldest and most prestigious universities.  With an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research, King’s maintained its sixth position for ‘research power’ in the UK (2021 Research Excellence Framework).

King’s has more than 33,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and 8,500 staff.   For nearly 200 years, King’s students and staff have used their knowledge and insight to make a positive impact on people, society and the planet. Focused on delivering positive change at home in London, across the UK and around the world, King’s is building on its history of addressing the world’s most urgent challenges head on to accelerate progress, make discoveries and pioneer innovation. Visit the website to find out more about Vision 2029, which sets out bold ambitions for the future of King’s as we look towards our 200th anniversary.

World-changing ideas. Life-changing impact: kcl.ac.uk/news 

About the National Institute for Health and Care Research and Medical Research Council

The study was funded by an MRC and NIHR partnership created to support the evaluation of interventions with potential to make a step-change in the promotion of health, treatment of disease and improvement of rehabilitation or long-term care.

The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:

  • Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care;
  • Investing in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services;
  • Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;
  • Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;
  • Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;
  • Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low and middle income countries.

The Medical Research Council is at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers’ money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health.

Thirty-three MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed.

Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms. The Medical Research Council is part of UK Research and Innovation. https://mrc.ukri.org/

About Forces in Mind Trust

Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) was founded in 2011 with a £35 million endowment from the National Lottery Community Fund to improve transition to civilian life for Service leavers and their families. Our mission is to enable successful and sustainable transition to civilian life, and the Trust’s strategy is to provide an evidence base that will influence and underpin effective policy making and practice. By funding high quality, credible research where there is an identified gap in relevant understanding, and by then exploiting the findings, FiMT aims to effect positive change.