Joe Fier describes a two-minute technique to reset traumatic memories without talking. He walks through it with a veteran who'd been arrested after an outburst; after the reset, the veteran could discuss the event without shaking or crying. The method works by stopping the mind from repeatedly calling for an action it couldn't take.
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He said, I can't talk about this again. He says, I got arrested last week at the VA because I started picking up tables and chairs and throwing them. And I said, well, here's the good news. I don't need you to talk about it. He said, well, what are we going to do? I said, we're going to fix it. How are we going to fix it if I don't talk about it? And I said, I only need you just to pull up the memory. And I said, you can talk about it if you want to, but I don't need you to. And I said, if you prefer not to, I've got a technique that I can just take you to the visual memory and reset it within two minutes.
And he said to me, he goes, how the bleep did you do this? Why am I able to think and talk about it now and I'm not shaking and crying? And I said, because for eight years your mind's been trying to get you not to pull the trigger. It's being calling for an action. What would solve that problem? Don't shoot. So his mind kept calling for an action that wasn't possible.