The flash technique: definition and how it differs from EMDR

The Flash Technique (FT) is a brief EMDR-related technique that lowers a disturbing memory’s emotional charge without asking you to focus on the memory itself. Instead, you hold something completely positive in mind while briefly, repeatedly blinking. Psychologist Philip Manfield introduced FT in 2017; unlike standard EMDR, it can work even when a memory feels too overwhelming to approach directly.

Who developed the Flash Technique?

Clinical psychologist Philip Manfield first described FT in a 2017 paper in the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research. He co-wrote it with Jennifer Lovett, Linda Engel, and David Manfield.

FT grew out of psychologist Krystyna Kinowski’s 2003 “paired titration” method: letting a client brush briefly against the edge of a hard memory, then return to something steadier. That’s an early form of titration, working with a hard feeling in the smallest safe dose instead of all at once. Kinowski adapted the idea from Peter Levine’s pendulation concept, described in a 2023 EMDR Therapy Quarterly retrospective. Manfield then simplified it into the blink-based protocol used today.

How does the Flash Technique work?

A clinician first has you rate the memory’s distress on the 0-to-10 SUDS scale. In Manfield’s original protocol, you then choose a “positive engaging focus”: something completely pleasant and absorbing, like a favorite place, a pet, or a hobby. You picture it clearly.

At intervals, the clinician says “flash.” You blink rapidly a few times. The disturbing memory stays at the edge of awareness the whole time, never described or examined directly. After several rounds, you rate distress again to see how much it’s settled.

How is the Flash Technique different from standard EMDR?

Standard EMDR asks you to hold the target memory, a related belief, and a body sensation in mind during sustained sets of bilateral stimulation: eye movements, taps, or tones. FT flips that. Attention stays on something positive while the memory stays out of clear view. Short blink sets take on the work that sustained bilateral stimulation does in standard EMDR, sometimes alongside it.

Manfield designed FT as an optional tool for Phase 2 preparation, the stabilization stage in EMDRIA’s eight-phase model. It’s meant to soften a memory before, or instead of, full reprocessing. FT isn’t part of that original eight-phase protocol, though clinicians increasingly use it as a stand-alone technique too.

Does the Flash Technique work?

Evidence is still early but encouraging. A 2024 study in Frontiers in Psychiatry followed 654 people across 813 sessions run by Manfield and colleagues. Average disturbance dropped by more than two-thirds after roughly 15 minutes (p < 0.001), with gains holding at follow-up.

A separate 2022 randomized trial in Frontiers in Psychology found FT eased traumatic stress and anxiety in traffic-accident survivors for at least a month afterward. Both studies are promising, but the evidence base is still young, and larger independent trials are needed.

Can you do the Flash Technique on your own?

Not for real trauma memories. FT is built to be cued by a trained clinician who tracks your distress and chooses the target. That’s part of why it’s not something to attempt alone with heavy material. For everyday stress rather than a specific traumatic memory, general self-guided bilateral stimulation is a different, more appropriately scoped practice.

EmEase, a self-guided EMDR app, offers visual and audio bilateral stimulation you can use on your own time at app.emease.com. It’s a distinct tool from the clinician-led Flash Technique, built for everyday moments rather than trauma processing.