Mansfield’s Flash Technique: Trauma Therapy Made Easier for Men

Trauma Therapy for men aged 18–30 who have experienced sexual abuse or sexual assault

Talking about sexual abuse can be difficult for anyone. For some men, it can feel almost impossible.

You may know that something from your past is affecting you, but you may not want to describe exactly what happened. You may find that certain memories, images, sensations or situations suddenly bring everything back. Or perhaps you have spent years trying not to think about it at all.

You might also have learned to cope by keeping busy, shutting things down, drinking or using drugs, withdrawing from people, pushing yourself hard, or simply telling yourself that what happened was "in the past".

None of this means that you are weak. These can be ways of surviving experiences that were overwhelming at the time.

One approach I sometimes use in trauma therapy is the Flash Technique, developed by psychologist Philip Manfield. It is a relatively new trauma-processing technique that can be particularly interesting for people who find directly talking about traumatic memories overwhelming.

You don't have to tell me everything

One of the things some people find difficult about trauma therapy is the idea of having to describe what happened in detail.

You may be worried that therapy means sitting in front of someone and repeatedly talking through the worst moments of your life.

It doesn't have to be that way.

The Flash Technique was originally developed as an adjunct to EMDR, particularly to help people approach distressing traumatic memories without having to experience the full emotional intensity of those memories. It has subsequently been developed and studied as an intervention in its own right.

During Flash, your attention is primarily directed towards something positive, interesting or engaging to you rather than towards the traumatic memory itself.

This can make the process feel very different from traditional approaches to talking about trauma.

You remain in control of what you share.

You don't have to provide me with a detailed account of the abuse for us to begin working therapeutically.

What actually happens during Flash?

Without going into the technical details of the technique, the process involves identifying a distressing memory or experience that you would like to work with.

Rather than asking you to focus intensely on the traumatic memory, I will help you develop a positive and engaging focus.

This could be something you genuinely enjoy, find interesting, or feel connected to. It might be an activity, a place, a person, a hobby, music, an image, or something else that naturally captures your attention.

You then briefly bring your attention towards the traumatic material before returning your attention to the engaging focus.

The process is structured and guided by the therapist.

The intention is to reduce the emotional intensity associated with the traumatic memory without requiring you to spend the session immersed in it.

This is one of the features that makes Flash particularly interesting when working with people who have experienced sexual trauma.

"But if I don't talk about it, how can trauma therapy help?"

This is a very understandable question.

Trauma isn't only something we remember as a story.

A traumatic experience can become associated with images, sensations, emotions, beliefs and automatic responses. Sometimes a person can intellectually know that something happened years ago while their body and nervous system continue to respond as though the danger is still present.

You might notice this in ways that don't initially seem connected to the abuse.

Perhaps you:

• become anxious or uncomfortable during intimacy;

• struggle to trust people;

• feel disconnected from your body;

• experience intrusive memories or images;

• avoid certain situations, places or people;

• feel shame about what happened;

• struggle with anger;

• find yourself constantly on guard;

• experience sexual difficulties;

• have difficulty setting boundaries;

• feel numb or detached;

• experience strong reactions to particular sensations, smells, sounds or situations.

For some men, the most difficult part is not even knowing why they react in these ways.

Trauma therapy can help you understand these responses and, where appropriate, work towards changing the way traumatic experiences continue to affect you.

Flash is one tool that can form part of that work.

Why might Flash be useful for male survivors?

There is no single "male experience" of sexual abuse.

Every survivor is different.

However, some men have spent years feeling that they should simply get on with things. They may have received messages growing up that men should be strong, self-reliant, sexually confident or unaffected by difficult experiences.

Sexual abuse can challenge all of those beliefs.

You might have questions that you have never felt able to ask:

"Why didn't I stop it?"

"Why didn't I fight back?"

"Does it mean something about my sexuality?"

"Why did my body respond?"

"Why didn't I tell anyone?"

"Why am I still affected by something that happened years ago?"

"Shouldn't I be over this by now?"

These questions can carry enormous amounts of shame.

One of the most important things therapy can offer is a space where you don't have to pretend that you're unaffected.

And you don't have to prove that what happened was "bad enough" to deserve help.

Your body reacting doesn't mean you wanted it

This is particularly important for male survivors.

During sexual situations, the body can respond automatically. An erection, ejaculation or other physiological response is not evidence of consent, desire or enjoyment.

The body can respond to physical stimulation independently of what a person actually wants or feels.

If you have carried shame about a physical response during abuse, this may be something worth exploring in therapy.

You were not responsible for another person's decision to abuse you.

What does the research say?

The Flash Technique is a relatively new intervention, so it is important to be honest about the evidence.

Research is developing, rather than being as extensive as the evidence base for established trauma therapies such as trauma-focused CBT or EMDR.

A 2024 peer-reviewed study by Manfield and colleagues examined four studies involving 654 participants and 813 Flash sessions. The researchers reported substantial reductions in participants' reported disturbance associated with distressing memories, with improvements maintained at follow-up.

Flash isn't about erasing your memories

You may understandably wonder whether reducing the intensity of a traumatic memory means forgetting it.

That's not the aim.

The goal isn't to erase your history.

What happened to you happened.

Instead, trauma therapy can aim to change the way that memory affects you in the present.

You may still remember what happened, but ideally the memory becomes something that belongs more firmly in the past rather than something your mind or body continues to experience as an immediate threat.

You remain in control

Working with sexual trauma requires trust.

You should never feel that you have to disclose something before you are ready.

In my practice, I want therapy to be collaborative. We can talk about what you want from therapy, what feels manageable, and what doesn't.

Flash can be particularly useful because it offers a way of beginning trauma-focused work without requiring you to repeatedly describe or deliberately immerse yourself in the most distressing aspects of the memory.

That doesn't mean difficult emotions can never arise. Trauma therapy can still be challenging, and Flash isn't appropriate for everyone or for every situation.

The important thing is that we work at a pace that feels manageable and that we regularly assess how you are responding.

You don't have to wait until things get worse

You may have been telling yourself that you should be able to deal with this alone.

Perhaps you have never told anyone.

Perhaps you have told someone, but never really talked about what it has meant for you.

Perhaps you have tried therapy before and found that talking about the trauma made things feel worse.

Or perhaps you aren't even sure whether what happened "counts" as sexual abuse.

You don't need to have everything figured out before coming to therapy.

You don't need to know exactly what you want to talk about.

And you don't have to tell your entire story in the first session.

We can start with where you are now.

If experiences of sexual abuse are affecting your relationships, confidence, emotions, sex life, sense of safety or everyday life, therapy may be a place where you can begin to make sense of what happened and what you want your future to look like.

If you would like to explore whether the Flash Technique, or another therapeutic approach, might be appropriate for you, you can contact me to arrange an initial conversation.

You don't have to carry it on your own.