83 Degrees Media Interviews Kevin Kip on the College of Nursing’s Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)

83 Degrees Media interviewed Kevin Kip, PhD, FAHA, Associate Professor and Executive Director of Research Center at the University of South Florida College of Nursing. Dr. Kip is co-principal investigator of a study to test the effects of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) to treat emotional problems and related symptoms that arise from serving in combat operations.

ART is a revolutionary intervention being tested in one of the five sub-studies of the College’s Research to Rehabilitate/Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members and their Families grant funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (TATRC).

“ART is a relatively new type of psychotherapy developed in 2008 that uses a lot of components of existing therapies and lateral eye movement,” said Kip. “In the case of trauma, we work with images of traumatic events. We ask the client to walk through experience as if it’s a movie. To calm them and control physical reactions, we have them move their eyes from right to left. This lateral movement does a couple of things. It invokes both sides of the brain. When you have a traumatic experience, it’s not integrated correctly into the brain. We think the right to left eye movements help store the experience in a part of the brain that’s not emotional.”

This in-person therapy is for veterans who have symptoms of psychological trauma (i.e. post-traumatic stress symptoms). Enrollees undergo between 1-5 sessions of psychotherapy that use a combination of sets of lateral left/right eye movements and talk therapy. The study aims to reduce symptoms of PTSD and related difficulties, including depression, anxiety, and sleep dysfunction.

Through the Center for Education and Research to Rehabilitate and Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members and their Families or Restore Lives Center, USF College of Nursing faculty develop life enhancing treatments through nursing research, and educate nurses with the knowledge and skills specific to the needs of the military, veterans and their families. The ART study is a fine example of type of research that the USF College of Nursing is developing to help our honored service members and veterans.

 “We’ve just completed a study of 80 adults and saw very positive results in just three or four sessions on average,” said Dr. Kip in the 83 Degrees Media article. “Their symptoms went way down. We’re on our second study now and it deals with combat only. We’re getting positive results there, too.”

The University of South Florida College of Nursing is Transforming Healthcare Transforming Lives: Creating the Nursing Leaders of Tomorrow and the Research That Improves Health.

For the full story visit 83 Degrees Media at “USF research creates psycho therapy for veterans”