About twelve minutes. Wells’ treatment manual states that the procedure lasts approximately twelve minutes, divided into five minutes of selective attention, five minutes of attention switching, and two minutes of divided attention[1]. That 5–5–2 split is the reference shape of the exercise, and it is the same whether a therapist delivers it live or you listen to a recording.
The three phases and their durations
| Phase | Duration | What the voice asks for |
|---|---|---|
| Selective attention | ~5 minutes | Hold full attention on one named sound at a time, returning to it whenever attention strays[1] |
| Attention switching | ~5 minutes | Move between named sounds — around every ten seconds at first, then every five[1] |
| Divided attention | ~2 minutes | Expand attention to take in all the sounds at once, counting how many can be heard simultaneously[1] |
The tempo inside the switching phase is the one number that changes within a session: the manual has the interval start at approximately ten seconds and increase to one sound every five seconds[1].
How much have studies varied it?
Not much, and not systematically. The twelve-minute figure travels with the protocol:
- A randomized study of a single dose of ATT used one session in that range[3].
- A single-case study of ATT delivered sessions of approximately twelve to fifteen minutes, alongside a larger sound set of nine locations[2].
What does not exist is a body of research comparing session lengths against each other. Nobody has published a five-minute ATT versus a twelve-minute ATT. So the honest statement is that twelve minutes is the length the protocol was written and studied at, not a length demonstrated to be optimal.
Why the session doesn’t get shorter as you improve
A reasonable assumption about a training exercise is that you graduate to less of it. ATT is built the other way. Wells specifies that the exercise should be attentionally demanding and should not become substantially less demanding with practice — otherwise, he writes, it would not systematically strengthen control processes[1]. The difficulty is preserved by varying the sounds and their arrangement between sessions, which offsets the effects of practice on task difficulty[1].
So the twelve minutes stay twelve minutes. What changes between sessions is the soundscape, not the clock.
What about the time before the phases start?
A session has a beginning that isn’t yet the exercise: the sounds are introduced, the gaze is settled on a fixation point, and the instructions about thoughts are given[1]. That introduction is not counted in the twelve minutes in the manual’s description — the twelve minutes are the three phases. An audio version that reads an introduction aloud will therefore run somewhat longer than twelve minutes end to end.
The practical version
If you are planning practice around it: reserve about fifteen minutes for a twelve-minute session, allowing for the introduction and for settling. On how often to repeat it, the manual’s answer and what studies actually did are covered in how often to practise ATT.
For the exercise in full, see the Attention Training Technique explained.
Questions and answers
- How long does an ATT session take?
- About twelve minutes. Wells' manual specifies approximately five minutes of selective attention, five of attention switching, and two of divided attention.
- Can I do a shorter version?
- Published protocols keep the twelve-minute shape; one case study used sessions of roughly twelve to fifteen minutes. There is no research on shortened versions, so a shorter session is an untested variation rather than a documented one.
- Why is the last phase so much shorter?
- Divided attention is the closing phase, allotted about two minutes in the manual's split. The manual does not give a rationale for the specific durations beyond the overall structure.
References
- Wells, A. (2009). Metacognitive Therapy for Anxiety and Depression. Guilford Press. Chapter 4: Attention Training Techniques.
- Carter, K. E. P., & Wells, A. (2018). Effects of the attention training technique on auditory hallucinations in schizo-affective disorder: A single case study. Case Reports in Psychiatry, 2018, 1537237. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6106726/
- Knowles, M. M., & Wells, A. (2018). Single dose of the attention training technique increases resting alpha and beta-oscillations in frontoparietal brain networks: A randomized controlled comparison. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1768. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6158576/
Published by the makers of Heed, an app for practicing ATT-style sessions. iPhone · Android. Heed is a self-practice tool inspired by ATT research — not therapy, and not a medical device.