Memory Reconsolidation In Psychotherapy

In Unlocking the Emotional Brain, authors Ecker, Ticic, and Hulley equip readers to carry out focused, empathic therapy using the potent process of memory reconsolidation, the recently discovered and only known process for actually unlocking emotional memory at the synaptic level. The Routledge classic edition includes a new preface from the authors describing the book’s widespread impact on psychotherapy since its initial publication. Emotional memory's tenacity is the familiar bane of therapists, and researchers had long believed that emotional memory forms indelible learning. Reconsolidation has overturned these views. It allows new learning to truly nullify, not just suppress, the deep, intensely problematic emotional learnings that form, outside of awareness, during childhood or in later tribulations and generate most of the symptoms that bring people to therapy. Readers will learn methods that precisely eliminate unwanted, ingrained emotional responses—whether moods, behaviors, or thought patterns—causing no loss of ordinary narrative memory, while restoring clients' well-being. Numerous case examples show the versatile use of this process in AEDP, coherence therapy, EFT, EMDR, and IPNB.

Memory reconsolidation (MR)—a foundational process with the potential, if properly understood, to consistently bring about the kind of transformational change that we look for in the lives of clients—is the subject of this book. Featured in this issue is Bruce Ecker, one of the foremost experts in applying techniques that fulfil the neurobiological requirements to achieve MR in clinical practice. In fact all of the authors in this issue are experts in their respective fields, demonstrating the unifying nature of MR in such diverse therapies as the Alexander technique, energy psychology, neuro-linguistic programming, and progressive counting. Understanding the biological basis of our memory and how it can be modified is the key to effective therapeutic change, especially when emotional memories are driving unwanted symptoms.The content of this special issue has been previously published in The Neuropsychotherapist or the International Journal of Neuropsychotherapy.

Reach a new stage in brief therapy Is it possible for clinicians to provide in-depth therapy in the cost-conscious, time-limited world of managed care? This groundbreaking book offers clinicians new hope of maintaining professional satisfaction in time-effective practice. Authors Bruce Ecker and Laurel Hulley provide a practical guide for clinicians on how to work deeply and briefly with individuals, couples, and families, and shows how to meet the challenge of managed care without losing the deeper levels of change traditionally associated with long-term or existential work. By using Depth-Oriented Brief Therapy, you'll work directly and immediately with the emotional and unconscious meanings that structure the very existence of the presenting problem.

As little as 10 years ago, it was believed that memory went from short to long term via one consolidation practice that made that memory intractable. Since then, research has shown that long-term memories can be activated, modified, and reconsolidated in their new form. This research indicates that memories are more dynamic than once believed. And understanding how this process works and helping people to redefine established memories can be clinically useful if those memories lead to problems, as is the case in post-traumatic stress disorder. This book provides a comprehensive overview of research on memory reconsolidation; what this has to say about the formation, storage, and changeability of memory; and the potential applications of this research to treating clinical disorders. Presents both neuroscience and psychological research on memory reconsolidation Discusses what findings mean for understanding memory formation, storage, and retrieval Includes treatment applications of these findings

Neuroscience of Enduring Change is founded on the premise that all major psychotherapy modalities producing enduring change do so by virtue of corrective emotional experiences that alter problematic memories through the process of reconsolidation. This book is unique in linking basic science concepts to clinical research and clinical application. Experts in each area address each of the basic science and clinical topics. No other book addresses a general mechanism of change in psychotherapy in combination with the basic science underpinning it. This book is also unique in bringing the latest neuroimaging evidence and cutting-edge conceptual approaches to bear in understanding how psychological and behavioral treatment approaches bring about lasting change in the brain. Clinicians will benefit from the detailed discussion of basic mechanisms that underpin their clinical interventions and will be challenged to consider how their approach to therapy might be adjusted to optimize the opportunities for enduring change. Researchers will benefit from authoritative reviews of extant knowledge and a clear description of the research agenda going forward. The cross-fertilization between the research and clinical domains is evident throughout.

New Techniques of Grief Therapy: Bereavement and Beyond expands on the mission of the previous two Techniques books, featuring innovative approaches to address the needs of those whose lives have been shadowed by loss—whether through bereavement, serious illness, the rupture of a relationship, or other complex or intangible losses, such as of an identity-defining career. The book starts with several framing chapters by prominent theorists that provide a big- picture orientation to grief work and follows with a generous toolkit of creative therapeutic techniques described in concrete detail and anchored in illustrative case studies to convey their use in actual practice. New Techniques of Grief Therapy is an indispensable resource for professionals working in hospice, hospital, palliative care, and elder care settings; clinicians in broader health-care and mental health-care practices; executive coaches; and students in the field of grief therapy.

Creating safety, hope, and secure attachment to transform traumatic memories. What makes trauma therapy effective? The answers might surprise you. While therapists have been bombarded with brain science, hundreds of new models, and pressure to use evidence-based techniques, research has demonstrated that the therapeutic relationship ultimately predicts therapy outcomes. This is especially true for traumatized clients. But, what kind of therapeutic relationship? Forming a secure therapeutic alliance with traumatized clients is tricky. How do you help clients trust you after they’ve been abused, betrayed, or exploited? How do you instill hope and convince clients who’ve been devastated by loss to believe that a better life is possible? In this accessible guide, Courtney Armstrong distills discoveries from attachment theory, brain science, and post-traumatic growth into practical strategies you can use to: 1) build trust and a secure therapeutic relationship; 2) transform traumatic memories into stories of triumph and courage; and 3) help clients cultivate resilience and a positive post-trauma identity. Packed with dozens of scripts, step-by-step worksheets, and inspiring client stories, this book gives you tools for each phase of the trauma therapy process and shows you how to: Engage and motivate clients based on their attachment style Manage trauma-related dissociation, anxiety, and anger Transform traumatic memories so they no longer haunt your client Work with different types of trauma, from sexual abuse to traumatic grief Evoke inner resources for healing and positive emotional states Counter compassion fatigue and burnout so youcan thrive as a therapist Merely talking about a traumatic event is not enough because the parts of the brain where traumatic, implicit memories are stored don’t understand words. Heartfelt, relational experiences catalyze brain change and buffer the impact of trauma. In this book, Armstrong demonstrates that neuroscience is validating what therapists have suspected all along: the brain changes through the heart.

Parts and Memory Therapy (P&MT) is the new name for Parts Psychology, changed in order to emphasize the importance of memory as wells as Parts of the self. Other names for Parts include ego states, voices, subpersonalities, self-states, sides, and more. The book presents both the complete framework for the P&MT model and detailed descriptions and examples of how to use it. Most simply put , the foundational protocol for working with psychotherapy clients involves (1) a concrete description of the problem; (2) accessing the Part of self that carries the memories of the problem; (3) eliciting the emotion memories that sustain the problem; and (4) neutralizing the emotion memories through the neuroscience technique of memory reconsolidation. Through detailed descriptions of the normally nonconscious dynamics of how emotion memories maintain psychological problems, and through equally detained descriptions of tools and techniques for neutralizing those emotion memories, readers will discover an entirely new perspective on consciousness and how to integrate it into their own professional and private lives.