Memory Reconsolidation vs. Counteractive Change
Emotional healing or psychological repair are concepts used in the world of therapy that have become kind of mainstream. Partly mirroring the medical world, partly the mechanical, the quest has always been whether anything can be done to fix a traumatic experience or a problematic behavior in a person’s life.
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When you hear emotional healing, what comes to mind? Usually in simple terms is that the pain of an experience is gone, or less, and does not get activated anymore.
From behavior conditioning to neuro-linguistic programming to psychoanalysis, various approaches have tackled this over time with various degrees of success.
In the latest decades though there has been a huge breakthrough in this regard, with the emergence of more experiential therapies combined with the advance in brain-imaging technology.
The therapy world has been opening more to include what in the past was in the domain of the spiritual, healers, miracle workers, various rituals that included, music, body movement, making proclamations and declarations, expressing the pain and grieving, rituals of closure, prayer and meditation, visualization and accessing a higher power or the higher self.
Two things have become clear: 1. throughout time people have been dealing with the same phenomena when it comes to human experience, and 2. humans have had the same resources in terms of body, emotions, thought, imagination, voice and expression.
What was making the difference? What is bringing the healing now and back then?
Two types of processes in psychotherapy
One of the prominent names in the world of psychotherapy is that of Bruce Echer LMFT. In his research and writings he describes two types of processes in therapy that lead to different results, counteractive change and memory reconsolidation, the latest being the one that underpins the experience of healing.
How Counteractive Change works?
Counteractive change helps manage the trauma or resulting symptoms by learning new skills that equips one to better deal with life. For example, growing up, a boy or girl witnessed his older sibling being punished for various things, so they learn to be safe by keeping quiet, doing all that is expected so they don’t get in trouble. As adults however, to counteract this fear, they took some classes and learned to express himself and be assertive, but every time they enter a meeting room with new people or the bosses there, there is that underlying fear that creeps over and they find it difficult to voice their opinion/ viewpoint. So they created a new way of behaving (learning to communicate, being assertive) on top of the old one. But now they both coexist. And one takes over the other sometimes.
In terms of neuroscience, this new learning created new neural pathways and connections. But this only works so far, if the trigger is very strong (boss reminds of harsh father or mother), and other circumstances such as health issues or a difficult relationship are present, or just tiredness, the chance for a relapse to old patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving is very much real.
How Memoy Reconsolidation works
With memory reconsolidation essentially one goes into the original memory and brings in new information. This modifies the memory in that it diffuses the emotional charge that gets activated in specific circumstances.
Before you get alarmed, I must add this does not erase a memory, but rather it takes the emotional pain out of it, so it’s not so painful and scary anymore.
To understand this we must understand that memories contain explicit data, of which we are aware and implicit data of which we are not always aware. The subconscious.
The memory reconsolidation process activates a memory with all its implicit data, such as feelings, body sensations, thoughts, beliefs. And moves into that memory to be there in a way in which the person needed someone to be with. OR do what they wished someone did back then. And bring in new knowledge about reality, about what’s true now, about how erroneous those conclusions were. This essentially changes that memory for good.
To quote Bruce Echer: ‘It’s this juxtaposition where the target learning collides with a strongly contradictory vivid knowing that is the key to transformational change because for a few hours these brain circuits are unlocked and the brain encoding undergoes a rapid change. When those synapses lock they are encoded with new information.’
In the example above, for instance in a therapy session the person would be able to go back into that experience of being scared and unable to speak, and be there for that scared part in a way it needed someone to be back then and help it see that things have changed and it can let go of that fear now. This is all new, so when the synapses lock back, they encode a modified memory.
A Wider View
In 2015, an article was published by four notable (with a total of 500 published research articles between them) psychologists published a BBS target article, Memory reconsolidation, emotional arousal, and the process of change in psychotherapy: New insights from brain science (Lane et al. 2015). The core idea of their article is that therapeutic change from a wide variety of therapeutic approaches, “including behavioral therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, emotion-focused therapy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy, results from the updating of prior emotional memories through a process of reconsolidation that incorporates new emotional experiences.”
These approaches as you can see from the diagram seem to access different entry points to an issue.
It’s important to note that those that fall into the experiential therapies category such Emotion Focused therapy, EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor are far more effective, in the way they target the deeper emotional learning, which then transforms the cognitive learning and consequently the behavior.
The Game Changer
The key element in this is compassion. Both from the therapist, but also from the client towards themselves – a rather revolutionary idea. It’s a compassion directed first and foremost towards your own hurt. In all, the power of compassion is astonishing for anyone who studied the life of Jesus. The amount of which He displayed towards others. It took me a while to understand it. When people were met with this compassionate presence in the midst of their pain, they would experience a miraculous transformation in their psyche, their souls and hearts – they were changed people. Life was never the same.
In IFS therapy, an approach I’m practicing, tapping into the same power within our core self, also known as the higher self, or the image of God within us, opens up an infinite resource of compassion, lovingkindness or positive regard towards ourselves and others. When accessing this resource in a moment of distress, and allowing for the pain to be, while regarding it with compassion, this results in a transformational experience and shields against emotional trauma. The resilience thing happens. This is a sacred space we create in the therapy room, but it’s available for anyone, anywhere really.
Conclusion
To recap, healing happens when we turn towards that traumatic experience, instead of running away from it, and let the feelings and sensations it carries be met with openness and compassion. Often having an outer source of compassion will facilitate the process.
The underpinnings of healing are known in therapy as memory reconsolidation, a process by which we clear the pain receptors or modify the painful memories, as opposed to counteractive change learned on top of that.
Further connecting to the larger context – our goals and dreams, the meaning of life, a greater power, calling, vision – tapping into the core resource of our higher self or the image of God in us allows us to thrive unhindered. And then if further connecting to God – this source of infinite love – we become truly unstoppable.
