Unlocking the Emotional Brain: Memory Reconsolidation and the Psychotherapy of Transformational Change

Cover
Endorsements
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
List of Symptoms Ended in this Book’s Case Examples
Foreword by Alexandre Vaz
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
List of Contributing Authors in Part 3
PART I: The Emotional Coherence Framework: Equipping Psychotherapists for Unprecedented Effectiveness
	1. Maximum Psychotherapeutic Effectiveness: The Reality of Transformational Change
		The brain’s innate process of profound unlearning: Memory reconsolidation
		The coherence of symptom production and symptom cessation: Emotional learning and unlearning
		The overall framework
		Book preview
		The Emotional Coherence Framework and your clinical development
	2. How the Brain Unlearns: Memory Reconsolidation Explained
		The key that unlocks emotional memory: Prediction error
		The MR process of profound unlearning
			The unlearning sequence: A critical set of experiences
			Transformational change defined by three markers
		The many varieties of MR in psychotherapy
		Therapists’ most frequent questions about MR
			The specificity of unlearning
			Does the MR process of unlearning require emotional arousal?
			How MR advances the “corrective emotional experiences” framework
			How the unlearning sequence differs from extinction
			What happens to the neural encoding of an unlearned schema?
			Why neuroscientists discuss MR only for fears and addictions
		From lab to therapy session: The therapeutic reconsolidation process (TRP)
		The TRP is an evidence-based methodology
		Transformational change versus emotional regulation
		Use of the TRP for evaluation of therapeutic MR claims
		Conclusion
	3. The Transformational Psychotherapy of Emotional Unlearning
		Total focus on the TRP: Coherence Therapy
		Case example of anxious low self-esteem
			Symptom identification (Step A)
			Coherence of the symptom
			Discovery phase (Step B)
			Integration phase (Step B continues)
			The anatomy of a symptom-requiring schema
			Transformation phase begins: Finding contradictory knowledge (Step C)
			Schema unlearning via juxtaposition experiences (Steps 1–2–3)
			Verification of schema nullification (Step V)
			Transformational versus counteractive change
		The process in summary
		The TRP applied for traumatic memory and PTSD
			Defining trauma and traumatic memory
			Two main types of traumatic memory
			Complex attachment trauma
		The TRP applied for dispelling resistance
		The TRP applied for the neurodiverse population
		Conclusion
	4. The Moments of Fundamental Change in Slow Motion: Three Case Examples of Coherence Therapy
		How to identify targets for unlearning
		Sources of disconfirming knowledge
		Case examples and techniques
		Case example: Obsessive attachment to former lover
			Preview of technique for finding disconfirmation
			Symptom identification
			Finding the symptom’s coherence
			Finding a disconfirmation: Mismatch detection
			Guiding a series of juxtaposition experiences
			Outcome
		Case example: Pervasive underachieving
			Preview of technique for finding disconfirmation
			Symptom identification
			Finding the symptom’s coherence
			Finding a disconfirmation: Mismatch detection
			Guiding a series of juxtaposition experiences
			Resistance to transformation: Its coherence and dissipation
			Verification step
			Outcome
		Case example: Stage fright
			Preview of technique for finding disconfirmation
			Symptom identification
			Finding the symptom’s coherence
			Finding a disconfirmation: Empowered re-enactment
			Outcome
			Commentary: Re-enactment
		Conclusion and summary of techniques
	5. Is It Always About Attachment?: Emotional Coherence and the Great Attachment Debate
		The many domains of emotional learning
		Attachment learnings
		Terms of attachment
		Optimizing attachment therapy
		Varieties of TRP fulfillment in attachment therapy: Case examples
			Schema disconfirmation via therapeutic dyad
			Alternatives to the therapeutic dyad for disconfirmation
			When disconfirmation via therapeutic dyad is not possible
		Conclusion: A coherent resolution
	6. A Framework for the Unification of Psychotherapy: Introduction to Part 2
		The core process shared by therapies of transformational change
		Is it really always MR?
		A unifying map of the psychotherapy universe
		Unification of the specific versus common factors duality
		Unification of psychotherapy and brain science
		Unification summary
		Welcome to Part 2
PART II: Hidden in Plain Sight: One Core Process in Therapies of Transformational Change
	7. Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)
	8. Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
	9. Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
	10. Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)
	11. Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB)
	12. Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP)
	13. Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: Ayahuasca
	14. Somatic Experiencing® (SE)
PART III: The Versatility of Coherence-Focused Psychotherapy
	15. A Father’s Tormenting Guilt: Deep Resolution in Seven Coherence-Focused Sessions
	16. Up on Top from Down Below: Ending Compulsive Drinking Using Coherence Therapy
	17. Bypassing Bypass Surgery: Using Emotional Coherence to End Compulsive Eating
	18. Hearing Hostile Voices: Ending Psychotic Symptoms at Their Coherent Roots
	19. Releasing Blocked Self-Expression from the Wounds of Systemic Racism: Coherence Therapy for a Deep Recalibration of Vulnerability
	20. Don’t Be That Way: Liberation from Lifelong Homophobic Oppression via Coherence-Guided Narratology
	21. Life in the Stranglehold of Rules: Using Meditative Experience for Ending Insecure Attachment within Coherence Therapy
	22. Young Teen Medicated and Misdiagnosed ADHD: Ending Hyperactive Behavior by Finding Its Underlying Coherence
	23. Plunging Moods and Erratic Behaviors “For No Reason”: A Six-Year-Old Boy’s Secret Fear Dissolves in Coherence Therapy
	24. It’s My Fault: Group Coherence Therapy for Nine-Year-Old Children with Divorcing Parents
Glossary
References
Index