MEMORY RECONSOLIDATION

Jonathon never liked talking about his deeper feelings. He could never explain why, it just didn't feel good. This time however, it would be differrent. Or would it? As he looked at Cynthia, his new and trusted friend, part of him told him that it would be okay to talk to her, but whenever he thought of it, he felt a flood of anxiety coming up blanking out this thoughts. Why would Jonathon feel this way?  He sincerely beleived that Cynthia was completely safe, and had never done anything to hurt him. However, that flood of anxiety just wouldn't go away.

One theory is that emotions are a product both of our past experiences and our present triggers. According to this idea, new experiences trigger previous memories, which bring up those emotions that were linked to those memories. Sometimes, we may not be able to remember the details of what actually happened in the past, but those emotions none the less feel very clear and present. 

One of the fascinating discoveries is that every time a memory is brought up, it can be stored again in a different way. That is where the 're-' in reconsolidation comes from. If a memory is brought up, and is this time experienced in a different way than before, then the actual emotion bundled with the memory can change as well.

Jonathon had actually had a long history of being mocked whenever he had something that was sensitive or vulnerable in the past. When he is the new situation of potentially telling something that is new or sensitive to Cynthia, the old memories of what's happened in the past are accessed by his brain, which bundled in with the emotions of being embarrased and ashamed.

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Let's say this time that Jonathon does start to confide in Cynthia. This time, she shows acceptance and nurture. The memories associated with saying something sensitive will now be associations with feelings of safety rather than of embarrassment. This new memory pattern is stored, modifying the old one which means that it will start to become gradually safer for that person to say sensitive things to certain people. 

Clinicians such as Professor Richard D Lane and Bruce Ecker have gone so far to say that memory reconsolidation is actually the key ingredient that decides whether a particular therapy will work or not, and that all therapies that work actually use memory reconsolidation without realizing it, by giving clients a different experience to their previous memory systems anticipated.

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There a wide range of therapeutic techniques which focus on creating new experiences within the session which may seem to more directly address memory reconsolidation. One of the most widely used of these is Imagery Rescripting.  These can be found across a wide range of therapies, which give hope for that longed for gut level emotional change that results in real and enduring change.