Applying Neuroscience Advances in Psychotherapy.
In the realm of psychotherapy, innovative approaches continuously emerge, promising more profound healing and lasting change. Among these, Resource Therapy stands out as a particularly effective modality, especially when understood through the lens of the latest neuroscience research on memory consolidation.
Let’s explore Resource Therapy and what I call the Empowerment Protocol as to how to apply these neuroscientific insights to facilitate deep psychological healing.
Understanding Memory Reconsolidation
Memory reconsolidation, a groundbreaking concept in neuroscience, refers to the process by which recalled memories become malleable and can be altered before being stored again. This process underscores the brain’s adaptability and its capacity for profound change, suggesting that when we recall a memory, especially a traumatic one, it’s possible to modify the memory before it’s reconsolidated, potentially diminishing its emotional impact. (Alberini & Ledoux, 2013).
Research indicates emotional memory has an association with many emotional disorders – PTSD, Depression Anxiety, and Addictions. (Brewin, 2011; Williams, et al. 2007) This offers therapists insightful implications in the psychological treatment of these pervasive and debilitating conditions which are substantially on the rise globally. (Schwabe, L., Nader, K., & Pruessner, J. C. (2014).
The Intersection of Resource Therapy and Neuroscience
Founded on the premise that our personality is composed of various parts, each with its own role and emotions, Resource Therapy taps into the principles of memory consolidation for lasting results.
Resource Therapy guides individuals to engage with specific personality parts associated with distressing memories. By safely accessing and expressing these parts with a Resource Therapy’s therapeutic setting, utilizing the Empowerment protocol, clients can revisit painful memories, reprocess, and adapt them, creating a new relationship with past trauma.
The Steps of Memory Reconsolidation in Resource Therapy
The integration of memory reconsolidation in Resource Therapy unfolds in several stages:
- Activation of the Memory: Identifying and activating the memory part that harbours distress, making the memory accessible and amenable to change.
- Integration of New Learning: Introducing new, positive experiences or perspectives to challenge the original narrative associated with the memory.
- Consolidation for Change: Integrating these new insights allows the client’s psyche to reconsolidate the memory with a healthier, more adaptive outlook, fundamentally altering the emotional impact of the original memory.
What that looks like in Practice – the Empowerment Protocol
Clinically trained Resource Therapists work with the part of the personality directly, we use a process called Vivify Specific. A fantastic way to talk to the part desiring change.
- Diagnose the Disturbance: As psychotherapists, we understand the presenting issue of fear or rejection almost always has its roots in childhood. The RT term for these parts holding unwanted emotion is Vaded. Resource Therapy (RT) Action 1 tells us what direction we will take in the therapy, perfectly guiding us with a therapeutic road map.
- Bridging: As opposed to accessing a cognitive memory, by thinking about the issue. Resource Therapists are trained to isolate a somatic sensory experience memory (SEM) (Emmerson, 2014). Once this part is out on deck, we bridge to the unhappy or traumatic event.
- Empowerment Phase for Reconsolidation: This is invariably a childhood scene. We then deploy RT Actions 4, 5, 6 (if necessary), 7 of the Empowerment Protocol. Here the therapist actively facilitates the child’s state to have a voice, and get its needs met from another internal resource.
Clinical Implications and Benefits
Leveraging memory reconsolidation within Resource Therapy offers a pathway to significantly reduce emotional distress and promote lasting mental health improvements, facilitating a deep, structural neurobiological change in how distressing memories are perceived and felt, leading to transformative healing.
Resource Therapy is a game-changer. With the Empowerment Protocol, we are potentially repairing attachment wounding at its source.
Parting Thoughts
The innovative integration of neuroscience and Resource Therapy opens new avenues for addressing psychological issues, providing a potent tool for therapists and clients alike, aiming for not just symptomatic relief but genuine, enduring change.
Using neuroscience, we can rewire our brains, effectively changing our minds.
With memory reconsolidation our part’s old hurts and harms are reprocessed gently with compassion and respect, creating a new future and a different relationship to the past. We are free to have the best part out on deck, to suit the occasion with the skills and ability to live life according to our values.
Be the Captain of your ship navigating life’s journey, chart a course for freedom today.
Come and join us at our next Clinical Training to discover the power of parts therapy!
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References
Alberini, C. M., & Ledoux, J. E. (2013). Memory reconsolidation. Current biology : CB, 23(17), R746–R750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.046
Brewin C. R. (2011). The nature and significance of memory disturbance in posttraumatic stress disorder. Annual review of clinical psychology, 7, 203–227. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032210-104544
Emmerson. G. E, (2014). Resource Therapy Primer. Blackwood. Old Golden Point Road. – Here are Gordon’s books
Schwabe, L., Nader, K., & Pruessner, J. C. (2014). Reconsolidation of human memory: brain mechanisms and clinical relevance. Biological psychiatry, 76(4), 274–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.03.008
Williams, J. M., Barnhofer, T., Crane, C., Herman, D., Raes, F., Watkins, E., & Dalgleish, T. (2007). Autobiographical memory specificity and emotional disorder. Psychological bulletin, 133(1), 122–148. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.122