Check whether the old reaction still fires

Deliberately revisit what used to set the reaction off and notice whether the old learning still feels true.

Pourquoi ça marche

The authors do not take change on trust. They actively seek confirmation by using cues that reliably triggered the old learning in the past, including saying the original statement again. If the learning still exists, saying it brings back its felt reality; if it has dissolved, the same words now seem implausible, lifeless or even funny. In the second edition this is a formal last step (Step V), and the markers they look for are that the reaction no longer reactivates and the change needs no effort to maintain.

Comment faire

1. A few days or weeks after the work, read the original statement aloud as you first wrote it.
2. Notice: does it still feel true, or does it seem flat, odd or even laughable now?
3. Recall or visit a situation that reliably set the reaction off before, and notice what happens.
4. If the old feeling is still strong, return to discovery: there may be another part of the learning not yet found.

Données probantes

Verification is the final step (Step V) of the process in the second edition of Unlocking the Emotional Brain and is described in the 2008 chapter, which uses the overt statement as a test: a dissolved learning no longer evokes felt realness when spoken. The authors compare these markers to those used to judge memory updating in the laboratory; that comparison and the reported outcomes come from their case material. (anecdotal)

A reaction can also go quiet for other reasons (a calmer week, avoidance of triggers), so one quiet check is not proof. Revisit it more than once and in more than one setting. Deliberately revisiting old triggers can also bring the reaction back at full strength. If what comes up feels flooding, you lose track of where you are, or images will not settle, stop and continue with a trained therapist rather than alone.

Sources

• Ecker, B., Ticic, R., & Hulley, L. (2024). Unlocking the Emotional Brain: Memory Reconsolidation and the Psychotherapy of Transformational Change (2nd ed.). Routledge.
• Ecker, B., & Hulley, L. (2008). Coherence therapy: Swift change at the roots of symptom production. In J. D. Raskin & S. K. Bridges (Eds.), Studies in Meaning 3: Constructivist Psychotherapy in the Real World (pp. 57-83). Pace University Press.
• Coherence Psychology Institute (2012). Use of Memory Reconsolidation in Psychotherapy and Suggestions for a Brain Imaging Study (practitioner document by the method's developers).

Erreur fréquente

Avoiding every old trigger and calling the quiet a change. The authors check by deliberately bringing the old cues back; a learning that has dissolved should not respond to them.