Memory Reconsolidation
Hypnosis, NLP and EMDR for memory processing with trauma.
Processing Memories in Trauma Cases
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It is generally expected by clients that memory reconsolidation will be a fundamental part of all trauma treatment. In fact this is a complete misrepresentation of how the process works.
For thousands of years trauma recovery focused on wellbeing and self regulation, with systems of therapy dating back to Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, Ancient Greece all emphasising self regulation and wellbeing.
It was Freud, who in the 19th and 20th Centuries became obsessed with the idea that things had to be remembered in order for cartharsis to occur. Since then for over a century this idea has been popularised in common media and film, even though it is fundamentally wrong.
In trauma, especially complex trauma and developmental trauma, it is the meaning that forms as a result of things having happened that causes issues, not the memory of the events themselves. For example the betrayal of repeated incidents of abuse impacts the belief system of the person leading to behavioural, perceptual and interpersonal outcomes. It is the sense of betrayal and not the memory of the individual events that does the harm. As a result it is the betrayal which also needs therapeutic work.
For the main part of the therapy process, it is absolutely NOT necessary to remember everything that happened, and it is actually harmful and counterproductive to do so. it may very well make the client worse, not better!
When is remembering useful?
As with most things there are exceptions to the rule! Occasionally the client has almost fully recovered, but still gets preoccupied with fragments of memory from a particular event. These fragments are low powered flashbacks. Normally after the rest of the trauma process full flashbacks are uncommon, and instead the fragments are more annoying and distracting than distressing, unlike full flashbacks or emotional flashbacks that often occur before and at the start of the process.
Fragments are caused by memory being fragmented, split into implicit and explicit memory. These types of memory are stored separately deliberately as a defence mechanism. They are sometimes called emotional and factual memory, or bodily and factual memory. This is because the implicit memory tends to be emotional and not linguistic in nature, often associated with images or sensory data, while the explicit is often descriptive and linguistic.
The process of recombining the memory into one intact memory is often called memory reconsolidation, and there are many methods of doing this. Remember though that this is NOT the way to make progress with trauma generally, especially not complex trauma. Indeed charging into recalling and processing memory without completing the other steps of trauma treatment is a classic amateur mistake that causes harm to the client.
Key methods of memory Reconsolidation
The main methods of memory consolidation are:
- Hypnosis: The most established method uses hypnosis to access and process memories in a altered state sometimes referred to as "trance". You are not asleep and you can not be controlled. In trauma treatment hypnosis you normally have a safe place set up in advance as a "safe room", and you carefully, gently process memories and heal them, often accessing them using elements of somatic therapy.
- Somatic Therapy: By learning to feel what is going on in the body, the client is led to connect with the memory through bodily feelings. The memory is then processed in similar ways to when using hypnosis. In fact it is sensible for the practitioner to be hypnosis qualified.
- Mindfulness: Mindfulness is a specific form of both somatic and psychological process that can use either top down (thought based) or bottom up (somatic) route to the memory. Again a qualified hypnotist is recommended for the processing.
- NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming: a method that was a modelling off shoot of hypnosis and other therapies is often used for processing. Since the trauma and memory models are based on hypnosis, a qualified hypnotist is recommended.
- EMDR: An eye movement method that claims to desensitise and promote recovery. EMDR is highly scripted and procedural and aims to give non hypnotists and other therapists without complex training in the unconscious a standard way of working with memory processing. As Bessel Van Der Kolk, a leading trauma expert and researcher was quoted as saying "EMDR is great because anyone can learn to do it. To use hypnosis you have to be really smart". It is however inflexible and far more suited for single event trauma.
The only therapists trained and qualified to work extensively with the subconscious mind are hypnotists / hypnotherapists, and therefore it is recommended that you consult a hypnosis accredited therapist who is also trained as a trauma specialist, and is able to work in elements of the other methods, but with the advanced knowledge and flexibility of a hypnosis practitioner.
Always remember - memory recall is ONLY useful to deal with fragments after the other vital elements of trauma therapy have been completed. Stabilisation (stage 1) and understanding / treatment (stage 2) must have been completed or the result will usually be harmful. The mind and body will react to premature memory recall as it it is subjected to another traumatic event and this causes harm if the stages are not complete!
Stuart is a fully qualified and regulated Hypnotherapist as well as being fully qualified and registered as a psychotherapist, counsellor, coach and complementary therapist. All of these underpin his main job title and role as a Clinical Traumatic Stress Specialist. He is trained in all of the above (relational EMDR not the franchise model).
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