Flash Technique in EMDR: How & why it works - a mini-webinar by Bruce Ecker, LMFT
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- In this 20-minute mini-webinar for EMDR practitioners, psychotherapist Bruce Ecker applies concepts of emotional learning and memory reconsolidation to arrive at a surprising analysis of how the Flash Technique rapidly reduces a therapy client’s high distress. Prior familiarity with Flash Technique procedure is assumed.
Ecker is co-director of the Coherence Psychology Institute and co-originator of Coherence Therapy.
Download a transcript of this mini-webinar: bit.ly/2ooIgRj
Ecker, Ticic, and Hulley are the authors of Unlocking the Emotional Brain: Eliminating Symptoms at Their Roots Using Memory Reconsolidation (Routledge), a guide for psychotherapists with case examples from AEDP, Coherence Therapy, EFT, EMDR, and IPNB.
For Ecker’s rigorous, detailed analysis of how memory reconsolidation research translates into psychotherapy methodology, go to: www.coherencet...
For a bibliography on the use of memory reconsolidation in psychotherapy, visit: www.coherencet...
the more i listen to videos like these the more i learn, of course, BUT the more i believe that overcoming trauma or whatever other mental distress does NOT require as much work as mental healthcare workers would have folk believe; nor does healing require a therapist....the brain is plastic. individuals (who are not severely mentally challenged) have the power to reprogram/heal the brain, in time and with dedicated effort....
This explanation is way way way more coherent than the official one. Thank you. I'm grateful for your work.
Thank you Bruce for being so very clear.
Bruce is super smart. That’s why I read his books :)
Simply amazing explanation
A very clear and insightful webinar.
If the hypothesis that it is the fear of the memory that is being targeted, why does flash work with lower SUD traumatic memories?
Thank you for this clear presentation. Very informative.
This is so helpful. Thank you 😊
In Internal Family Systems those memories are called "exiles"
IFS gives a brilliant approach to this scenario.
The life threatening memory is the "exile". The fear of approaching that "exile", is called the "protector".
You work with the "protector" first. You establish a relationship with it first and address its fears (the contradictory experience) till its sufficiently reassured that when you ask it if it would step aside, it is happy to do so.
Then you can similarly engage the
"Exile".
Huge overlap between IFS and Coherence.
Thank you Bruce very helpful
Thank you for a great explanation
Love this Thank you.
It appears that your analysis states that FLASH works because the emotional brain feels safe and the memory is coming up the the threshold of consciousness. I had previously understood that during FLASH the memory was being touched just below the threshold of cousnsiness which was why it is effective without overwhelming the systems.
Amy, I think the Flash Technique mechanism/process I’ve proposed is different than how you’ve briefly summarized it. In my account, it’s not that the emotional brain "feels safe" or that the memory contents come into awareness at all. It’s this: Before having a Flash Technique session, the client has thoroughly kept awareness away from not only the memory's contents but also the memory’s existence, due to the unconscious expectation that the memory is so horrific and so potently destructive that even to recognize its existence, without recognizing any of its content, would be so destabilizing that prior normal life would end (which is what I meant by “lethal” in the video). During FT, the client is guided into directly recognizing the memory’s existence and experiences NOT being destabilized or distressed by allowing awareness of its existence. That experience contradicts and disconfirms the client’s prior implicit model of the memory’s overwhelming destructive potency. That model is in that way unlearned (which is the memory reconsolidation process fundamentally nullifying or “erasing” an existing model or schema). Put into words, “The memory is bigger than I am and would dominate my mind forever if I allow any awareness of it” is replaced by “I am bigger than the memory, so I remain fine even knowing that I’m carrying it around.” That is a transformational change in the client’s model of herself in relation to the memory. The new model and new knowing, “I am bigger than the memory,” dissolve a whole range of symptoms that had been required by the old model, even without knowing the specific contents of the memory or feeling safe regarding the specific contents. The client may still feel quite uneasy and vulnerable about allowing the specific contents into awareness. That’s my understanding of the operation of Flash Technique based on all I know about FT so far. -- Bruce Ecker
@@bruceecker2761 This is a great explanation, thank you...
What about 5h reconsolidation window where memory is still mailable. Is it necessary to abstain from any new negative learnings that potentially could bring the original learning back?
In principle, yes, if a new experience during the 5-hr window happened to reinforce the target learning, the result could be a strengthening of the target learning. That new experience would have to register subjectively as reconfirming the same specific model or construal of the world as in the target learning. In general that is very unlikely. Of course, such a matching new experience would reinforce the target learning even if it occurs outside of the 5-hr window. Some therapy clients are currently in a relationship, social situation, or workplace situation that in fact does significantly replicate the negative experiences that originally generated the target learning(s) being addressed in therapy. Under such conditions, effective therapy can be more difficult to achieve, because the target learning is indeed being reinforced in daily life between sessions. Disconfirmation and nullification of the target learning is still possible in such cases, but can be more challenging to facilitate. - Bruce Ecker
Thank you! Are there any ethical concerns?
How would a two-place dissociation work with this technique? Has it been tried, and what were the results?
Wonder if that occurs with NPD
Dear Bruce Ecker, thanks a lot for the video.
I have such a question. If, in your opinion, the Flash technique does not cause the activation of traumatic memory, then what is the minimum method or technique that allows you to do this?
Is it imperative to fully immerse yourself in a traumatic episode in order to activate it for processing?
Is it possible to use Flash technique instead of direct contact with the entire content of traumatic memory in order to pull out small pieces of traumatic memory and process them?
The effects and effectiveness of a trauma therapy technique are not definable apart from their use with a particular therapy client. The same technique can have very different results with different therapy clients. The reason for that is that each traumatic memory of each person is a complex formation with a unique combination of components (meanings, models, emotions, perceptions, sensations, action urges, etc.). Also, each traumatic memory exists and operates within the individual’s unique overall style of mental and emotional processing and unique, entire ecology of implicit, adaptive emotional learnings. Therefore, the therapist has to learn with each client what techniques are effective and how to tailor each technique for the individual. For those reasons, it is not possible to answer your first question. Regarding your other questions, many techniques, including variations on the Flash Technique, can be used to access small, workable portions of a traumatic memory and process them. A key guideline followed by therapists doing trauma work in Coherence Therapy is to proceed in “small enough steps” at every point, so that each next step of accessing and processing always feels workable (tolerable) to the client.
@@bruceecker2761 Dear Bruce, thank you for your reply!
I have one more question. I wrote it to you in the mail, I’ll ask him here once more.
In your book, Unlocking the Emotional Brain, you say that many methods, including EFT, work on the basis of memory reconsolidation.
I started looking for more scientific articles on memory reconsolidation and came across a presentation by a man named Phil Mollon. He says that not everything is so clear regarding reconsolidation and is critical of your book.
Here is the link of this author: www.researchgate.net/profile/Phil_Mollon
And here is his presentation:
cloud.mail.ru/public/LpVn/261wwWkZn
He says that the EFT method works on a different principle and that during the procedure of pressing on various points on the face, reconsolidation does not occur and some other method of processing the traumatic experience is involved. He offers the theory of the galagraphic organization of memory.
I would like to hear your opinion about his statements on the topic of reconsolidation. Is there another principle for handling traumatic experiences in the EFT method? Is his claim to your book justified or does he say unprofessional things and mislead people?
المحارب المحبوب😹 ماهذا
Why are you blaming the client?
🧠 Flash technique is designed for cases where clients, due to trauma, resist accessing traumatic memories, blocking standard EMDR protocols.
🚫 The emotional brain assigns traumatic memories an "absolute lethal status," making them terrifying to touch and suppress.
🧠 Flash technique targets the emotional learning of the memory's "absolute lethal status," not the traumatic memory's content itself.
🔄 Flash technique destabilizes the target learning through repeated flashes, creating mismatches that initiate memory reconsolidation.
📉 Dramatic reduction in Sudz level (Subjective Units of Distress) results from unlearning the expectation of the memory's absolute lethality, not changing the memory content.
❓ The effectiveness of ultra-brief and blurry memory reactivation in flash technique is explained by reactivating the expectation of absolute lethality, not the memory itself.
🤯 Dissolving the negative cognition, "I'll be engulfed and trapped in torment if I give that memory any opening at all," reduces emotional distress in flash technique.
🔄 Distress reduction post-flash technique suggests that initial distress was primarily due to the expectation of the memory's absolute lethality, not the traumatic memory's content.
🔄 An advanced version of flash technique involves the client intending to attend to the memory without conscious accessing, still achieving therapeutic effects.
🤝 Understanding memory reconsolidation is crucial in explaining the effectiveness of flash technique and other psychotherapeutic methods.
Thank you...
Nice notes! Thanks
Clarifying and excellent.