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Book recommendation: Unlocking the Emotional Brain


TheRobin

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http://www.amazon.com/Unlocking-Emotional-Brain-Eliminating-Reconsolidation/dp/0415897173/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437409086&sr=8-1&keywords=unlocking+the+emotional+brain&pebp=1437409088489&perid=1D8PX6XESXTMFM741QS2

Hey everyone, this book has so far been the most interesting and informative thing in Therapy and Psychology I've read, so I wanted to put out a recommendation and overview here, as I'm sure a lot of you would find it very interesting as well.
 
The book starts by providing an overview of the research that was going on over the last two decades, both in analysing psychotherapy in detail and neuroscientific findings about how emotional learning works and can be changed or erased (which was something that was thought to be impossible only ten years ago).
After that the author explains the steps that are now known to be necessary to produce that change and then goes to show a lot of examples of how that worked in therapy. The main focus is on therapists using Coherence therapy, however, since there are quite a few therapies that unknowingly use that same steps to create changes, they also show how the same things looks like in some other therapy forms.
 
The steps themselves are fairly simple in principle: (Re-)trigger the emotional learning to access its contents, then juxtapose/mismatch that content in order to erase the original learning.
Obviously, in practice that can require quite some work, as the content of the learning is all subconscious and has to be unearthed first. The author is clear that there is no one single best technique to do any of those steps, which means, you can use the whole plethora of available techniques and see what works best for you (or your patient, if you're a therapist).
However the steps themselves can be found one way or another in different therapies, although often without the explicit knowledge of the therapist about them, which makes it sometimes more a game of chance whether or not that patient can be helped effectively.

Also it is important to note that so far this is the only process we know of that can actually change emotional learning. This works regardless of how deeply rooted the emotion or symptom is, or how intense or long it has been going on. 
 
This still relatively knew knowledge alone is quite a big breakthrough for Psychotherapy and anyone interested in self-knowledge/self-therapy, as it essentially changes the discipline like the atomic model changed Alchemy (trial and error) to Chemistry (an underlying explanatory model for how and why the process works).

Anyway, I'm kinda bad at writing summaries and overviews for an audience, so I hope this gives you a good overview, but obviously ask if there's stuff you're curious about where I wasn't clear or if you have more questions about the content.

Either way, I hope you're gonna check it out, it's really a great book with great content.
 
 
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I just bought this book and the workbook after watching some videos on the topic. I'm working with a coach and her successes with me seem to be following this exact model -- though accidentally I think. Hence I bought the book and am seeking to learn how I can move forward on my own. 

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  • 2 months later...

>I just bought this book and the workbook after watching some videos on the topic. I'm working with a coach and her successes with me seem to be following this exact model -- though accidentally I think. Hence I bought the book and am seeking to learn how I can move forward on my own.

 

Hi, villagewisdom!

 

Would you be so kind to share some info about the workbook you are talking about? I am searching if there is any related but, can't find.

 

Thank you!

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All my life, I've hated reading books. Don't mind reading so much, but the physiology of holding a book, holding my neck a certain way, trying to maintain holding a certain page for prolonged periods of time... ugh. Present day, I assume this is part of an association my mind made with being forced into school, especially when school move WAY slower than what I was able to.

 

I mention this because in the present day, most everything reading related I do is either online or especially in audio form. But this is a book I will definitely be picking up. I also mentioned the backstory in hopes that maybe the book can help me understand my issue better if not reverse it! I'll have to see if I can get Kindle going on my laptop.

 

Anyways, thanks for sharing your experiences, TheRobin and villagewisdom. For those who haven't clicked on the link, you're missing out on the feedback which is unusually consistent.

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>I just bought this book and the workbook after watching some videos on the topic. I'm working with a coach and her successes with me seem to be following this exact model -- though accidentally I think. Hence I bought the book and am seeking to learn how I can move forward on my own.

 

Hi, villagewisdom!

 

Would you be so kind to share some info about the workbook you are talking about? I am searching if there is any related but, can't find.

 

Thank you!

 

 

Sorry for the late reply. My dad came to live with me and I just helped him through his last days and am returning to the world outside. 

 

Anyway, here is the link to the workbook I mentioned. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to use it due to the above-mentioned circumstances. 

 

Thanks for bringing this back to the forefront of my mind. 

 

http://coherencetherapy.org/resources/manual.htm

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey- thanks to all for posting the recommendation, the video and the bumping.

 

Having read the beginning of the book and watched the excellent video Carl posted, this makes a lot of sense to me. These guys seem to have boiled down the logic behind ever-lasting foundational psychological transitions.

If you think about it, all therapy is essentially just 1. Reactivating 2. Contradicting 3. Rewriting. Knowing about IFS, it is obvious to me how those steps are at the center of emotional healing.

 

Thanks again.

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Anyway, I'm kinda bad at writing summaries and overviews for an audience, so I hope this gives you a good overview, but obviously ask if there's stuff you're curious about where I wasn't clear or if you have more questions about the content.

 

 

I beg to differ, I think you did a great job.

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Thank you :) (Though your opinion might change after having read the book :P )

 

Hey I found another extremely good book. Bessel van der Kolk "The body keeps the score". While author is unaware of  memory reconsolidation, it is still possible to see how it works out in this book. It gives a good broad outlook on history of psychology, its evolution and current state. It also explains relevant biology and gives some tips on how to counter it. And large list of things that do not work(starting with CBT).

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