EMDR Mini-conference
March 21, 2015 at Oakland's Preservation Park

Bruce Ecker, MA, MFT

March 21, 2015 workshop abstract:

Abstract for EMDR Regional Meeting March 21, 2015

Bruce Ecker, MA, MFT with Phil Manfield, Ph.D

MEMORY RECONSOLIDATION and EMDR

The Memory Reconsolidation research is the most recent validation of how the various elements of EMDR combine to produce deep and stable psychological change. In developing EMDR long before this research was done, Francine Shapiro managed to include all the elements in EMDR that later were proven by the research to be necessary. The assessment phase, in which the target memory is brought into focus, satisfies the requirement of accessing the disturbing affect that is linked to the target memory and establishing a challenge to the way in which the memory has been understood. These are both required to unlock and change an “emotionally-linked memory”

This presentation follows Bruce Ecker’s ground-breaking book, Unlocking the Emotional Brain, in which he summarizes the current state of Memory Reconsolidation research and explores which psychotherapies meet the criteria the research establishes for therapies that produce “transformational change,” as opposed to those that provide competing ways of looking at memories, but do not eliminate triggers. In his book, written with Robin Ticic, and Laurel Hulley)  Ecker analyzes transcriptions of sessions from a variety of psychotherapy approaches, including EMDR, to show how they meet the criteria established by the research. In this presentation, after Ecker explains the necessary ingredients for producing transformational change, Phil Manfield shows a video of an EMDR session and illustrates in the video what Ecker has illustrated in his book through transcripts, pointing out how the video contains the elements established as necessary by the research. Manfield explains how understanding the research facilitates more effective EMDR therapy.

Learning Goals (For CEU Credit Applications)

Program Objectives. At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:

1  Define the specific and verifiable differences between transformational change and counteractive change

2  Explain why, according to current neuroscience, transformational change requires and depends on memory reconsolidation

3  Identify the steps of process that are critical for inducing memory reconsolidation and transformational change

4  Guide those critical steps with increased consistency during therapy sessions

5  Identify those critical steps in a full-length video of a clinical EMDR Session

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