Q&A marketing review with Matt Gallant

Matt reviews your marketing questions and feedback.

Matt reviews your marketing questions and feedback.

Theme: Memory Reconsolidation and Extinction

Emotionally painful memories, especially those from childhood, are encoded neurologically in "durable synapses." These were long thought to be unchangeable. Then research in the 2000s showed that there is a "reconsolidation window" during which these memories are "labile" and can be revised.

The Schiller et al. (2010) study showed that this window is about 5 hours long. There are three conditions that must be met in order to revise emotional learning. These are called the "transformation sequence" and they are:

(a) Vivid recall;
(b) A "juxtaposition experience" that disconfirms the original learning.
(c) Repetition till the memory is reconsolidated without the emotional content.

Lorrie's Session with Sherry: Working on deaths and beliefs about death. The death of Lorrie's grandfather when she was 2 years old, and the belief, "I deserve to die."

Lorrie's Breakthrough: "I can feel sad without feeling overwhelmed. I have help and support."

Lorrie's session represented the reconsolidation of an old memory. Words like "It's gone" indicated extinction of the emotional intensity. She had cognitive shifts like, "It's not too late to change."

The Minimum Effective Dose (MED)

For every activity, there's a Minimum Effective Dose (MED). That's the least amount required to accomplish a goal. For instance, you take 2 aspirin for a headache. For a headache, 2 aspirin is the MED. You don't achieve the goal 10x as fast by taking 10x as many aspirin. The MED applies to exercise, food, and most other parts of our lives.

What's the MED for Energy Psychology? There are two phases, and each requires a different MED. For the initial healing intensive phase, people may need constant large doses. But you monitor them and don't give them more than they can integrate.

The second phase is maintenance. When you have a successful maintenance program, you don't develop a deficit, just the way if you maintain your house or car then it remains in good condition. What's your personal MED for energy health?

Kelly: Family issues, not taking care of myself.

Dawson: Writing self-care time into your diary. Taking the agreements you make with yourself as seriously as a commitment to being there for a client.

Next Steps: Post your self-care MED in the FaceBook group. Holding yourself accountable is a powerful practice.