Memory and Psychoanalysis - Vicki's Clinic

Memory and Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is one among several psychotherapies. Enduring change in any psychotherapeutic modality occurs through the reconsolidation of emotional memories. It has been proven that memories become labile or malleable whenever they are recalled and that information made available when the memories are in a labile (experienced) state can be incorporated into the original memory in a process called memory reconsolidation. Freud was well ahead of his time in describing the concept that memory can be “re-transcribed” or updated, for which strong evidence now exists.

Memories are not just recollections of the past. They are our individual and unique guide for the future; our map of what works and what doesn’t work in various situations (internal working models or IWM), and they are in operation whether we are conscious of it or not. Our expectations today are based on the past and influence our perceptions in the here and now of today. The brain is constantly making new predictions and due to its plasticity, it is updating memories to allow for new and more nuanced predictions. Memory is not fixed, it is updatable.

To activate the plasticity, the part of the brain called the amygdala must be involved, and that means evoking emotion. Insight and intellectual understanding need the accompanying emotional arousal to facilitate lasting results. Talking about an emotion is not the same as experiencing an emotion. It is the arousal of emotions that activates the neurotransmitters and hormones that give the brain the window of plasticity where new connections associated with the memory can be linked - if you are also the recipient of a more helpful response from another person.

Emotion plays a key role in this new theory of how change occurs through reconsolidation. Emotion is a particularly potent way to update memories because synaptic plasticity, which is the molecular basis for encoding memories, is enhanced by the presence of neurotransmitters and hormones (e.g., norepinephrine, cortisol) that are activated by emotional arousal.
There are 3 key ingredients for memory reconsolidation which facilitate enduring change:
(1)        Reactivating old memories, whether through explicit recall or reminders, as well as activating the “old,” usually painful feelings associated with those old memories (i.e. recall of past experiences and associated emotions is the starting point). This is quite similar to Freud's original concept, except that we now know that explicit recall of past events is not essential; all that is needed is a reminder of the old memories. Whatever is recalled is more likely to be recalled as a function of the person's current emotional state in the therapeutic setting. The analytic setting is ideal for activating old schemas/transference thus creating conditions for updating memories, via the potent mechanism of corrective emotional experiences, while those memories are activated, which brings us to ingredient number 2;
(2)        Engaging in new emotional experiences during treatment that become incorporated into those reactivated memories, via the process of reconsolidation. When the therapist acts non-judgementally towards your distress, anger, etc, when normally you expect judgement, the experience of you expressing yourself freely and being found not just understandable but important to others is added to your memory of what to expect when you express yourself, leading to more freedom to express yourself, and to do so outside of the therapy too, which brings us to ingredient 3; and
(3)        Reinforcing the updated memory by practising a new way of behaving and experiencing the world in a variety of contexts. Corrective emotional experiences in the therapy can influence old memories, and, thus, how people construe situations in the future, including the anticipated behaviours and emotional responses, their actions will evoke in others. Although the episodic memory of a critical moment in treatment can update semantic (generalizable) knowledge that contributes to the internal working model, for this updating to generalize to a variety of situations this new way of construing and behaving in situations must be tried out and experienced in different contexts. The time course of change differs with different types of memory: episodic memories can be updated most easily; semantic memories take longer to change; and procedural or habit memories are the hardest and take the most time to change.

Psychoanalysis, because of the intensity (weekly, twice weekly or three times or more weekly therapy) over time, facilitates the recall of old memories, even if you as a patient are not aware it’s happening. In psychoanalysis, the phenomena of expecting from the therapist what one expected from their early care-givers is activated and worked through in the therapy.

Given we need to remember what is most important, those times when we were disappointed by, hurt by or not seen fully by our early caregivers whom we are entirely dependent on and need the attention of for our survival, are very well remembered. It is a matter of our survival to remember these events, in particular. From each episode of inevitable mis-attunement from our caregivers, our brain automatically forms generalised/semantic memories/schemas, which become our working models for how the world of relationships works. Babies, children and young people adapt to the situation in which they are growing up and take the expectations derived from this into the outside world of relationships.
As one gets older, a pattern of expectations of others and how you learned to respond becomes activated in relationships outside of home and it happens outside of your conscious awareness. For example, a child who learned to submit to a dominating caregiver out of fear of retaliation, rejection or abandonment will find themselves in submissive positions as an adolescent and adult, with an increased likelihood of being dominated. This then further consolidates the old memory and the associated expectations. The automated submission becomes more entrenched, and the now-adolescent or adult is unaware of how they keep being dominated, used and exploited.

When your therapist responds to you by being consistent, emotionally available, safe, trustworthy, and showing a deep understanding and acceptance of you, they are providing a new emotional experience and opening the window to changing the old memories – facilitating memory reconsolidation. In turn, outside of the therapy, you can practice a new expectation, for example, that people will be interested in you and want to hear what you have to say, and start to express your preferences and needs in relationships outside of therapy at home, at work and in friendships.