Bruce Ecker on Coherence Therapy and Memory Reconsolidation: a Unifying Framework for Psychotherapy

Bruce Ecker, MA, LMFT, Licensed Psychotherapist, joins the Meaning Code to discuss intersections of Coherence Therapy, Memory Reconsolidation and Listening with This Little Corner of the Internet. This episode is also on Spotify and Apple podcast.

He speaks of the indelibility of sub-cortical emotional conditioning but also the hope that there is a key to unlock, expose and ultimately nullify the emotional learning that lead to problems in later life.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
06:02 Coherence Therapy
10:38 Exploring the process of emotional learning and memory
32:48 Memory Reconsolidation.
1:09:39 The concept of anomaly and how it relates to emotional learning.

The following summary was put together by read.ai and seems pretty cogent to me:
Bruce Ecker and Karen Wong discussed Bruce's work in Coherence Therapy, which focuses on finding the underlying emotional learning that is generating a client's unwanted pattern or symptoms and then guiding the unlearning of that specific emotional learning using the memory reconsolidation process.
Bruce shared a story of a woman who had become a manager and was having panic attacks, and they were able to uncover a deep emotional learning that caused her anxiety that a typical therapy would have never been able to deal with. The emotional learning was that the woman had interpreted her parents' warnings to not cause her mother distress as meaning that she was somehow lethal.
Bruce Ecker's work has been well-received in the psychotherapy field, as it provides a unifying framework for the field and a mechanism of change that can produce transformational change with a 100% effect. His work has been demonstrated across many different types of therapy, showing the power of the framework and its ability to unify the field.
Bruce Ecker discussed how all psychotherapy systems have the potential to bring about transformational change, but some rely heavily on techniques to counteract the problem pattern. Karen Wong shared her experience of how Jordan Peterson's lectures and Estra Meek's and Ian Mcgilchrist's theories have helped people to have a felt sense of what's real and be transformed. They also discussed how the left hemisphere simplifies complex emotional realities into cause and effect mechanisms.
Bruce Ecker and Karen Wong discuss how an increase in maturity is an increase in the range of conditions one finds workable, and how an anomaly or obstacle can be seen as a hidden gift that brings strength and character. They also discuss how emotional learnings can be both procedural and embedded knowledge, and how these learnings can be both coherent and unhelpful.
Bruce Ecker and his colleagues have written a book called "The Listening Book" which is aimed at the public and not just therapists. They discuss how listening is key to connecting with people and how it can help with polarization. Bruce also has a three day a week practice and has had success with helping people with eating disorders. He has a website with a directory of therapists he has trained.

One great quote from poet, Robert Bly:
"Maturity is an increase in the range of conditions that you experience as workable."

Link to Bruce's new book,
Listening:
https://a.co/d/5W1oIoC
Bruce's organization: https://coherencetherapy.org/contact.htm