Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-bp2c4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-16T19:12:04.375Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Let's be skeptical about reconsolidation and emotional arousal in therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Lawrence Patihis
Lawrence Patihis*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-7085. lpatihis@uci.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lane et al. imply hypotheses that are questionable: that emotional arousal is a cause of positive change and reconsolidation research can be applied to therapy to alter memory. Given the history of problematic attempts to incorporate memory distortion or high emotional arousal into therapeutic techniques, both of which heralded premature optimism and hubris, I urge open-minded skepticism.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 38 , 2015 , e21
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Butler, A. C., Chapman, J. E., Forman, E. M. & Beck, A. T. (2006) The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Clinical Psychology Review 26:17–31.Google Scholar
Greenberg, L. S. (2004) Emotion–focused therapy. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 11:3–16.Google Scholar
Hart, J. T., Corriere, R. & Binder, J. (1975) Going sane: An introduction to feeling therapy. J. Aronson.Google Scholar
Janet, P. (1894) Histoire d'une idée fixe. Revue Philosophiques de le France et de l'Etranger 37:121–68.Google Scholar
Janov, A. (1970) The primal scream. Primal therapy: The cure for neurosis. Putnam.Google Scholar
Jaycox, L. H., Foa, E. B. & Morral, A. R. (1998) Influence of emotional engagement and habituation on exposure therapy for PTSD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 66:185–92.Google Scholar
Lee, J. L., Everitt, B. J. & Thomas, K. L. (2004) Independent cellular processes for hippocampal memory consolidation and reconsolidation. Science 304:839–43.Google Scholar
Lilienfeld, S. O. & Satel, S. (2013) Brainwashed: The seductive appeal of mindless neuroscience. Basic.Google Scholar
Merlo, E., Milton, A. L., Goozée, Z. Y., Theobald, D. E. & Everitt, B. J. (2014) Reconsolidation and extinction are dissociable and mutually exclusive processes: Behavioral and molecular evidence. The Journal of Neuroscience 34:2422–31.Google Scholar
Miller, R. R. & Matzel, L. D. (2000) Commentary: Reconsolidation: Memory involves far more than ‘consolidation.’ Nature Reviews Neuroscience 1:214–16.Google Scholar
Missirlian, T. M., Toukmanian, S. G., Warwar, S. H. & Greenberg, L. S. (2005) Emotional arousal, client perceptual processing, and the working alliance in experiential psychotherapy for depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 73:861–71.Google Scholar
Patihis, L., Frenda, S. J., LePort, A. K. R., Petersen, N., Nichols, R. M., Stark, C. E. L., McGaugh, J. L. & Loftus, E. F. (2013) False memories in highly superior autobiographical memory individuals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110:20947–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ramirez, S., Liu, X., Lin, P. A., Suh, J., Pignatelli, M., Redondo, R. L., Ryan, T. J. & Tonegawa, S. (2013) Creating a false memory in the hippocampus. Science 341:387–91.Google Scholar
Van Emmerik, A. A. P., Kamphuls, J. H., Hulsbosch, A. M. & Emmelkamp, P. M. G. (2002) Single session debriefing after psychological trauma: A meta-analysis. The Lancet 360:766–71.Google Scholar
Weisberg, D. S., Keil, F. C., Goodstein, J., Rawson, E. & Gray, J. R. (2008) The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 20:470–77.Google Scholar