What is memory reconsolidation?
Memory reconsolidation is a biological process in which memories, under certain conditions (when a person encounters a trigger of phobias, for example by a spider) are brought into the area of consciousness, in order to then be “overwritten” again, i.e. remain in the brain (and often with an even stronger emotional “charge”). It is believed that most, if not all, memories undergo natural reconsolidation in order to optimize the accuracy of their use by the mind.
What is a memory reconsolidation block?
Memory Reconsolidation Block (MRB) is a powerful technique based on research in psychology and neuroscience. This method allows you to rewire your brain so that it stops associating traumatic events and phobias with negative emotions and reactions. After this, you will be able to perceive past events more calmly and rationally.
Researchers from the universities of Amsterdam and Montreal have discovered that the administration of a reconsolidation blocker drug can weaken or even erase maladaptive memories. As a result, there has been great interest in using the process of reconsolidation to erase or significantly weaken traumatic memories to treat phobias, panic attacks, PTSD and addictions. The main medications used in this technique are beta blockers.
How it works?
Beta blockers are commonly used to control blood pressure and treat heart disease. However, research has shown that they may also play a key role in blocking memory reconsolidation. Here's how it happens:
Psychological traumas and phobias are often associated with the activation of the stress response and the release of adrenaline. These emotional outbursts enhance the memory of negative events. The drug blocks the action of adrenaline by binding to beta-adrenergic receptors in the body. As a result, adrenaline cannot fully activate beta-adrenergic receptors, and the process of biological rememorization of phobias becomes much less effective. This opens the way to modifying your memory and reducing the connection between fears and negative emotions.
How does a treatment session take place?
Our team will first conduct a diagnostic consultation and evaluate your situation to determine if this type of treatment is right for you. Beta blockers are safe to use in healthy people and do not cause noticeable side effects, making the procedure comfortable for patients. Contraindications include severe cardiovascular disease, severe asthma or very low blood pressure,
During the session, under the guidance of our specialists, you address traumatic memories that were previously a source of pain and fear. At a strictly determined moment by the psychotherapist (this is precisely the know-how of the method), you take a medicine that helps reduce the physiological reaction to fear, thereby blocking memory reconsolidation. At this point, your brain becomes more open to change and the therapist helps you process the traumatic events and associated fears. This helps reduce the intensity of the connection between memory and negative emotions.
This combination of pharmacological assistance and psychological effects allows for a comprehensive effect on memory and emotions. This is a safe and non-traumatic treatment method. Many patients treated with memory reconsolidation blockade using a beta blocker report lasting improvements and reductions in symptoms over time. Unlike most phobia treatments that rely on exposure (habituation to the feared factor over many sessions), PRP allows healing, usually in one or two sessions.
What problems does BRP help with?
Treatment of phobias
Regardless of the type of phobia, we will help you get rid of this burden and regain your self-confidence. Our services:
– Treatment of spatial phobias associated with staying or moving in any space:
- fear of heights (acrophobia)
- fear of open spaces (agarophobia)
- fear of water spaces (aquaphobia)
- fear of closed spaces (claustrophobia)
- fear of being in transport, etc.
– Treatment of social phobias associated with being in the company of other people and interacting with them:
- fear of public speaking
- fear of acting in public (for example, talking to your boss or girlfriend),
- fear of blushing or doing something “indecent”
- fear of intimate relationships, etc.
– Treatment of phobias of living beings:
- fear of spiders (arachnophobia)
- fear of mice or rats
- fear of snakes
- fear of insects (such as bees)
- fear of dogs, etc.
– Treatment of phobias related to health and medicine:
- fear of illness (nosophobia)
- fear of microorganisms, bacteria, viruses
- fear of the sight of blood (hemophobia)
- fear of injections
- fear of dentists or dental procedures (dentophobia)
- fear of harming yourself or loved ones;
- obsessive fear of death (thanatophobia).
– Treatment of specific (isolated) phobias – this group gives its own name to each of the obsessive fears.
Treatment for certain types of panic attacks, namely those that arise in certain circumstances and are essentially an extreme manifestation of a phobia, for example, panic attacks in an elevator as an exacerbation of claustrophobia - the fear of closed spaces.
Treatment for certain types of PTSDcaused by a single traumatic event, such as a car accident, robbery, or rape. In this case, the essence of the method is not to lose memory of the event, but to alleviate its psychological consequences - negative emotional states.
Addiction treatment:
In the mechanism of dependence on chemical substances, in particular tobacco and alcohol, a significant role is played by the social reflex - the renewed craving for use in “good company”. Similar to how phobias are “overwritten” and become stronger when encountering a frightening object or situation, the habit of smoking or drinking when in company is “overwritten” and becomes stronger. A ritual is reinforced in a similar way - for example, smoking in the morning with a cup of coffee. Another reflex is to resort to drinking alcohol or nicotine when a difficult life situation arises. Thus, a person forms a standard reaction to stressful events in his brain. It often happens that coping with these reflexes and rituals is more difficult than with physiological withdrawal.
The potential of therapy based on reconsolidation blockade is to significantly reduce the influence of social cues associated with chemical use by disrupting the situation-reflexive use link. Simply put, using the BRP procedure, “forget” that you want to smoke or drink in company.
How to start treatment?
Contact us now for an initial consultation to assess your situation and develop a personalized treatment plan. Don't wait until phobias and mental trauma limit your life even more. Emotional wounds and reflexes do not fade away on their own. We are here to help you take back control of your life and enjoy every moment of it.
Expio Clinic is a place where you can forget about your fears and problems of the past and start a new chapter of your life, full of peace and confidence.