Yes. I like to use bean bags. The bean bags come to represent the "distress" in the memory and when they are tossed in a wicker basket, that is the rough equivalent to a container. See: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a8l5jcx0mtW-eJs.html

@@thomaszimmerman6659 Thank you very for that...I feel more comfortable being able to offer that as a solution. I'd best get making some, then. What about a quiet activity (of the client's choosing) to use instead of a calm scene? He's actually a drummer and feels at his best while drumming... but I can't think that could be described as calm! I guess that the activity needs to be something that doesn't take too much thought - am I right on that one? Perhaps something repetitive? I have to say that I'm doing this with a client via video link... and he's only got a mobile phone for us to link up. He can't watch a video on the phone and then switch to me.

Yes, ideal for that too.

Responding to this requires translation across paradigms and the language and meaning shifts associated with each worldview of memory resolution. About the first point, yes, a small piece of the memory at a time is brought into working memory and pushed out of focus so that all attention can focus on the disconfirmation of the calm scene. This repeated (sometimes 40 times in 35 minutes) process creates a repeated prediction error and the distress for the memory goes to zero as each slice of it is metabolized. Second sentence, I would modify to: "the memory has become a more 'normal' memory and the schema associated with it has shifted in a positive direction." The schema shifting *in this memory* is simply what happens when individual memories resolve in EMDR or Flash. Now... might the whole schema collapse? It might, but with complex trauma, it probably will not. We have more work to do, because there is a lot of redundant learning attached to this schema formation. I realize that the goal in Coherence therapy is to shift whole schema, and this is the longer-term goal in EMDR therapy and in Flash approaches practiced well. The short-term goal is simply to resolve this memory and resolving this memory causes multiple simultaneous shifts: 1) this memory gets attached to a new, more positive, schema structure... the positive schema structure gets supported in this work (the negative schema doesn't just resolve, the experience being attached to a new and more positive belief about the self supports resilience and future recovery) 2) the resolution of this memory generalizes to fully or partially resolve similar memories in that specific memory network. Resolving a single memory can be helpful in resolving a core belief about the self, but additional work is often needed with complex trauma. Again, in Coherence therapy, you are trying to shift a whole "neighborhood" of memories associated with a particular self-belief. In Flash, we are trying to resolve a single traumatic memory. What is needed to move a "neighborhood" all at once is not the same equipment or procedures as what is needed to move a single house. This is why Flash works with a generally disconfirming experience repeated over and over, but you really need a precisely disconfirming experience in Coherence therapy.

Thank you for your kind reply. This helps me to understand flash when coming from the coherence therapy paradigm. It appears that the symptom-requiring schema defined in coherence therapy is different from the NC/PC self-beliefs of emdr and flash. As you mentioned, the symptom-requiring schema in coherence therapy requires explicit disconfirmation to land and trigger memory reconsolidation. I am most interested to find out if disconfirmation of the active traumatic emotion through flash would achieve the same result. Considering your explanation it sounds like it’s possible but unlikely without further flash processing of other strands in the memory network. So great to have this approach though. It’s a game changer! Keep up the fantastic work and keep the content coming! Brilliant.

Exactly. We are targeting different things, with the end often being the same. Also see here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nd-blLt7vqzbqas.html

That makes sense. Thank you. Would you consider the emotional experience (of a calm scene or cooking pizza) to be a ‘precise’ disconfirmation of the predicted emotional experience of a memory? Sounds like that might make sense. If so, perhaps Flash could be regarded as using specific disconfirmation in kind even though it may be non-specific in content (pizza). So interesting!

See fourblinks.com

It is difficult to try this without someone to guide you. If you are thinking about the memory more than the tiniest bit, you are probably overactivating. If you notice distress in your body from that memory at all, you are probably overactivating. Another strategy is to start with a much smaller memory. Also, the calm scene has to be an experience... which means that it has to shift how you feel in the present in a positive direction at least some... if not, it's not an experience. I hope this is helpful. Again, I don't recommend starting on a big memory without someone to guide you.

@@thomaszimmerman6659 Thank you. The memory was probably too big. I will try with an easier memory and try to get a hang of this. Thank you so much for replying xx

@@violetiv8444 Did you have good results?