Have you had years of talk therapy and are still struggling?
Are you ready to go deeper?
Coherence Therapy might be for you.
What is Coherence Therapy?
Coherence Therapy (CT) was developed by Bruce Ecker and Laurel Hulley to facilitate the process of transformational change through memory reconsolidation. Memory reconsolidation is the brain’s built in process and mechanism for revising what was previously learned and now held in memory.
It used to be believed that to tap into the subconscious mind, years of psychoanalysis would be necessary or deep states of hypnosis would be needed. That’s not actually true. Essentially, the subconscious mind is alive and accessible using experiential therapy such as Coherence Therapy.
To explain, Coherence Therapy views a “symptom” or “problem pattern” as coherent. Basically, this means that the symptom makes sense according to your life history. For example, if you were bullied as a child in grade school and now as an adult you get nervous and avoid social settings, this would be coherent. Your brain learned that people might be mean or judgmental and it’s safer to avoid social settings. Coherence Therapy’s goal is to understand why a symptom is emotionally necessary to your brain. From this, change work is facilitated.
Importantly, working with one of our skilled therapists in Ventura for Coherence Therapy can help identify and shift the deeper emotional learnings that keep unwanted patterns in place. We also support clients online throughout California.
Coherence Therapy Can Help With
Procrastination
Stuckness
Phobias
Fear of moving forward
Self-criticalness
The Brain is a Learning Machine
Without us even knowing, our brains are constantly scanning the environment and questioning- am I safe? While the brain is taking in the present moment, it’s mostly assessing the present moment based on your history, every thing you learned. Basically, the brain wears history colored glasses! The brain also has a negativity bias. Negativity bias means that when something scary or bad happens to you (something negative), the brain stores this as very important information. After all, the brain is wired for survival. This is stored in the brain as a schema- a mental model of how the world works.
Unfortunately the brain doesn’t know time. So if you were bullied in grade school, the brain doesn’t know that you’re 45 years old now. It’s still protecting you by sending anxiety, panic, body tension, or other uncomfortable feelings. Understandably, these are feelings you no longer want to experience.
What Happens in a Coherence Therapy Session?
Coherence Therapy is structured to specifically bring about change through memory reconsolidation.
First, in a therapy session the therapist and client decide what the client wants to shift or change. Then the therapist guides the client through a process called Discovery. This process aims to find out why a symptom might be emotionally necessary to have. Importantly, this information is usually held in the subconscious mind. The therapist guides the client to bump into this unknown information. This information might show as a belief/ schema, a somatic sensation, an image, or some other knowing.
Once the underlying material is discovered, why a symptom might be emotionally necessary, the therapist then guides the client through an unlearning process.
Between sessions, clients are given a “card” also what we call a “statement”. This is a very important integration piece that the client reads throughout the week to understand why their symptom is emotionally necessary. The statement gets updated each session as new information emerges.
“Emotional memory converts the past into an expectation of the future, without our awareness, and that is both a blessing and a curse.”
― Unlocking the Emotional Brain
Why Coherence Therapy is Different
Most therapy looks at a symptom as maladaptive or irrational. Classic Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) uses terms such as “cognitive distortions”. A Coherence Therapy Therapist would disagree that there is something distorted about one’s thinking. A CT therapist would tell you- of course you are thinking that! Your brain is trying to help and protect you from a greater suffering.
Examples:
Client symptom: “I must always think about what I am going to say before I say it in social settings, even though it’s exhausting”. This symptom is emotionally necessary because the client’s mother shamed him as a child and told him he wasn’t smart”.
Client symptom: “I can’t control my anger towards my husband”. This symptom is emotionally necessary because anger was the only way she got attention from her parents as a teenager.
Coherence Therapy is a Non- Counteractive Therapy
CBT and many other therapies are counteractive. Simply put, if you have the belief “Most people don’t like me”, CBT would have you challenge that thought. A CBT therapist might say- “Is that a generalization of all people?” OR “Maybe you are fortune telling?”.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is not bad therapy. After all, it’s helped a lot of people and is highly studied. But overall, it is not a therapy that supports transformational change through memory reconsolidation.
We Specialize in Coherence Therapy
Sipora Weissman, LCSW, founder of Mind-Body therapy in Ventura, is an Affiliate Instructor for the Coherence Psychology Institute and provides trainings online to therapists all over the world. She is also a Certified Pracitioner of Coherence Therapy. Additionally, Sipora has been in regular consultation with Bruce Ecker, co-founder of Coherence Therapy, since 2023. Importantly, Sipora immersed herself in Coherence Therapy after seeing firsthand how deeply it could transform her clients’ lives. She now passes this training and knowledge on to every clinician in the practice, creating a shared commitment to deeper, lasting change.
FAQ
I don't have trauma, so memory reconsolidation won't work for me, right?
Not at all. While memory reconsolidation is often discussed in the context of trauma, it applies to all kinds of emotional learning. Anxiety, depression, perfectionism, procrastination, relationship struggles, chronic pain, low self-worth, and many other difficulties are often driven by unconscious emotional beliefs that were learned over time. When these underlying learnings are discovered and updated, lasting change becomes possible. In other words, you do not need to have experienced trauma for memory reconsolidation to be helpful.
Why do my symptoms keep happening even when I understand them logically?
Many symptoms are driven by unconscious emotional learnings rather than conscious knowings. You may know logically that something is safe, but another part of you still expects danger. Coherence Therapy helps bring these emotional learnings into conscious awareness so they can be updated.
Coherence Therapy in Ventura, California
Reach out! Our therapy office is located in Ventura, California, close to Ojai, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Camarillo, and Thousand Oaks. We also see clients online in Los Angeles County and all over California. Contact us for a 20 minute free consultation to discuss starting Coherence Therapy.
Get In Touch
Call
805.669.8176
Location
5550 Telegraph Rd. Ventura, California, 93003
Located near Ojai, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks.
Also seeing clients for online therapy all over.
