Transforming Schemas through the Therapeutic Memory Reconsolidation Process
For more than a decade, a significant trend in neuroscience emphasizes the pivotal role of the brain’s predictive function. According to this perspective schemas form a specific category of memory which makes predictions from what it recognizes, determining at the same time which coping response to produce to avoid suffering assessed as intolerable. There is another trend known as memory reconsolidation that has also shown that it is possible to radically transform these predictions. Consequently, it renders obsolete the necessity of resorting to what has become a maladaptive coping mode. The application of these findings to clinical intervention has been termed the Therapeutic Reconsolidation Process (TRP).
During this session, we will explore how TRP can be incorporated into Schema Therapy, enhancing our chances of achieving a genuine schema transformation.
The presenter is co-author of an upcoming book on this subject: Cousineau, P., & Côté S. (Feb 2026). Schema Therapy for Memory Reconsolidation and Transformational Change. Routledge
In French:
Cousineau, P., & Côté, S. (2023). Pratiquer la thérapie des schémas: Transformer les modèles prédictifs avec la reconsolidation de la mémoire (Practicing Schema Therapy: Transforming predictive models with memory reconsolidation). Dunod.
Côté, S., & Cousineau, P. (2022). La reconsolidation thérapeutique de la mémoire : Transformer les schémas émotionnels avec la Thérapie de la cohérence (Therapeutic memory reconsolidation : Transforming emotional schemas with Coherence Therapy). Dunod.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Understand why schema maintenance is emotionally coherent: patients are considered to be tolerating what is perceived as a lesser suffering to avoid a worse suffering.
2. See how schema therapy interventions, by increasing the patient’s internal resources, promote potential prediction error, an essential step in TRP.
3. Be open to the perspective that this new paradigm can be a game changer in psychotherapy.
Speaker
Pierre CousineauClick for morePierre Cousineau, Ph.D., is a psychologist, psychotherapist, supervisor, and trainer. He lives in Montréal, Canada, where he has been practicing for 50 years. He has advanced certification as a therapist, supervisor, and trainer from the International Society for Schema Therapy. He is also an associate trainer at the Coherence Psychology Institute (memory reconsolidation—
coherencetherapy.org
). He offers supervision and training in Canada, Europe, and Morocco. He has published articles, prefaces, and book chapters, and has participated as a speaker at international conferences. He has a particular interest in the interactions between neuroscience, psychology, and psychotherapy.Cousineau, P. (2012). Mindfulness and ACT as strategies to enhance the healthy adult mode. In M. van Vreeswijk, J. Broersen, & M. Nadort (Eds.),
The Wiley- Blackwell Handbook of Schema Therapy
(p. 249-257). Wiley- Blackwell.
Cousineau, P., & Côté, S. (2023).
Pratiquer la thérapie des schémas: Transformer les modèles prédictifs avec la reconsolidation de la mémoire
[Practicing schema therapy: Transforming predictive models with memory reconsolidation]. Dunod.
Cousineau, P., & Côté, S. (2026).
Schema Therapy for Memory Reconsolidation and Transformational Change
. Routledge.
Côté, S., & Cousineau, P. (2022).
La reconsolidation thérapeutique de la mémoire : Transformer les schémas émotionnels avec la thérapie de la cohérence
[Therapeutic memory reconsolidation: Transforming emotional schemas with coherence therapy]. Dunod.
