When a person experiences a trauma, the memory can often feel “stuck in time” because the way our brains store traumatic memories differs from the way our brains store normal, everyday memories. The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) System helps us understand how memories are stored in the brain using “memory networks.”
What is the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) Model?
Our bodies and brains have an intrinsic system that allows us to integrate internal and external experiences called the Adaptive Information Processing System. Memories of our experiences are stored in associated memory networks and shape how we think, behave, and perceive ourselves, the world, and others. When traumatic experiences occur, adaptive information processing is disrupted, leading to the storage of memories in “maladaptive memory networks.” Memories in these maladaptive networks cannot be fully processed as normal memories would be. After a trauma, if similar triggers, experiences, or reminders of a past trauma occur, these “maladaptive memory networks” may be activated and will cause the maladaptive networks to broaden. EMDR allows individuals to reprocess memories within these maladaptive memory networks, helping connect maladaptive information in the brain with adaptive information, leading to shifts in how they think about and respond to triggers related to past traumas.
What are Memory Networks?
A memory network is a group of related memories and their associated aspects. These may include thoughts, beliefs, images, emotions, sensations, and behaviors. Memory networks can either be adaptive or maladaptive. Positive memories and related thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors will be stored in adaptive memory networks and are helpful to the client, whereas negative or traumatic memories will be stored in maladaptive memory networks. There are four main categories of maladaptive memory networks: self-worth, control, responsibility, and safety. If someone has a maladaptive memory network of self-worth, the related memories would contribute to an overall sense of low self-worth or self-esteem (examples of this may be bullying, a difficult breakup, or an emotionally abusive relationship) Someone with a maladaptive memory network related to control would hold memories related to feeling powerless (an example of this may be a memory of an assault in which the person could not fight back, being silenced or unheard, or being stuck in a neglectful or harmful situation with no way out.) If one holds a maladaptive safety memory network, memories in that network would include experiences in which the person’s sense of physical safety was threatened (e.g., accidents or illness). If one has a maladaptive memory network related to responsibility, the related memories will have themes of the person holding themself responsible for things that are not their fault (an example of this would be a sexual assault victim blaming themself for the assault) When looking at memory networks, it is important to remember that memories are being stored into memory networks starting from childhood through adulthood. As experiences occur throughout life, the memory networks expand, and the related negative thoughts, behaviors, beliefs, images, emotions, and sensations become more extreme.
Example: Client A has a “self-worth” maladaptive memory network which includes memories starting in childhood of being yelled at by her parents and being compared to her siblings, memories of being bullied in middle school, memories of being left out in social situations during high school, an emotionally abusive relationship in college, and a memory of a recent firing from a dream job. Each of these memories has contributed to Client A’s deeper feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth. Over time, and with each related memory, the “self-worth” memory network expands. This memory network has led to negative self-talk, beliefs of “I am not enough”, feelings of anxiety and shame in social situations, flashbacks to childhood when emotionally triggered, sensations of panic and racing heart when triggered, and avoidant tendencies in social situations. Over time, these symptoms have worsened as the maladaptive memory network has expanded with each related memory. EMDR can help Client A reprocess and integrate these memories adaptively.
How EMDR Uses the AIP Model and Memory Networks to Help Individuals Heal From Trauma
EMDR uses the AIP system to help individuals reprocess and heal from traumatic memories by connecting information from maladaptive memory networks to adaptive memory networks. EMDR focuses on the related memories within an existing memory network and organizes them from childhood through the present day. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to help individuals activate and reprocess memories, enabling them to be integrated into the brain in a more adaptive way. Bilateral Stimulation can be achieved through bilateral eye movements, tapping, or sounds, and it stimulates both sides of the brain to facilitate healing and reprocessing. Bilateral Stimulation helps clients connect with past memories while remaining rooted in the present. Bilateral stimulation is thought to increase an individual’s ability to connect to episodic memories and to think more flexibly (Kuiken et al., 2001). As clients use bilateral stimulation to reprocess memories, the AIP Model helps them make new associations by connecting maladaptive memory networks to adaptive ones. As reprocessing occurs, the thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and sensations related to the memories will begin to shift. EMDR aims to help a client change their negative belief systems related to a maladaptive memory network and replace them with positive cognitions, so that when the individual is reminded of those past experiences, they are associated with a more positive and adaptive belief system. An example of this may be shifting from a belief of “I am helpless” to “I am a survivor.” When an individual integrates traumatic memories into a more adaptive way of thinking, they will respond to triggers in a more regulated way, as their body and brain will recognize that the traumatic memory is part of the past and not a current experience they are reliving.
When a person experiences a trauma, the memory can often feel “stuck in time” because the way our brains store traumatic memories differs from the way our brains store normal, everyday memories. The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) System helps us understand how memories are stored in the brain using “memory networks.”
What is the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) Model?
Our bodies and brains have an intrinsic system that allows us to integrate internal and external experiences called the Adaptive Information Processing System. Memories of our experiences are stored in associated memory networks and shape how we think, behave, and perceive ourselves, the world, and others. When traumatic experiences occur, adaptive information processing is disrupted, leading to the storage of memories in “maladaptive memory networks.” Memories in these maladaptive networks cannot be fully processed as normal memories would be. After a trauma, if similar triggers, experiences, or reminders of a past trauma occur, these “maladaptive memory networks” may be activated and will cause the maladaptive networks to broaden. EMDR allows individuals to reprocess memories within these maladaptive memory networks, helping connect maladaptive information in the brain with adaptive information, leading to shifts in how they think about and respond to triggers related to past traumas.
What are Memory Networks?
A memory network is a group of related memories and their associated aspects. These may include thoughts, beliefs, images, emotions, sensations, and behaviors. Memory networks can either be adaptive or maladaptive. Positive memories and related thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors will be stored in adaptive memory networks and are helpful to the client, whereas negative or traumatic memories will be stored in maladaptive memory networks. There are four main categories of maladaptive memory networks: self-worth, control, responsibility, and safety. If someone has a maladaptive memory network of self-worth, the related memories would contribute to an overall sense of low self-worth or self-esteem (examples of this may be bullying, a difficult breakup, or an emotionally abusive relationship) Someone with a maladaptive memory network related to control would hold memories related to feeling powerless (an example of this may be a memory of an assault in which the person could not fight back, being silenced or unheard, or being stuck in a neglectful or harmful situation with no way out.) If one holds a maladaptive safety memory network, memories in that network would include experiences in which the person’s sense of physical safety was threatened (e.g., accidents or illness). If one has a maladaptive memory network related to responsibility, the related memories will have themes of the person holding themself responsible for things that are not their fault (an example of this would be a sexual assault victim blaming themself for the assault) When looking at memory networks, it is important to remember that memories are being stored into memory networks starting from childhood through adulthood. As experiences occur throughout life, the memory networks expand, and the related negative thoughts, behaviors, beliefs, images, emotions, and sensations become more extreme.
Example: Client A has a “self-worth” maladaptive memory network which includes memories starting in childhood of being yelled at by her parents and being compared to her siblings, memories of being bullied in middle school, memories of being left out in social situations during high school, an emotionally abusive relationship in college, and a memory of a recent firing from a dream job. Each of these memories has contributed to Client A’s deeper feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth. Over time, and with each related memory, the “self-worth” memory network expands. This memory network has led to negative self-talk, beliefs of “I am not enough”, feelings of anxiety and shame in social situations, flashbacks to childhood when emotionally triggered, sensations of panic and racing heart when triggered, and avoidant tendencies in social situations. Over time, these symptoms have worsened as the maladaptive memory network has expanded with each related memory. EMDR can help Client A reprocess and integrate these memories adaptively.
How EMDR Uses the AIP Model and Memory Networks to Help Individuals Heal From Trauma
EMDR uses the AIP system to help individuals reprocess and heal from traumatic memories by connecting information from maladaptive memory networks to adaptive memory networks. EMDR focuses on the related memories within an existing memory network and organizes them from childhood through the present day. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to help individuals activate and reprocess memories, enabling them to be integrated into the brain in a more adaptive way. Bilateral Stimulation can be achieved through bilateral eye movements, tapping, or sounds, and it stimulates both sides of the brain to facilitate healing and reprocessing. Bilateral Stimulation helps clients connect with past memories while remaining rooted in the present. Bilateral stimulation is thought to increase an individual’s ability to connect to episodic memories and to think more flexibly (Kuiken et al., 2001). As clients use bilateral stimulation to reprocess memories, the AIP Model helps them form new associations by connecting maladaptive memory networks to adaptive ones. As reprocessing occurs, the thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and sensations related to the memories will begin to shift. EMDR aims to help a client change their negative belief systems related to a maladaptive memory network and replace them with positive cognitions, so that when the individual is reminded of those past experiences, they are associated with a more positive and adaptive belief system. An example of this may be shifting from a belief of “I am helpless” to “I am a survivor.” When an individual integrates traumatic memories into a more adaptive way of thinking, they will respond to triggers in a more regulated way, as their body and brain will recognize that the traumatic memory is part of the past and not a current experience they are reliving.
