Wednesday, August 19, 2026 | Edition 191 | Item #3

Difficult experiences early in life, including criticism, neglect, or severe reactions from caregivers, can influence emotional well-being and quality of life years later. How adults respond when a child makes a mistake may be especially important in shaping future patterns of thought and emotion. In some cases, those experiences can contribute to a fear of failure rooted in the belief that mistakes make a person less worthy in the eyes of others.

Researchers from the Poznań-based Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychology, SWPS University, and the Laboratory of Brain Imaging at the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology in Warsaw have been studying whether imagery-based psychotherapy may mitigate the impact of painful memories on life development. In a randomized trial, 180 young adults with fear of failure went through four sessions over two weeks, working with memories of being criticized as kids. One group just revisited the memory. Another used "imagery rescripting" —  imagining a third person stepping into the scene to confront the critic and comfort the child. A third received imagery rescripting treatment plus a 10-minute delay meant to scramble the memory trace further, potentially strengthening the intervention even further. 

All three groups reported less fear of failure, guilt, and sadness — and, notably, their bodies calmed down too, with weaker stress responses to the old memories. The effects held up at three and six months, which suggests that there may be opportunities for a powerful and  durable rewiring.  Rescripting worked best when it produced genuine surprise — a mismatch between what the brain expected and what actually happened. That "prediction error," the researchers reported, helps pry open the door for change.  Your past self, it turns out, is more editable than advertised.