Learning with 'e's: Learning, unlearning and relearning

Learning with 'e's: Learning, unlearning and relearning:

"We all value learning. And much of what we have learnt can be difficult to unlearn. Usually that's a good thing. But there are times when unlearning just has to be done. Sometimes it's impossible to learn new things if you don't unlearn some of the old stuff you are hanging on to. At the extreme end, a lot of irrational beliefs and prejudices are based on what we have learnt and find we now cannot relinquish. It's a principle a number of clinical interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy are based upon. Phobias and other psychological challenges have their genesis in the act of learning a response to a given situation and then being incapable of unlearning that response. "