Workshop Duration

2 days/12 hours

Workshop Level

intended for mental health professionals familiar with treatment of anxiety or depression but with varying levels of CBT experience

Therapist drift can be a problem for even the most experienced, highly trained cognitive-behavioral therapist.  Our tendency to drift from well-established, effective therapeutic strategies for anxiety and depression is a serious threat to clinical effectiveness.  The workshop addresses this challenge to treatment integrity by focusing on issues and solutions to therapist drift, with particular attention to how the fundamentals of CBT can be re-established and integrated into daily clinical practice.  With a two-fold emphasis on the fundamentals of CBT and maintaining treatment integrity, this workshop is aimed at all levels of CBT training, from the novice to the seasoned clinician.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:

• REDUCE therapist drift
• IMPLEMENT a plan for treatment adherence
• PRACTICE cognitive restructuring and behavioral experiments to enhance client learning
• ASSIGN and evaluate homework exercises
• ENSURE treatment integrity

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

• the signs of therapist drift
• cognitive and emotion regulation models of anxiety and depression
• the choice of effective CBT strategies for anxiety and depression
• the use of transdiagnostic, targeted case formulation 
• to individualize cognitive and behavioral interventions for maximum effectiveness
• how homework assignments can be used more effectively
• practical aspects to building an evidence-based practice

Workshop Duration

1 day/6 hours

Workshop Level

intended for mental health professionals with intermediate to advanced CBT skills in treatment of anxiety

CBT practitioners can expect that approximately two-thirds of their anxious clients will experience clinically significant symptom improvement with treatment but only 25% - 40% will achieve symptom-free status.  This means that a significant number of anxious treatment-seekers (25%-33%) show a poor treatment response.  This workshop addresses the pervasive problem of tepid or failed treatment response in the anxiety disorders.  It begins with an analysis of treatment failure, the nature of treatment-resistant anxiety, and the limitations of standard CBT.  The remainder of the workshop focuses on innovations in theory, assessment, case conceptualization, cognitive restructuring, and behavioral experiments that target specific features of treatment resistant anxiety.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:

• UNDERSTAND treatment resistant anxiety  
• ADOPT a transdiagnostic framework
• UTILIZE process-focused assessment and case formulation
• IMPLEMENT resistance-focused cognitive and behavioral interventions
• ENGAGE in real-time treatment evaluation

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

• to address poor treatment response to pre-empt discontinuation 
• to  incorporate resistance issues into case formulation and goal setting
• to tailor psychoeducation to increase “buy-in” of reluctant clients
• to modify cognitive and behavioral strategies so they target emotional reasoning, distress intolerance, and homework noncompliance  
• to counter automatic pathological mental control 
• to conduct real-time outcome evaluation

   

Workshop Duration

1 day/6 hours

Workshop Level

most suitable for mental health professionals with intermediate to advanced CBT skills

Although exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a proven treatment for obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD), our ability to treat the cognitive component of obsessional conditions has been much more limited.  Many individuals continue to suffer from obsessive thinking and its associated distress even after a trial of standard CBT.  This workshop presents the cognitive appraisal approach to treatment of obsessions and other recurring, distressing thoughts.  It begins with the critical features of obsessional thinking, followed by an elaboration of the cognitive appraisal theory of obsessions.  Most of the workshop is devoted to case illustration, role play demonstrations, problem-oriented case consultation, and participant exercises that teach individuals how to conduct a cognitive appraisal case formulation and how to implement cognitive and behavioral strategies that counter faulty appraisals, neutralization and mental control of obsessions.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:

• RECOGNIZE the hallmarks of obsessional thinking
• UNDERSTAND the cognitive appraisal model of obsessions
• APPLY appraisal-oriented assessment and case conceptualization
• LEARN interventions to reduce neutralization and mental control
• ENHANCE clinical effectiveness in treatment of obsessional thinking

   

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

• to apply the new cognitive appraisal model to obsessive thinking
• to  tailor assessment that focuses on faulty appraisals, beliefs and neutralization efforts
• to modify cognitive restructuring to correct faulty meta-cognition and control
• to construct experimental exercises and homework assignments that counter excessive reflection and control
• to build specialized relapse prevention into the treatment approach