2-Day Anxiety Certification Masterclass: Brain-Based Strategies for Panic, Agoraphobia, Social Anxiety, GAD, OCD & PTSD

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Program Information

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Catherine Pittman, PhD, HSPP Related seminars and products

Saint Mary's College

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Catherine M. Pittman, PhD, HSPP, is a professor of psychology at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN. Dr. Pittman is the author of the popular book, Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry. She has a background in cognitive behavioral therapy, neuropsychology, fear-conditioning research, and treated anxiety-based disorders in clinical practice for over 25 years. Catherine’s experience makes her uniquely qualified to provide a clear understanding of neuroscience and how that informs the selection and application of successful anxiety treatment strategies. She regularly presents workshops at national conferences and national webinars on anxiety treatment and is an active member of the public education committee of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Catherine Pittman maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with Saint Mary's College. She is an author with New Harbinger, Foliadeux Press, and PESI Publishing and receives royalties. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Catherine Pittman is a member of the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

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Objectives

1. Create a psychoeducation program that clearly explains the roles of the amygdala and cortex in perpetuating anxiety disorders and how to target both for effective treatment of anxiety symptoms.
2. Teach clients how to interpret the language of the amygdala, facilitating improved treatment engagement, and enhancing overall levels of functioning.
3. Train clients how to label their anxiety-related experiences in order to effectively target symptoms and promote mindfulness.
4. Assess physical and cognitive symptoms of anxiety to accurately diagnose, tailor treatment plans, monitor progress, and engage clients in a brain-based, empowering therapeutic process.
5. Demonstrate the ability to apply DSM-5-TR™ criteria to differentially diagnose various anxiety disorders and identify common comorbidities with other disorders including depression.
6. Integrate exposure techniques to increase client’s tolerance to anxiety when it is clinically appropriate to do so.
7. Design client-tailored strategies such as exercise and sleep interventions to calm the amygdala.
8. Teach clients breathing exercises to quiet the amygdala and stimulate the vagus nerve in and out of session.
9. Integrate cognitive restructuring techniques to reduce cognitions that produce anxious responding by igniting amygdala activation.
10. Recognize the indications for medication referrals in the treatment of anxiety disorders and ways to promote their effective use.
11. Evaluate the relationship of the cortex to the amygdala and their contributions to anxiety as it relates to treatment strategies.
12. Demonstrate the ability to accurately diagnose anxiety disorders, engage clients in goal-setting, and train client’s to identify the role of their amygdala in symptoms.

Outline

THE NEUROSCIENCE OF THE AMYGDALA’S ROLE IN GENERATING FEAR AND ANXIETY

Amygdala’s Role in Defending Us from Danger & Creating Anxiety-Producing Memories

• How the Amygdala:
  • Perceives threat and triggers the body’s fear response
  • Learns and contributes to the formation of emotional memories and behaviours
  • Communicates, processes, and regulates emotions

Teach Clients How the Brain Creates Their Anxiety

• Two Brain Pathways that Produce Anxiety:
  • How the amygdala triggers emotion with fight, flight, freeze response
  • How the cortex activates the amygdala
  • Why it’s essential to target both for maximum relief
  • Help clients recognize where their physical symptoms are coming from: Anxiety survey and examples
  • Promote mindfulness

Diagnose Anxiety Disorders and Anxiety-Based Disorders

• Accurately use DSM-5-TR ™ to Diagnose:
  • Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, Social Anxiety Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, OCD, & PTSD
  • Tips for differential diagnosis
  • Comorbidity of Major Depressive Disorder
  • Case examples throughout

Psychoeducation that Promotes Motivation and Engagement in Anxiety Treatment

• Teach Clients How:
  • The brain creates anxiety, worry, and panic
  • To connect the amygdala to their anxiety concerns: Worksheets on where anxiety begins, explanations, examples
  • The amygdala needs vivid experiences to learn
  • To train their amygdala to be less reactive
  • Avoiding anxiety is dangerous
  • Limitations of research and potential risks
  • Case examples throughout

CLINICAL GUIDE TO EFFECTIVELY REDUCE FEAR AND ANXIETY RESPONSES IN TREATMENT:

Connect Client’s Amygdala to Goal Setting: Examples

• Address client’s complaints about their lives
• How clients label their anxiety-related experiences can focus interventions
• Help clients see how anxiety is blocking goals: Worksheets
• Why goal setting is essential
• Guidelines to draw out and identify goals
• How/where anxiety interferes with client goals

How to Calm the Amygdala

• Amygdala-focused Interventions:
  • Breathing exercises that calm amygdala and activate vagus nerve
  • Exercise that establish healthy levels of amygdala activation
  • Tips to engage clients in exercises and activities
  • Case examples provided throughout

Increase Tolerance to Anxiety: Exposure Techniques

• Teach clients to communicate in the language of the amygdala
• Importance of SUDS ratings for communicating with clients
• Developeing a hierarchy
• Seven general guidelines for exposure
• Six tips for exposure effectiveness
• Case examples provided throughout

How to Fight Anticipation and Worry

• Cortex-Focused Interventions:
  • Cognitive approaches to target the cortex
  • Identify amygdala-activating cognitions with surveys
  • Remember “survival of the busiest” rule
  • You can’t erase, you must replace
  • The amygdala watches cortex television
  • Change the channel in the cortex
  • Case examples provided throughout

Incorporate Medication into Anxiety Treatment

• Indications for medications
• How to refer to physician, psychiatrist
• Impact of SSRIs, SNRIs on cortex, amygdala
• Impact of benzodiazepines on cortex, amygdala
• Client education about medication use, effects

Target Audience

• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Physicians
• Counsellors
• Art Therapists
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Case Managers
• Addiction Counsellors
• Speech-Language Pathologists
• Therapists
• Other Mental Health Professionals

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