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Rewire the Anxious Brain: Neuroscience-Informed Treatment of Anxiety, Panic and Worry, 1/12/2024 12:00:00 AM EST, Digital Seminar More info »
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Digital Seminar

Rewire the Anxious Brain: Neuroscience-Informed Treatment of Anxiety, Panic and Worry

Average Rating:
   36
Faculty:
Catherine Pittman, PhD, HSPP
Duration:
6 Hours 35 Minutes
Copyright:
Jan 29, 2021
Product Code:
POS051415
Media Type:
Digital Seminar - Also available: Digital Seminar
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Description

Watch neuroscience and anxiety expert, Dr. Catherine Pittman, and learn her keys for successful anxiety treatment. Dr. Pittman integrates brain-based strategies for calming the anxious mind with client communication techniques that motivate change in your clients. Catherine’s approach promotes adherence to treatment and strengthens the therapeutic alliance – which is essential when working with anxious, worried, traumatized, or obsessive clients.

Dr. Pittman will give you proven tools and techniques to:

  • Identify and treat the roots of anxiety in both the amygdala and the cortex
  • Explain “the language of the amygdala” in an accessible, straight forward way
  • Identify how the cortex contributes to anxiety, and empower clients with strategies to resist anxiety-igniting cognitions

Purchase today for this transformational workshop and put the power of neuroplasticity to work for you and your anxious clients!

Credit

Handouts

File type File name Number of pages
PDF Manual - Rewire the Anxious Brain (2.9 MB) 104 Pages Available after Purchase
PDF Instructions for ASHA credit - Self-Study Only (64.4 KB) Available after Purchase

Additional Info

Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.


Objectives

  1. Analyze the underlying neurological processes that impact anxious symptoms for clients.
  2. Develop client engagement in treatment using personalized goals and attending to the therapeutic relationship.
  3. Evaluate the differences between amygdala-based and cortex-based anxiety symptoms and identify how these symptoms inform treatment interventions.
  4. Demonstrate strategies for calming and training the amygdala in order to alleviate symptoms of anxiety.
  5. Develop methods for teaching clients to retrain the cortex so that anxiety is resisted rather than exacerbated.
  6. Analyze how psychotropic medication impacts neuroplasticity in the brain; identify related treatment implications.

Outline

Use Neuroscience in the Treatment of Anxiety
Positives:
  • We know more about anxiety-based disorders than any other disorders
  • Science gives explanations, evidence, authority, destigmatizes difficulties
Concerns:
  • It can be difficult to explain, answer questions
  • Clients may feel a lack of responsibility
  • Oversimplification is inevitable
Enhancing Engagement in Treatment
  • Don’t neglect the therapeutic relationship!
  • Address the challenges of anxious clients
  • Remember that strategies are effortful
  • Guide the process using client’s goals
  • Maintain motivation
Neuroplasticity
  • Define Neuroplasticity in everyday language
  • Therapy is about creating a new self
  • ”Rewiring” as an accessible concept for change
  • Re-consolidation: the modification of emotional memories
Identify Two Neural Pathways to Anxiety
  • Amygdala – bottom-up triggering of emotion, physicality of anxiety
  • Cortex – top-down emotion generation based in cognition
  • Explain the two pathways to clients
  • How anxiety is initiated in each pathway and how pathways influence each other
Client Friendly Explanations
  • Use illustrations to create concrete understanding
  • Fight/flight/freeze responses
  • The “language of the amygdala”
  • Anxiety and the cortex
  • Help clients recognize the two pathways to anxiety
Neuroplasticity in the Amygdala (Essential for all Anxiety Disorders, PTSD, OCD, Depression)
  • Sleep and the amygdala
  • The influence of exercise
  • Breathing techniques to reduce activation
  • Relaxation, meditation, and yoga to modify responses
  • Exposure as opportunities for the amygdala to learn
  • Combatting avoidance
  • When anxiety indicates that the amygdala can learn new responses
  • Push through anxiety to change the amygdala
Neuroplasticity in the Cortex (Essential for GAD, SAD, OCD, PTSD, Depression)
  • ”Survival of the busiest” principle – strengthen or weaken specific circuitry
  • The healthy (adaptive) use of worry in the cortex
  • ”You can’t erase: You must replace”
  • Recognize and modify the impact of uncertainty
  • Training correct uses of distraction
  • Left hemisphere techniques – cognitive defusion, coping thoughts, fighting anticipation
  • Right hemisphere techniques – imagery, music
  • Mindfulness and anxiety resistances
Neuroplasticity and Medications for Anxiety Disorders, OCD, PTSD, Depression
  • Medication’s effects in the rewiring process
  • The myth of the chemical imbalance
  • The danger of sedating the brain with benzodiazepines
  • Promoting neuroplasticity with SSRIs, SNRIs
  • The effectiveness of CBT and meds
Moving Beyond Diagnostic Categories to Focus on Anxiety Pathways
  • Anxiety is a component of many diagnoses (depression, substance abuse, etc.)
  • Amygdala – and cortex-based techniques help in other disorders
  • Targeting brain-based symptoms rather than disorders
  • Worry, obsessions, rumination respond to similar cortex-based techniques
  • Panic, phobic responses, and compulsions respond to amygdala-based techniques

Research, Risks and Limitations

  • Empirical versus clinical and anecdotal evidence
  • Clinical considerations for specific clients and settings
  • Efficacy of particular interventions may vary

Target Audience

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

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Reviews

5
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Overall:      4.9

Total Reviews: 36

Comments

Lora N - Rogersville, Missouri

"Excellent Seminar! Thank you"

Cherie Y - Mickleton, New Jersey

"Hands down, one of the best trainings I have attended. "

Sandra B - Cornish, Maine

"Excellent course!"

Jennifer R - Centre Hall, Pennsylvania

"Excellent presenter and thorough content!"

Jeannine S - ENID, Oklahoma

"Excellent seminar!! She explained the amygdala, cortex, and thalamus connection better than any other presenter I have ever heard."

Marla Joy C - Green Valley, Arizona

"Dr. Pittman is one of the best instructors PESI has had!!!"

Beth K - Palmer, Nebraska

"This was an excellent presentation! I learned a lot about medication, anxiety treatments, comorbidity."

SARAH E - Sherman, Texas

"Excellent course! Thank you for accommodating my needs."

Samantha D - Chatsworth, California

"I loved this course! This is one of the best CE courses I've taken. "

JESSICA H - TIMEWELL, Illinois

"EXCELLENT Session and information. I very much enjoyed this class and the instructor specifically."

Satisfaction Guarantee
Your satisfaction is our goal and our guarantee. Concerns should be addressed to: PO Box 1000, Eau Claire, WI 54702-1000 or call 1-800-844-8260.

ADA Needs
We would be happy to accommodate your ADA needs; please call our Customer Service Department for more information at 1-800-844-8260.

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