Sometimes regarded as "resistance," ambivalence is a normal human reaction to potential change and a fundamental dynamic in helping relationships whereby well-intended efforts can backfire. In practice there is an important conscious choice between neutrality and direction, leading to different clinical strategies. Dr. Miller will describe different responses to client ambivalence, and their consequences.
The process of contracting for change in the initial session will be described and discussed. Methods of targeting goals will be compared and contrasted.
Over the last 30 years Amen Clinics has built the world’s largest database of functional brain scans related to psychiatry, totaling nearly 200,000 SPECT scans on patients from 150 countries. In this conversation hour Dr. Amen will discuss the biggest lessons he has learned from this database and how this information can also help practitioners in their clinical practices, even if clients never get scanned.
Psychotherapy is in chaos - it needs a clear path forward that integrates research, theory and practice. Attachment science offers us a clear way to on target interventions that bring out clients home to health and resilience.
Somatic Modeling has to do with the organization of our physiology and "body language." Somatic Modeling focuses more on the form and deeper organization of body language than it does on its content. One of the primary objectives of Somatic Modeling is to mobilize and utilize the "wisdom of the body." A fundamental principle of Somatic Modeling is that there is information and wisdom in the body and knowledge in "the muscle." It is a way to access and take advantage of the full capacity of "the brain in our body." This session will explore how to apply Somatic Modeling as a key process for gathering information and finding resources in a therapy session.
"Although therapists certainly need a clear clinical road map informing their work with clients, a rigid reliance on and allegiance to any particular theoretical model ignores what research tells us about what really matters most in therapy. More, being overly focused on implementing clinical protocols prevents us from being truly present with our clients -- the place where real therapeutic magic resides.
Join two therapists as they trace the evolution of their thinking from being team members who helped develop the Solution Focused Brief Therapy model through today. Discover what they’ve learned about the real catalyst for change in therapy."
Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, depression was already ranked by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the number one cause of human suffering and disability. The pandemic caused a huge spike in rates of depression giving rise to serious questions about the way we think about depression. Is it primarily a neurochemical phenomenon? Is it a product of environmental and situational influences? Or both? This conversation will explore these questions and others as well.
"This demonstration will show how activating a client's creative process is the key factor in generative psychotherapy. This process follows these steps:
(1) Opening a creative safe space
(2) Identifying a goal (A positive change or transforming a negative pattern)
(3) Identifying and welcoming both obstacles and resources
(4) Weaving and integrating the parts into a new "mosaic of self"
(5) Orienting to future application of changes.
Therapy is successful when clients are able to experientially realize positive life changes. While the identification and transformation of symptoms is important in this regard, the activation of the client's creative capacity to change is even more important. This paper outlines 6 steps in this therapeutic process: (1) opening a mindful field, (2) setting positive intentions, (3) developing and maintaining a creative state, (4) identifying a "storyboard" for achieving goals, (5) transforming negative experiences, and (6) everyday practices. Metho
Madanes will tell the stories of some of her favorite therapies that are memorable because of how challenging they were, or how creative and innovative were the interventions. In these cases, she was either the therapist herself, or the supervisor observing the therapy through a one-way mirror. The audience will be challenged to discover the common thread - the strategy that all these therapies have in common.