Workshop 04 - Provocative Treatment of Panic Disorder
Treatment of panic disorder and its phobias is now pushing beyond the permissive approach (“It’s OK that I’m anxious”) and further into the confrontational (“I want to get anxious!”) Participants will learn how to divide and conquer: to interrupt anticipatory anxiety and then to manage physical symptoms using cognitive strategies, paradox, pattern disruption, exposure and interoceptive exposure, and peeling away their everpresent “safety crutches.” All these techniques will be placed within a new broad strategic intervention that modifies the habituation model by teaching clients to alter their orientation toward panic.
Educational Objectives:
1. Explain the therapeutic function of seeking out symptoms of panic
2. Construct a simple formula to generate a request to increase threatening stimuli
3. List at least four types of interceptive exposure that can be conducted in the treatment office.
Reid Wilson, Ph.D, is a licensed psychologist who directs the Anxiety Disorders Treatment Center. He is also Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He is an international expert in the treatment of anxiety disorders, with books translated into nine languages.