As the rate of depression increases around the world, it is apparent that depression is about more than just "bad chemistry." The evidence is clear that social factors play a huge role in depression's onset and course, and these can be better addressed through psychotherapy than with medications. Key aspects of effective treatment will be described in this workshop.
Cognitive-Behavioral treatment is now pushing further into the confrontational. 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 interceptive exposure, peeling away their ever-present safety crutches and, the second order change of perceiving panic disorder as a mental game.
Mindfulness and acceptance methods are powerful methods in clinical practice that greatly simplify the therapeutic tasks at hand. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) will be described as an example of these methods and specific techniques will be shown. ACT targets common core processes that research are the basis for much psychopathology or restrictions on psychological health.
Non-verbal techniques can constitute excellent companion methods to traditional testing and assessment tools, and clinical interviewing for evaluation and diagnosis of client/patient personalities, relationships and problems. In addition, they can provide additional avenues for intervening that can be utilized with many diverse populations of different ages and backgrounds, including those who may be hard to reach by verbal psychotherapeutic techniques. This workshop will demonstrate the use of these techniques and involve participants individually and interactively in their utilization so they will acquire skills to enrich their practices.
This workshop is an introductory presentation about how our daily mental activity turns on the activity-dependent gene expression and protein synthesis cycle to construct and reconstruct the neural networks of our brain. We will experience the four-stage creative process of art, science and psychotherapy during a group induction of therapeutic hypnosis.
The Personal and professional dimensions of a therapist's life often intersect, leading to reciprocal influence that takes place in sessions. This experiential workshop explores the ways that therapists are often transformed by their work helping others and enhances their productivity and life satisfaction.
Psychotherapy will maximize its effectiveness by targeting the most powerful sources of change: the therapeutic relationship and the patient him/herself. This clinical workshop will provide integrative methods for customizing therapy relationships to individual patients. Participants will learn to reliably assess and rapidly apply four evidence-based guidelines (patient preferences, stages of change, resistance level, and real-time feedback) for constructing the "relationship of choice."
Therapy re-opens stuck people to fluidity. By faithfully connecting small but inexorable sequences of words and actions, an impelling force is created for movement into whatever feels naturally next. Through live therapeutic sessions, Dr. Polster will show how this process engenders therapeutic vitality and openness to personal fluidity.
One in three couples experience a sexual desire gap, a difference leads to infidelity or divorce. Additionally, the compelling statistic that one out of ten couples has a sexless marriage makes it apparent why so many couples are losing touch. Learn how to help couples bring passion back into marriage. Also, learn how to help couples heal from infidelity.
There is no map for becoming a fully human being, but there is a soul's compass. Orienting to true north requires interior freedom, curiosity and moment -to-moment awareness. The means to uncovering these intrinsic aspects of self, and the blocks to their recognition, are intrinsic to all the world's wisdom traditions.