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Whole Psychiatry: Alternatives to Conventional Psychopharmacology with Robert Hedaya
Meds: Myths and Realities: NP0035 – Session 4
Is psychopharmacology is a 'go-to' in your practice? Join Robert Hedaya as he discusses how to treat the bodily systems that underlay many mental health issues while avoiding medication. After the session, please let us know what you think. If you ever have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to email support@psychotherapynetworker.org.Tough Customers: Is It Them or Us?
By Rich Simon As therapists, many of us practice in two different worlds. In the first, we see polite, well-behaved, articulate clients with solid values. They engage fully in therapy, talk cogently about their problems, listen attentively to our responses, make reasonably good-faith efforts to follow our suggestions, and sooner or later get better. No wonder we genuinely like these people! Does This Kid Need Medication? with Ron Taffel
Meds: Myths and Realities: NP0035 – Session 3
Do you feel like you could be a more effective therapist with your younger clients? Do you find it hard to determine when interventions--psychological and pharmacological--might be needed? Join Ron Taffel and learn to identify key diagnostic signs that indicate medications could be helpful when dealing with depression, anxiety, AD/HD, and affective disorders. After the session, please let us know what you think. If you ever have any technical questions or issues, please feel free to email support@psychotherapynetworker.org.
| The Worry Hill - Page 2 |
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Children who aren't properly prepared for how ERP works and what it entails are more likely to become ambivalent or afraid, withdraw from exposures, and refuse to do practice exercises. When they understand how exposure and habituation work, they're more willing to tolerate the initial anxiety experienced during ERP, because they know it'll increase and then subside. The four steps in building readiness to undergo the added anxiety engendered by CBT—Stabilization, Communication, Persuasion, and Collaboration—are illustrated in Maria's journey to recovery. Stabilization comes first. When I met Maria, she was shy and embarrassed as her parents described her symptoms and their futile struggle to get her to see reason. "I know I'm washing too much," she said quietly, "but I just can't stop." Her parents, like most parents seeking help for their child's OCD, expressed a sense of urgency. They asked if they should be actively fighting the OCD by "getting tough" with their daughter and refusing to give in to her rituals. I said that our first focus was on stabilization and that it wasn't the right time to withdraw support for Maria, who was already overwhelmed and struggling to function each day. Instead, I encouraged them to function in "survival mode"—to be flexible in their expectations, accommodate their daughter temporarily at home and school, and cut back on discretionary commitments to reduce her stress and conserve time and energy for future treatment. In this first session, I focused on setting the foundation for treatment and getting everyone on the same page. I began with a clear description of OCD. "Everyone has worries, Maria. But when you have OCD, your brain sends you a lot of worry messages that get stuck in your mind, even when there's no reason to be worried. It's like it would be if you rang the doorbell and the button got stuck: the doorbell would keep ringing. OCD is like a 'worry bell' in your brain that gets stuck. The worry thoughts that OCD puts in your brain are called 'obsessions.' The things you do over and over again to make the obsessions go away are called 'compulsions' or 'rituals.'" |
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