Clients who are experiencing panic want relief from their suffering. And given that it took a mountain of courage just to show up at your door, you want to help them as quickly and effectively as you can. But without proper training, panic attacks can be very confusing and difficult to treat. It is very common that well-intentioned therapists inadvertently reinforce avoidance or escape behaviours, thereby prolonging recovery, worsening symptoms—leading to client drop out.
Watch anxiety expert and author, Elena Welsh, Ph.D., as she shares her treatment secrets that consistently improve the lives of her clients suffering from panic and anxiety. Using the best techniques from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dr. Welsh lays out practical, step-by-step integrated treatment strategies that you can use right away, including how to:
Differentiate diagnostically between panic disorder and panic attacks
Provide psychoeducation that is non-pathologizing and immediately useful for clients
Empower clients to increase their comfort level and accept difficult/distressing thoughts, feelings, and sensations
Teach clients to preemptively catch and reframe thoughts that fuel anxiety and panic
Motivate clients to shift behaviours to reduce the severity and frequency of panic/fear reactions
Guide clients through exposure protocols to manage panic/fear reactions
Manage your own anxiety about treating panicked and anxious clients
Do not let another client walk out that door wondering if they could live without panic and anxiety.
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Elena Welsh, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in working with clients with anxiety disorders from all walks of life in both inpatient and outpatient treatment settings. She also works with a wide range of mood and depressive disorders, including bipolar disorder, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder/trauma-related mental health issues.
Dr. Welsh has published articles in various medical and research journals and is the author of The Cognitive Therapy Workbook for Panic Attacks; Trauma Survivors' Strategies for Healing: A Workbook to Help You Grow, Rebuild, and Take Back Your Life; Getting to Good: A Guided Journal; and 5-Minute Stress Relief: 75 Exercises to Quiet Your Mind and Calm Your Body. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at various universities in Los Angeles.
Dr. Welsh received her doctorate degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and completed advanced clinical training through a postdoctoral fellowship at Gateways Psychiatric Hospital in Los Angeles.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Elena Welsh maintains a private practice. She is an author and receives royalties. Dr. Welsh is a supervising psychologist at the Department of State Hospitals-Metropolitan. She is a faculty member at Antioch University. Dr. Welsh receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.
Non-financial: Elena Welsh has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.
Additional Info
Program Information
Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)
Access never expires for this product.
Objectives
Differentiate diagnostically between panic disorder and panic attacks that are secondary to other anxiety disorders.
Utilize psychoeducation as an intervention to teach clients about the physiology of fear and avoidance as well as the physical sensations that typically comprise a panic attack.
Employ tools to assess problematic thought patterns that fuel anxiety and panic.
Implement mindfulness and acceptance, and cognitive strategies to target distorted thinking.
Develop and execute graduated, imaginal and/or in vivo exposure strategies to directly reduce the frequency and intensity of panic attacks.
Design tools to track treatment progress and help clients stay on track.
Outline
Assessment: Accurately Diagnose Panic and Anxiety Disorders
Panic disorder vs. panic attacks that are secondary to other anxiety disorders
Psychosocial factors that may exacerbate panic symptoms
Impact on client’s social and occupational functioning
Is the client’s support system inadvertently reinforcing panic symptoms?
INTEGRATING ACT, CBT, & MINDFULNESS INTO YOUR THERAPEUTIC TOOLBOX
Psychoeducation: The Essential Foundation of Anxiety Treatment
Teach clients about the physiology of fear and avoidance in a non-pathologizing manner
When the body is behaving normally, just at the wrong time!
Physical sensations that comprise a panic attack
How short-term relief (avoidance, distraction, etc) isn’t enough to yield long-term wellness
Teach clients ‘the why’ of exposure before going through it
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT): Target Cognitive Distortions that are Common in Anxiety
Catastrophizing, jumping to conclusions, tunnel vision, emotional reasoning, and overgeneralization
Tools to help clients gain awareness of and reframe distorted thinking
Disrupt the link between thoughts and unhelpful/avoidance/escape behaviours
Help clients critically examine the beliefs they hold about panic and its aftermath
Exposure Techniques: Breaking the Anxiety and Panic Cycle
The importance of client buy-in for exposure to be effective
How to develop graduated exposure plan
Subjective Units of Distress (SUDs) ratings to improve clinician-client communication
In-vivo vs. imaginal exposure
The importance of remaining in an exposure exercise until fear subsides
Modify exposure for telehealth
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Teaching Clients to “Drop the Rope”
Values clarification
Use of metaphors
Exercises to increase comfort with difficult emotions and sensations
Tools for Calming the Body in the Midst of Panic
Breathing skills to interrupt worry thoughts and slow down physiological panic symptoms
Relaxation techniques to reduce vulnerability to panic
Grounding techniques to lower the intensity
How a daily mindfulness practice can reduce panic
Recovery Maintenance Tools: Make Sure Therapy is Working and Help Clients Stay on Track
Individualized methods of tracking success and challenges
Help clients maintain consistent skills practice and reduce avoidance behaviours
Maintain a panic attack progress tracking tool
Connect treatment to client’s goals and values
Other Clinical Considerations
Anxiety and panic during challenging times
Increased anxiety rates during public health crisis
Complicating factors of hypochondriasis and panic disorder
Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
Social Workers
Psychologists
Counselors
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Therapists
Nurses
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Other Mental Health Professionals
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Additional Participant CE
Additional Participant CE must be purchased for each additional viewer. These viewers will watch the video with the main registrant, but will have individual access to course handouts and certification. The standard price of this program includes certification for main viewer.
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