EMDR: A Rapid, Safe, and Proven Treatment for Trauma

CPD

Handouts

Speaker

Jennifer Sweeton, PsyD, MS, MA Related seminars and products

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Dr. Jennifer Sweeton is a licensed clinical psychologist, author, and internationally-recognized expert on trauma, anxiety, and the neuroscience of mental health. Dr. Sweeton has been practicing EMDR for nearly a decade and has treated a variety of populations using EMDR and other memory reconsolidation approaches, including combat veterans, individuals with PTSD and complex trauma, and those suffering from treatment-resistant anxiety. She completed her doctoral training at the Stanford University School of Medicine, the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, and the National Center for PTSD. Additionally, she holds a master’s degrees in affective neuroscience from Stanford University, and studied behavioral genetics at Harvard University.

Dr. Sweeton resides in the greater Kansas City area, where she owns a group private practice, Kansas City Mental Health Associates. She is a past president of the Oklahoma Psychological Association and holds adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. She is the president of the Greater Kansas City Psychological Association. Dr. Sweeton offers psychological services to clients in Oklahoma, Kansas, and internationally, and is a sought-after trauma and neuroscience expert who has trained thousands of mental health professionals in her workshops.

 

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Jennifer Sweeton is in private practice. She has an employment relationship with the Oklahoma City VAMC. Dr. Sweeton receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.  She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Non-financial: Jennifer Sweeton has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.
 

Objectives

1. Analyze the role of the autonomic nervous system in trauma symptomology.
2. Articulate the clinical implications of the freeze response in trauma treatment.
3. Characterize the potential neurobiological mechanisms of change in the empirically validated EMDR approach.
4. Specify how EMDR techniques can build dual awareness in clients to treat the avoidance that makes trauma treatment challenging.
5. Communicate the 8 Phases of the EMDR protocol.
6. Determine which clients you should use EMDR with.
7. Analyze resourcing strategies from EDMR that clinicians can use to help facilitate the processing of trauma.
8. Characterize how EMDR techniques can be used to reinforce and activate positive neural networks.
9. Communicate how EMDR can be modified to work with complex/developmental trauma to directly treat traumatic memories.
10. Evaluate strategies that can help foster the critical connection between client and therapist in EMDR therapy.
11. Articulate the research limitations and potential risks associated with EMDR.
12. Demonstrate the order of operations for attachment-based EMDR treatment to resolve relational trauma.

Outline

• Key brain areas involved in trauma
• Polyvagal Theory, and types of freeze responses
• Trauma and insecure attachment
• The neuroscience of developmental trauma
• Clinical implications of the freeze response

• The neuroscience of exposure therapy and cognitive therapy
• The neuroscience of relaxation exercises
• EMDR and other “transformative therapies”
• Why EMDR works so well from a brain perspective

• Traumatic memories and intrusive thoughts
• Phobias and anxiety: Insula hyperactivation
• Emotional hijackings and implicit memory
• Avoidance cluster of symptoms
• Why treating avoidance in trauma is critical
• DSM-5® symptoms in a nutshell
• Connecting to a diagnosis
  • Simple vs. complex trauma
  • Intergenerational trauma
  • Symptom clusters and physical manifestations
  • CAPS-5 and PCL-5
  • Primary Care PTSD Screen
  • Dual diagnosis

• Dual awareness
• What you are thinking about is the network you’re in
• Activate networks for change
• Neurons that fire together, wire together (Hebb’s Rule)
• EMDR as neuroentrainment

• Demonstrations and experiential exercises
• Single event trauma
• Anxiety disorders involving imaginal exposure

• Client history and treatment planning
• How to resource: Create a safe space
• Assessment: Choose a target, SUDS, connect with the image/emotions/thought
• Desensitization: Tactile vs. auditory vs. eye movement
• How to use touchpoints, Theratapper, CDs
• Positive Cognition Installation: Likert scale 1-7
• Body Scan: Locate tension and distress in the body
• Closure: Close the neural network and the 6-hour window
• Re-evaluation

• Presenter demonstration
• Attendee dyad practice of the 8-phase model

• Modifications for Complex/Developmental Trauma
• Do not use standard protocol – Rationale for modifications
• Resourcing strategies
• Techniques to reinforce and activate positive neural networks
• Relevance of Polyvagal Theory, early trauma, and EMDR
• Sensory motor modifications and somatic approaches
• How to build Dual Awareness
• EMDR techniques to bring traumatic memories from the limbic system into the prefrontal cortex

• Strategies to foster the critical connection between client and therapist
• Mirror neuron activation
• How to emphasize safety during sessions
• Guidance on order of operations

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Psychotherapists
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Addiction Counselors
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Case Managers
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals

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