The New Era of Anxiety: Helping Clients Navigate Stress, Fear, Loss & Grief During Turbulent Times

CPD

Handouts

Speaker

Margaret Wehrenberg, PsyD Related seminars and products

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Margaret Wehrenberg, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist, is the author of nine books on the treatment of anxiety and depression, including her most recent e-book, Pandemic Anxiety: Fear, Stress, and Loss in Traumatic Times (January, 2021), bestselling book, The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques (W.W. Norton, 2018), and You Can Handle It: 10 Steps to Shift Stress from Problem to Possibility (PESI, 2017). She has also written a book for the general public, The 10 Best Anxiety Busters.

An expert on the treatment of anxiety and depression, she also has extensive training and expertise in the neurobiology of psychological disorders. In addition to clinical work, she coaches business professionals on managing anxiety and has contributed articles for the Psychotherapy Networker magazine. She has produced Relaxation for Tension and Worry, audio soundtracks for breathing, muscle relaxation and imagery to use with anxious clients. Margaret blogs on depression for Psychology Today. Noted for humor, pragmatic treatment approaches, and her interactive teaching style, Dr. Wehrenberg is a sought-after speaker for conferences and trainings, consistently getting the highest ratings for her dynamic presentation and high-quality content. She is one of PESI’s most highly rated speakers and her evaluation from the most seasoned professionals often rank her training “as among the best I have ever attended.”
 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Margaret Wehrenberg maintains a private practice. She receives royalties as a published author. She is an international presenter and receives compensation. Dr. Wehrenberg receives a speaking honorarium, book royalties, and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Margaret Wehrenberg is a member of the Anxiety Disorder Association of America.

Objectives

1. Apply skills to cope with the impact of ambient anxiety to effectively manage generalized anxiety.
2. Distinguish generalized anxiety from situational responses to societal turbulence to improve case conceptualization.
3. Construct useful protocols to eliminate panic and health anxiety.
4. Appraise the impact of disappointments on mood and differentiate that from depressive disorders.
5. Employ new concepts about the significance of rituals to minimize the impact of missed life events, important ceremonies and lost opportunities.
6. Devise strategies to cope with the new stresses of work-from-home parenting.
7. Determine the neurobiological stress of teletherapy and formulate ways to manage your energy.

Outline

• Limit how the “toxic fog” of bad news intensifies anxiety
• Relieve exposure to persistent worry that intensifies existing generalized anxiety
• Existential anxiety that emerges from threatening conditions

• “Worry Well and Only Once” to reduce fear
• “ Transfer Worry to Another Person” to shift attention
• “The 3 Control Questions” to address control
• “ Ditch Your Dread and Stop the Plunge” to avert despair
• “Predict, Prepare, and Plan” to prevent panic
• “ Move Your Body, Move Your Mind” to stay grounded
• And more!

• Differentiate GAD from predictable worry,
• OCD or depressive rumination
• Techniques for extreme cautiousness and containing worry
• Coping strategies for isolation, loneliness, and separation

• It’s not depression... It’s sadness, grief and loss
• Address the disappointment of missed opportunities and life events
• How to recreate ceremonies and rituals to heal grief and loss
• Help clients process grief without closure after the loss of a loved one

• Correct for the blur of time due to loss of anchor points of schedules and routines
• Manage guilt, jealousy and perceptions created by constant social media exposure
• Help parents cope with expectations due to virtual learning and working from home

• Zoom fatigue – It is real! Combat the neurobiological stress of processing video conferencing
• Healthy boundary setting to manage your level of energy
• What to do when you, the therapists, is feeling the same emotional stresses as your clients
• Limitations of the Research & Potential Risks

Target Audience

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