Trauma and PTSD in Anxiety: Neuroscience-Informed Treatment Methods

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Janene Donarski, PhD, LP, LMSW, CCATP Related seminars and products

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Janene M. Donarski, PhD, LP, LMSW, CCATP, is a fully licensed clinical psychologist and licensed master social worker who works in counseling therapy as well as psychological testing for mental health issues. Dr. Donarski specializes in neuropsychological assessment of children, adolescents, adults and geriatric populations including head injury, organic issues, emotional and complex behavior disorders. Dr. Donarski works extensively with anxiety issues including panic, hypervigilance and PTSD. She trains others in techniques of relaxation, reduction of fear, and exposure therapies to reduce triggers and symptoms in daily life. She also assists in testing within the academic areas including ADHD, learning disabilities and autism for IEPs and/or 504 plans/behavior plans.

Dr. Donarski works with all population counseling/therapy, including individual, martial/couple, family, LGBTQ, and group counseling. She is a certified EMDR Level II counselor as well as a certified hypnotherapist and practitioner for Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Time Line Therapy®.

Dr. Donarski is also experienced in working with victims of violence, foster care/adoption issues, sexual issues, as well as those who are seeking sex offender treatment. She often works with attorneys as a forensic psychologist/expert witness for legal cases involving custody, guardianship, social security benefits, and criminal cases. Dr. Donarski has spoken on a variety of mental health issues, including somatic ailments, behavioral disorders and mental health concerns in the geriatric population.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Janene Donarski maintains a private practice. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Janene Donarski is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Michigan Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Counseling Association, and others. For a complete list, please contact info@pesi.com.

Objectives

1. Determine the common elements in a clinical setting in relation to assessment and treatment planning for trauma and PTSD as it relates to clinical practice and improved treatment outcomes.
2. Integrate evidence-based skills for developing, maintaining, and enhancing your therapeutic relationship for more successful outcomes.
3. Utilize specific psychoeducation and cognitive restructuring techniques, including neuroception, interoception, and self-regulation skills, for maximizing involvement and participation in early treatment to alleviate symptoms of PTSD and trauma and interrupting physiological threat response.
4. Apply practical clinical neuroscience-integrated theoretical treatment models for PTSD and trauma and determine how the common elements are developed in these various models for symptom management.

Outline

• Tools for Assessing and Treating the Common Elements of Trauma and PTSD
  • Understanding how to use psychoeducation as a cornerstone for treating trauma and PTSD
  • Neuroscience has confirmed counselling, empathy, listening and wellness are effective strategies. Adding neuroscience evidence could be helpful and enhance motivation for compliance as well as destigmatize symptoms
  • Create hierarchies for treatment to build a personalized emotional reference sheet and utilize hierarchies to prioritize symptoms and organize treatment methods
  • Utilizing neuroplasticity in treatment: the neuroscience of Exposure Therapy, EMDR, Cognitive Behavior Therapy and others
• Motivate Clients to Enact Healthy Lifestyle Adaptations
  • Helping clients make healthy choices – how the effective presentation of a healthy lifestyle impacts the brain recovery process, including essential sleep habits to promote healthy brain recovery, nutritious diet and relaxation
  • Provide clients with encouragement and inspiration to exercise and engage in healthy social processes. Work with clients to promote engagement in social activities, utilize one’s social support, practice communication skills, reappraise negative cognitions about the self and others, and practice compassion for self and others
  • Assist clients in becoming more engaged in self-regulation skills including diaphragmatic breathing, grounding strategies, and self-soothing techniques in order to reduce emotional dysregulation
• Reduce Physiological Threat Response with Evidence-Based Approaches
  • How to use polyvagal theory and trauma treatment to help clients with freeze responses and its relevance to long-term health
  • Provision of exercises and worksheets to help teach body awareness and encourage clients to create a safe space
  • Understanding the neuroscience behind post-traumatic growth – helping your clients to transform deep struggles to strength, regulation and wellness practices
• Managing emotions through coping skills
  • Using exposure therapy and cognitive reframing to reduce the tendency to avoid situations that are typically triggering and reduce environmental cues that activate negative emotions. Learn to work with your clients on reappraisal of negative cognitions
  • Memory reconstruction techniques: Encourage the use of compensatory strategies (e.g., paraphrase, calendar use, mnemonic strategies). Help your clients to stay cognitively active (e.g., brain games, enrol in classes), and practice mindfulness
  • Meaning making exercises - Work with your clients to engage in pleasant or reinforcing activities and use positive memories and the creation of new positive experiences to manage their anxiety symptoms. Teach your clients how to savour their current positive experiences and encourage them to engage in altruistic behaviours
  • Understand the power of forgiveness, with oneself and others, to bring forward a healthier mindset

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Physicians
• Psychologists
• Speech-Language Pathologists
• Social Workers
• Other Mental Health Professionals