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Seminar Detail

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Rewire the Anxious Brain: Neuroscience-Informed Treatment of Anxiety, Panic and Worry
Rewire the Anxious Brain: Neuroscience-Informed Treatment of Anxiety, Panic and Worry

Where:   SHREVEPORT, LA

When:  Monday, July 22, 2019 at 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

This event is not currently available for purchase.

For more information: Call (800) 844-8260
Course Description:

Join neuroscience and anxiety expert, Marwa Azab, Ph.D., and learn her keys for successful anxiety treatment. Dr. Azab integrates brain-based strategies for calming the anxious mind with client communication techniques that motivate change in your clients. Marwa’s approach promotes adherence to treatment and strengthens the therapeutic alliance – which is essential when working with anxious, worried, traumatized, or obsessive clients.

Dr. Azab will give you proven tools and techniques to:
  • Identify and treat the roots of anxiety in both the amygdala and the cortex
  • Explain “the language of the amygdala” in an accessible, straight forward way
  • Identify how the cortex contributes to anxiety, and empower clients with strategies to resist anxiety-igniting cognitions
Register today for this transformational workshop and put the power of neuroplasticity to work for you and your anxious clients!
Objectives:

  1. Ascertain the underlying neurological processes that impact anxious symptoms for clients.
  2. Develop client engagement in treatment using personalized goals and attending to the therapeutic relationship.
  3. Evaluate the differences between amygdala-based and cortex-based anxiety symptoms and identify how these symptoms inform treatment interventions.
  4. Communicate strategies for calming and training the amygdala in order to alleviate symptoms of anxiety.
  5. Implement methods for teaching clients to retrain the cortex so that anxiety is resisted rather than exacerbated.
  6. Analyze how psychotropic medication impacts neuroplasticity in the brain; identify related treatment implications.
OUTLINE

Use Neuroscience in the Treatment of Anxiety
  • Positives: We know more about anxiety-based disorders than any other disorders
  • Science gives explanations, evidence, authority, destigmatizes difficulties
  • Concerns: It can be difficult to explain, answer questions
  • Clients may feel a lack of responsibility
  • Oversimplification is inevitable
Enhancing Engagement in Treatment
  • Don’t neglect the therapeutic relationship!
  • Address the challenges of anxious clients
  • Remember that strategies are effortful
  • Guide the process using client’s goals
  • Maintain motivation
Neuroplasticity
  • Define Neuroplasticity in everyday language
  • Therapy is about creating a new self
  • ”Rewiring” as an accessible concept for change
  • Re-consolidation: the modification of emotional memories
Identify Two Neural Pathways to Anxiety
  • Amygdala – bottom-up triggering of emotion, physicality of anxiety
  • Cortex – top-down emotion generation based in cognition
  • Explain the two pathways to clients
  • How anxiety is initiated in each pathway and how pathways influence each other
Client Friendly Explanations
  • Use illustrations to create concrete understanding
  • Fight/flight/freeze responses
  • The “language of the amygdala”
  • Anxiety and the cortex
  • Help clients recognize the two pathways to anxiety
Neuroplasticity in the Amygdala (Essential for all Anxiety Disorders, PTSD, OCD, Depression)
  • Sleep and the amygdala
  • The influence of exercise
  • Breathing techniques to reduce activation
  • Relaxation, meditation, and yoga to modify responses
  • Exposure as opportunities for the amygdala to learn
  • Combatting avoidance
  • When anxiety indicates that the amygdala can learn new responses
  • Push through anxiety to change the amygdala
Neuroplasticity in the Cortex (Essential for GAD, SAD, OCD, PTSD, Depression)
  • ”Survival of the busiest” principle – strengthen or weaken specific circuitry
  • The healthy (adaptive) use of worry in the cortex
  • ”You can’t erase: You must replace.”
  • Recognize and modify the impact of uncertainty
  • Training correct uses of distraction
  • Left hemisphere techniques – cognitive defusion, coping thoughts, fighting anticipation
  • Right hemisphere techniques – imagery, music
  • Mindfulness and anxiety resistances
Neuroplasticity and Medications for Anxiety Disorders, OCD, PTSD, Depression
  • Medication’s effects in the rewiring process
  • The myth of the chemical imbalance
  • The danger of sedating the brain with benzodiazepines
  • Promoting neuroplasticity with SSRIs, SNRIs
  • The effectiveness of CBT and meds
Move Beyond Diagnostic Categories to Focus on Anxiety Pathways
  • Anxiety is a component of many diagnoses (depression, substance abuse, etc.)
  • Amygdala- and cortex-based techniques help in other disorders
  • Targeting brain-based symptoms rather than disorders
  • Worry, obsessions, rumination respond to similar cortex-based techniques
  • Panic, phobic responses, and compulsions respond to amygdala-based techniques
Research, Risks and Limitations
  • Empirical versus clinical and anecdotal evidence
  • Clinical considerations for specific clients and settings
  • Efficacy of particular interventions may vary
Target Audience

  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Counselors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Case Managers
  • Addiction Counselors
  • Therapists
  • Nurses
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Occupational Therapy Assistants
  • Speech-Language Therapists
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

MARWA AZAB, PH.D.

Marwa Azab, Ph.D., teaches for the Psychology and Human Development departments at Cal State University, Long Beach, (CSULB). She has also taught for the Biology department at University of California, Irvine (UCI). Marwa studied psychology for many years and completed a masters in Counseling. She has facilitated many groups such as anger management, stress management, interpersonal communication and many others for patients suffering from a variety of mental disorders. After many years of addressing human behaviors from a psychological perspective, she realized that there were blind spots that needed to be satiated from complementary fields. Thus, she completed a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences with emphasis on Neuroscience. Marwa started life coaching utilizing an interdisciplinary approach that intersects psychology, biology and genetics.

Marwa is a sought after international public speaker who is invited to speak on a variety of interdisciplinary topics, including three TEDx talks. She recently published her first book titled, Anxiety Disorders: New Science on Mind-Body Connections and Healing and blogs for Psychology Today, her blog is called “Neuroscience in Everyday Life”. You can connect with her on her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DrMarwaAzab.



Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Marwa Azab has an employment relationship with Cal State University, Long Beach. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.

Non-financial: Marwa Azab writes a blog for Psychology Today called “Neuroscience in Everyday Life.”
Credits listed below are for full attendance at the live event only. After attendance has been verified, pre-registered attendees will receive an email from PESI Customer Service with the subject line, “Evaluation and Certificate” within one week. This email will contain a link to complete the seminar evaluation and allow attendees to print, email or download a certificate of completion if in full attendance. For those in partial attendance (arrived late or left early), a letter of attendance is available through that link and an adjusted certificate of completion reflecting partial credit will be issued within 30 days (if your board allows). Please see “live seminar schedule” for full attendance start and end times. NOTE: Boards do not allow credit for breaks or lunch.

If your profession is not listed, please contact your licensing board to determine your continuing education requirements and check for reciprocal approval. For other credit inquiries not specified below, or questions on home study credit availability, please contact cepesi@pesi.com or 800-844-8260 before the event.

Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the authorized practice of mental health professionals. As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in accordance with and in compliance with your professions standards.

PESI, Inc. offers continuing education programs and products under the brand names PESI, PESI Healthcare, PESI Rehab and Psychotherapy Networker.



Addiction Counselors
This course has been approved by PESI, Inc., as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for 6.0 CE in the Counseling Services skill group. NAADAC Provider #77553. PESI, Inc. is responsible for all aspects of their programming. Full attendance is required; no partial credit will be awarded for partial attendance.

Counselors
This intermediate activity consists of 6.25 clock hours of continuing education instruction. Credit requirements and approvals vary per state board regulations. Please save the course outline, the certificate of completion you receive from the activity and contact your state board or organization to determine specific filing requirements.

Louisiana Counselors: This program has been approved for 6.25 hours of continuing education by the Louisiana Counseling Association as authorized by the Louisiana Professional Counselor Licensing Board of Examiners. Full attendance is required. No partial contact hours will be issued for partial attendance.

Texas Counselors: PESI, Inc. has been approved as a continuing education sponsor through the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Provider #: 2477. This course qualifies for 6.0 continuing education credits.

Marriage & Family Therapists
This activity consists of 380 minutes of continuing education instruction. Credit requirements and approvals vary per state board regulations. You should save this course outline, the certificate of completion you receive from the activity and contact your state board or organization to determine specific filing requirements.

Louisiana Marriage & Family Therapists: This program was approved by the Louisiana Association for Marriage and Family Therapy for 6.25 contact hours of continuing education credit. Full attendance is required. No partial contact hours will be issued for partial attendance.

Texas Marriage & Family Therapists: PESI, Inc. has been approved as a continuing education sponsor through the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists. Provider #: 503. This course qualifies for 6.0 continuing education credits.

Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and Clinical Nurse Specialists
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PESI, Inc. is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Nurses in full attendance will earn 6.3 contact hours. Partial contact hours will be awarded for partial attendance.

Occupational Therapists & Occupational Therapy Assistants
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PESI, Inc. is an AOTA Approved Provider of continuing education. Provider #: 3322. Full attendance at this course qualifies for 6.0 contact hours or .6 CEUs in the Category of Domain of OT and Occupational Therapy Process. Partial credit will be issued for partial attendance. The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA. Course Level: Intermediate.

Psychologists
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This activity consists of 6.0 clock hours of continuing education instruction. The following state psychologist boards recognize activities sponsored by PESI, Inc. as an approved ACCME provider: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin. Certificates of attendance will be issued for you to submit to your state licensing board to recognize for continuing education credit.

PESI, Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. PESI, Inc. designates this live activity for a maximum of 6.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Texas Psychologists: We’re working to get you credit. Updates will be posted as they become available.

Speech-Language Pathologists
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This course is offered for .6 ASHA CEUs (Intermediate level, Professional area).

Social Workers
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PESI, Inc., #1062, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: January 27, 2017 - January 27, 2020. Social Workers completing this course receive 6.25 Clinical Practice continuing education credits. Course Level: Intermediate. Full attendance is required; no partial credits will be offered for partial attendance. A certificate of attendance will be awarded at the end of the program to social workers who complete the program evaluation.

Louisiana Social Workers: This program was approved for 6.25 (Clinical) contact hours of continuing education credit by the National Association of Social Workers, Louisiana Chapter as authorized by the Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners.

Other Professions
This activity qualifies for 380 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations. Save your course outline and certificate of completion, and contact your own board or organization for specific requirements.

Satisfaction Guarantee
Your satisfaction is our goal and our guarantee. Concerns should be addressed to PESI, P.O. Box 1000, Eau Claire, WI 54702-1000 or call (800) 844-8260.

ADA Needs
We would be happy to accommodate your ADA needs; please call our Customer Service Department for more information at (800) 844-8260.
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