Continuing Education Courses (2011/2012)
Tools User-Friendly Clinical Assessment
Daniel Brown, Ph.D.
Oct. 21, 2011 (Fri. 9:00am-5:00pm)
Newton Center, MA
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Clinical practice is rapidly moving in the direction of evidence-based treatment, i.e. justification of approaches to treatment based on the level of supporting outcomes research. Many clinicians fail to appreciate that most outcomes research is based on widely-used paper-and-pencil self- report inventories that are quick to give and easy to score. Clinicians could easily use these same tools in private or clinic settings, both to make accurate initial diagnoses and to periodically assess treatment progress. The workshop reviews the best of these self report inventories for depressive, bipolar, psychotic, anxiety, somato-form, dissociative, and personality disorders, and addictions/eating disorders. Course includes a packet most assessment tools.
Introductory Workshop in Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy*
Daniel Brown, Ph.D.
Jan. 27-29, 2012 (Fri.-Sun. 8:45am-5:00pm)
Newton Center, MA
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This workshop, based on 41 years of experience teaching hypnotherapy, will impart a basic knowledge of hypnotizability, hypnotic experience and behavior, and the range of hypnotic phenomena. Clinicians will learn skills in inducing and deepening trance, and learn how to utilize the trance for therapeutic ends and make appropriate clinical decisions about the use of hypnosis in the clinical setting. Each day will be devoted to a broad area of skill: Day 1: Theories of hypnosis, induction & deepening; Day 2: Theory & practice of hypnotherapy; Day 3: Techniques of hypnotherapy and treatment planning. There is some lecturing, but the main emphasis is on practice: group hypnotic experience, live and video demonstration of hypnotic techniques, and supervised practice. Approved by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) toward partial fulfillment of certification requirements.
Core Conflict Relational Themes in Therapy*
Daniel Brown, Ph.D.
Feb. 3-4, 2012 (Fri.-Sat. 9:00am-5:00pm)
Newton Center, MA
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The primary presenting problem in about half the patients who enter therapy is not a DSM psychiatric disorder but is some form of relationship disturbance. The core conflict relational theme (CCRT) approach is an empirically-supported, effective method to accurately assess the core dysfunctional patterns repeatedly manifesting in relationships, and to significantly change these patterns. Participants will learn a systematic method to formulate CCRT themes in a reliable and valid way. They will also learn how to work with CCRT themes in psychotherapy using the here-and-now transference approach, and in hypnotherapy using hypnoprojective and exploratory methods. Teaching via lecture, case illustration, and practice using participants’ case vignettes. Hypnosis training recommended, not required.
Treating Attachment Pathology--Basic Level*
Daniel Brown, Ph.D.
Mar. 9, 2012 (Fri. 9:00am-5:00pm)
Newton Center, MA
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Sophisticated assessment tools are available to identify attachment pathology in adults. Less attention, however, has been paid to the development of effective treatment protocols. This workshop is specifically about state-of-the-art, effective ways to treat insecure attachment pathology, primarily in personality and dissociative disorder patients. One approach involves the strategic use of the psychotherapy relationship in a way that consistently focuses on developmental repair of attachment pathology through providing an emotionally corrective stance, careful affective attunement, and interpreting insecure attachment behaviors. The other approach involves the use of structured hypnotic protocols to foster internalization of positive internal working models for secure attachment. Teaching format: lecture, demonstration, and case presentation. Hypnosis training recommended but not required..
Treating Attachment Pathology--Advanced Level*
Daniel Brown, Ph.D.
Mar. 10-11, 2012 (Sat.-Sun. 9:00am-5:00pm)
Newton Center, MA
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This workshop is for clinicians who have at least a general understanding of treatment of patients with insecure attachment, and who have taken the Level 1 course. Adult Attachment Inventory vignettes will be used to illustrate the range of states-of-mind in patients with attachment pathology. We will look in much greater detail at how to introduce attachment work as a primary focus in personality and dissociative disorder patients and how to use techniques to re-map healthy secure attachment representations. The primary focus is on accurate assessment of, and application of detailed step-by-step protocols specific to, each of the three main types of insecure attachment: dismissing, anxious preoccupied, and disorganized attachment. The other primary focus is on learning a variety of techniques to develop a variety of meta-cognitive skills that foster reflective capacity, coherence of mind, and cooperativeness. Teaching format: lecture, demonstration, & detailed case illustration. Hypnosis training recommended but not required.
Neuroimaging of Brain Activity in Posttraumatic and Dissociative Disorders: Implications for Treatment
Daniel Brown, Ph.D.
June 1-2, 2012
Newton Center, MA
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This workshop is for clinicians working with assessment and treatment of PTSD, complex trauma, and dissociative disorders. The workshop begins with a basic understanding of brain activity designed for clinicians. The, we will review the primary functional neuroimaging strategies used to study patterns of brain neurocircuitry activation/deactivation in trauma-related disorders: comparison of normal vs. clinically significant brain activity; neuroimaging during task activation and symptom provocation, studies of neurocircuitry; and studies of structural and microstructural changes in brains regions following traumatization. A large number of functional neuroimaging studies of trauma-related conditions now exist, so as to provide a fairly clear picture of regions of brain activation/deactivation in: hyperaroused PTSD, dissociative PTSD, dissociative amnesia, depersonalization disorder, conversion disorders, and dissociative identity disorder, as well as a picture of brain activity associated with very specific trauma symptoms such as emotional and somatic trauma memory, symptoms like flashbacks, hypervigilance, startle sensitivity, and animal defense reactions, such as flight, fight, and immobilization. The workshop will review each of these areas specifically toward an understanding of how to treat posttraumatic and dissociative disorders.