The Upward Spiral: Evidence-Based Neuroscience Techniques for Rewiring the Pathways of Anxiety, Depression and Related Disorders – Alex Korb

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Early in my career, I recognized a disconnect between neuroscience research and popular treatment strategies. While depression and anxiety are clearly rooted in altered brain function, most clinicians were not taught about specific neural circuits and neurotransmitters that contribute to these disorders. As a result, treating mood and anxiety disorders were often incomplete – many solutions uncovered by research were overlooked and strategies relied heavily on medication without any changes in a client’s action, activity and environment. There had to be a better way to treat these clients and improve outcomes!

Today, I know that using proven cognitive-behavioral interventions like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and Behavioral Activation Therapy (BAT) in conjunction with exercise, social support and positive habits yields powerful therapeutic effects. Expanding your tool kit of brain-based interventions allows you to accommodate your clients’ different challenges. And, when your clients understand that what feels “wrong” is actually the activity and chemistry of particular brain circuits, it improves treatment buy in and compliance.

Join me for this must watch conference and I will show you how to put the power of neuroscience to work for you and your clients:

• Utilize brain-based cognitive therapies like ACT, MBCT, and BAT for mood and anxiety disorders
• Apply new techniques informed by the latest neuroscience research to improve treatment outcomes
• Discover how simple interventions modulate the activity and chemistry of key brain regions
• Learn how to teach clients about their brain

Are you ready to expand your treatment tool box with the latest in neuroscience techniques?

Let me help you take your practice to the next level. Your satisfaction is guaranteed.

1. Communicate findings regarding neuroscientific research exploring the connection between key brain regions, neurotransmitters, and mental health and recognize how understanding neurological processes can help mental health professionals improve clinical outcomes.
2. Develop a case conceptualization that draws upon neuropsychological principles and can help inform therapeutic methods and goals with clients suffering from anxiety and depression.
3. Analyze how strategies focused on calming and training the amygdala can be used in therapy to help alleviate symptoms of anxiety.
4. Establish how the brain encodes habits, characterize how habits relate to stress, and connect this information to cognitive behavioral approaches you can use in-session to intervene in habit loops and reduce the stress response.
5. Maximize capacity for change in clients with neuro-informed explanations that shift the way they feel about their pathology and engage them in the therapeutic process.
6. Evaluate the latest neuroscientific research regarding the impact of gratitude on key neural circuits, its benefits, and explore ways to operationalize gratitude exercises that clients can use in their daily lives to impact their symptomology.

Understand the Key Brain Regions and Chemicals Involved

• Prefrontal cortex, limbic system, striatum
• Neurotransmitters: serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, oxytocin, etc.
• How it all fits together

Apply Key Principles from Proven Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions

• Behavioral Activation Therapy (BAT)
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

Utilize the Benefits of Exercise

• Benefits on serotonin and dopamine systems, as well as stress reductions
• Intensity and frequency of exercise required
• How simply being outdoors can help

Minding the Amygdala: Mindful Awareness of Emotions

• Labeling feelings to reduce amygdala activity
• Making the most of ACT to reduce stress

Set Goals, Make Decisions, and Top-Down Regulation of Brain Activity

• The impact of goal-setting on lower-level processing
• Choice, decisions and happiness
• The importance of intention and voluntary choices
• Simple strategies for applying BAT

Low-Tech Biofeedback: Using the Body’s Signals to Heal the Brain

• The mind-body connection, meditation and MBCT
• Understanding heart-rate variability
• The power of breathing
• How postural changes, muscle tension and facial expressions can affect mood

How the Brain Encodes Habits and How to Change Them

• The distinction between impulses and routines
• Cognitive and emotional habits
• The relationship between habits and stress
• Cognitive-behavioral approaches to changing habits

Social Solutions

• The impact of social support on the brain’s stress response
• The power of physical touch
• Why social interactions are rewarding
• How social support can improve the efficacy of medication

The Power of Gratitude

• The impact of gratitude on key neural circuits
• How to operationalize gratitude in order to implement it in daily life

Make the Most of Sleep

• How sleep affects mood
• Key changes in sleep hygiene that improve sleep quality