Exposure therapy for anxiety is as effective as it is challenging for clinicians to deliver. Negative beliefs about safety, tolerability, and ethicality are common and may cause therapists to deliver exposure in an unnecessarily cautious manner. For example, research shows therapists concerned about exposure select easier exposure hierarchies and exposure tasks, engage in more anxiety-reducing as opposed to anxiety-increasing behaviors during exposures, and use a host of safety behaviors due to concerns that they are necessary to protect the client, reduce risk, and manage their own anxiety. These concerns about harm and associated safety behaviors may be formulated much the same way we understand maladaptive threat beliefs and avoidance behaviors in anxious clients. And the solution is the same: exposure, or more accurately, “exposure to exposure.” In this workshop, I discuss common therapist reservations about exposure, how they can be directly translated into exposure delivery and interfere with client improvement, and specific strategies for acquiring more confidence in the safety, tolerability, and ethicality of exposure therapy in one’s own clinical practice using the “exposure to exposure” principle as a guide. Case examples, video clips, and experiential exercises will be used to contrast the cautious vs. confident delivery of exposure.
Course Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:
1. Describe common negative beliefs about exposure therapy for anxiety, including one’s own.
2. Identify how these beliefs affect the delivery of therapy in ways that may compromise client care.
3. Describe strategies for challenging concerns about exposure therapy while delivering exposure in a more confident, intensive, and effective manner.
Instructional Level
This CE program is free to Kaiser Permanente employees.
Instructional Methodology
Lecture
Audio/Visual
On-line Presentation
Continuing Education Information
Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Training Programs (KPMHTP) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. KPMHTP maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Kaiser Permanente Northern California Mental Health Training Programs designate this live activity for 3 hours continuing education credits for the above-identified licensed professionals.
Refund and Attendance Policy
This session is free to all Kaiser Employees. There is no known commercial support for this program. For questions and requests for information, please contact our program evaluator: supria.k.gill@kp.org
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Those who attend the program in full and complete the appropriate evaluation form will receive CE credits. Please note that credit will only be granted for those who attend the entire lecture.
