Donald Meichenbaum – New Developments in the Treatment of PTSD, Complex PTSD and Co-Occurring Disorders: Ways to Bolster Resilience

Outline

THE NATURE AND IMPACT OF TRAUMA EXPOSURE: THE “UNTOLD STORY” OF RESILIENCE

• Controversies in the field of PTSD and Complex PTSD: “State of the Art”
• What distinguishes the 75% of individuals who evidence resilience VERSUS the 25% who develop persistent PTSD and related co-occurring disorders and adjustment difficulties
• The nature and neurobiology of resilience: Implications for assessment and treatment
• Constructive Narrative Treatment Perspective: How to help clients develop “healing stories” and accompanying coping strategies
• What resilient individuals DO and do NOT do
• A Case Conceptualization Model of risk and protective factors that informs treatment decision-making

SPECIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED INTEGRATED TREATMENT APPROACHES FOR CLIENTS WITH COMORBID DISORDERS

• The Core Tasks of Psychotherapy: What “EXPERT” therapists do
• PTSD is more than a Fear-based Anxiety Disorder: The role of guilt, shame, disgust, anger, prolonged and complicated grief and moral injuries
• Detailed clinical examples of INTEGRATED treatment with clients experiencing a variety of clinical disorders
  • Prolonged and Complicated Grief Disorder
  • Borderline Personality Disorder
  • Suicidal behavior
  • Substance abuse disorder (including how to integrate 12 AA step programs and ways to enhance Recovery Transition Coping skills)
  • Traumatic Brain Injuries and PTSD

HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE CORE TASKS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

• Develop, maintain and monitor a therapeutic alliance
• Treatment-informed feedback
• Collaborative goal setting using Motivational Interviewing to nurture hope and positive emotions
• Psycho-education using a CLOCK metaphor
• Teach intra- and interpersonal coping skills: Intervention guidelines on ways to increase the likelihood of treatment generalization
• Bolster the client’s resilience in six domains: physical, interpersonal, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and spiritual
• Integrate spirituality and psychotherapy
• Address the needs of health care providers: Ways to bolster “vicarious resilience”

PRESENTATION OF A CLINICAL TOOL BOX TO BE USED IN YOUR PRACTICE

• Detailed CLIENT-BASED Checklists
  • Coping strategies with Grief
  • Transition Recovery strategies from substance abuse
  • Consumer guidelines on how to evaluate treatment centers
  • 12 step AA checklist
  • Spirituality-based activities assessment and others