Course info

Instructor: Matthew Free, PhD

CE Credit Hours: 4

Program Description:

OCD is easy to identify when symptoms pertain to fear of germs or orderliness and perfectionism, but OCD presents in many ways that are often missed by clinicians. In treatment, clinicians often feel stuck when traditional tools fail or even appear to make OCD symptoms worse.  For example, teaching clients to challenge thoughts can sometimes backfire and lead to hours of compulsive analysis, self-reassurance, or mental replay.  This training is designed to improve diagnosis of OCD and lead to better understanding of how to effectively use exposure therapy to help clients improve functioning.

Goals:

• To improve diagnosis of OCD and introduce Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP) as a treatment

 Objectives:

• Participants will be able to identify common themes of obsessional thinking and compulsive behaviors
• Participants will be able to recognize automatic thoughts, core beliefs/assumptions, and behaviors that are specific to OCD
• Participants will better understand the rationale for using exposure therapy to help clients increase distress tolerance, test out feared hypotheses, and more fully participate in valued activities
• Participants will better understand the role of inhibitory learning in exposure therapy
• Participants will better understand the role mindfulness and ACT play in modern ERP

Workshop Outline

1. Introductions and overview (8:45-9:00)
1. Trainer introduction and participant introduction
2. Review Agenda
2. Overview of OCD (9:00-9:30)
1. Define OCD from a diagnostic perspective (DSM-5-TR)
2. Learn about common OCD themes
3. Differential Diagnosis
3. Introduction to ERP (9:30-10:15)
1. Evolution of exposure therapy to treat anxiety
2. Rationale for using exposures
3. Goals of exposures (distress tolerance, behavioral experiments, participation in life)
4. Role of ACT and Mindfulness in ERP
4. Questions/Break (10:15-10:30)
5. Clinician hesitancy of exposure therapy (10:30-10:45)
1. Review research on therapist attitudes toward exposure
2. How far is too far when it comes to exposure tasks?
3. Is exposure therapy ethical?
6. Presenting ERP to clients (10:45-11:15)
1. Creating exposure hierarchies
2. in-session exposures
3. Assigning homework
7. Questions/Break (11:15-11:30)
8. Demonstration Video (11:30-12:00)
1. Identifying key elements of effective exposure therapy
9. Enhancing the benefit of exposures
1. tips to give your clients
10. Limitations of exposure therapy and when not to use it (12:00-12:15)
11. Group Discussion (12:15-1:00)
1. Exposure therapy in the context of traditional therapy vs. a stand-alone treatment 
2. How might exposure therapy be used with current clients?

Mid-Ohio Psychological Services, Inc. has been approved as a CE provider by the Ohio Psychological Association (#311358292), the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage & Family Therapist Board (RCS060502), and as a NBCC ACEP^TM No. 7265.