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Overactive brain circuitry can trap people in cycles of rumination that keep them anxious and depressed. Letting go of ruminating worries, or banishing persistent negative thoughts like I’m not good enough or I’m worthless isn’t easy for our clients. And when those repetitive thoughts won’t shift, therapists themselves can begin to feel stuck. In this workshop, we’ll examine why clients lock in to depressive thought patterns and explore the four subtle reasons they hold on to worry. And we’ll explore pragmatic, achievable solutions for eliminating these patterns and replacing them with attitudes of calmness and competency.  

Objectives:

1. Apply basic understanding of neurological causes of rumination to assess and change rumination in anxious and depressed clients 
2. Explore four underlying causes of depression and be able to apply the immediate therapy responses that improve those conditions
3. Frame 4 purposes of worry and apply the techniques that break the hold of worry, such as methods that “erase the trace” of worry, transferring worry to another person, using ritual to contain worry, and put off health anxiety.
4. Interrupt the ruminative cognitions that decrease energy and then apply self-reinforcing techniques that can energize clients, such as ‘Start Where You Already Are’ and ‘Get the Train Rolling.”
5. Teach clients to identify the impact of situational stressors be able to apply the four approaches that reduce and eliminate the damage of stress. 

About the Presenter:
Margaret Wehrenberg, Psy.D., is a practicing clinical psychologist. She coaches professionals for anxiety management, and has been training mental health professionals for 25 years. She is a sought-after speaker for conferences and trainings, consistently getting the highest ratings for her dynamic style and high quality content. Margaret has contributed articles to the award-winning Psychotherapy Networker Magazine and blogs on depression for Psychology Today. Her 7 books on topics of anxiety and depression are published by W.W. Norton, and The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques and its workbook were released in 2018 in revised editions. Her new ebook, Pandemic Anxiety: Fear, Stress and Loss in Traumatic Times is being released in January 2021.