Accelerated Treatment for Anxiety, Panic & Phobias: 3-Video Series
Presented by
5.5 CD credits
5 hr 46 min
A leading authority in the treatment of anxiety disorders, Reid Wilson is known for his innovative, counterintuitive, and highly effective methods. His pioneer work may seem unconventional, even provocative at first. However, by “sitting in” alongside him in these live demonstrations with three challenging clients, you will watch and learn as Reid asks clients if they are “willing to be afraid” with him. In the process, he will show you how to recreate fearful situations in the safety of your session so clients learn to “handle more than they think they can.” By implementing small in-session behavioral experiments and integrating mastery-oriented homework assignments, Reid helps clients access their courage, confront their fears, and live more fully. His running voiceover commentaries, and pre- and post-session analyses with Psychotherapy.net’s founder Dr. Victor Yalom, offer added depth to increase your confidence and skill when working with those struggling with anxiety disorders.
Accelerated Treatment for Anxiety: Core Concepts
1 hr 43 min
In this compelling first video of a live presentation, master clinician Reid Wilson distills his formidable clinical expertise into an accessible overview that’s both conceptual and strategic. The seasoned anxiety expert illustrates the core concepts of his groundbreaking technique and paradoxical twist on exposure therapy for panic, phobias, and OCD. Emphasizing the practice of moving toward the experience of anxiety itself, Wilson shows you how he challenges clients to rise above their fears and not merely tolerate uncertainty, but invite and embrace it enthusiastically.
You’ll also be introduced to Olivia, a woman with OCD suffering from a longstanding need to compulsively clean house and wash her hands to avoid contamination. Contrary to the avoidant strategies she’s employed in the past, Wilson suggests a counterintuitive intervention: “going after the distress.” With humor, clarity, and empathic analogies that leverage his client’s motivation for success, he encourages her to look beyond the content of her fears, externalize her anxiety, and welcome the chance to master her discomfort. Over the course of just one introductory session, Wilson helps Olivia “move toward” the anxiety that drives her compulsive behaviors, and fundamentally shifts her frame of reference so that she can more fully engage with her discomfort and begin to win “the anxiety game.” Wilson’s passionate personality shines through in this video, and you’ll be prompted to rethink your own clinical approach after watching him in action.
Cognitive Therapy for Panic Disorder
1 hr 8 min
Panic disorder presents a unique challenge to clinicians, as an essential component of the disorder is that patients fear having future panic attacks and thus often engage in avoidant behavior. Exposure Therapy is often cited as the treatment of choice, but most therapists have never witnessed, much less been trained in this approach. Watch as anxiety expert Reid Wilson works with Renée, a woman has been struggling with panic disorder for almost a decade, and has been unable to do much of anything alone. Fearful of driving, shopping at the supermarket, or even taking a stroll in the park, she has become increasingly agoraphobic, only venturing as far as her parents’ home 3 ½ miles away.
With humor and compassion, Wilson engages Renée in his signature “provocative approach,” encouraging her to not only welcome, but beg her symptoms to increase when she feels them arise. Using exposure therapy to recreate her symptoms in vivo, he shows Renée that it is her relationship to her symptoms, rather than the symptoms themselves, that makes them so intractable. With this understanding and with her successful paradoxical experience, Renée gains the courage to begin wiping away her rituals.
Exposure Therapy for Phobias
2 hr 57 min
In this video, we watch Wilson work with Mary, who loves to travel, but dreads the tight, inescapable enclosed space of airplanes. In fact, any enclosed space where she feels trapped triggers Mary’s fear of suffocation, so she avoids parking structures and elevators, and struggles to cope with panic attacks when avoidance is impossible. Over the course of two transformational sessions, Wilson leads Mary through several cognitive and behavioral experiments which give her the opportunity to face her fears of both suffocation and restriction. From breathing with a nose plug on, to sliding a pillowcase over her head and sealing it with packing tape, and finally to closing herself in a large cardboard box, Mary courageously peels away layers of terror, gradually shifting her point of view from “I can’t handle this” to “I want this fear and I can handle it.”
After watching these two remarkable sessions, you’ll surely be wondering, “Well, how did the flight go?” (She was leaving for a flight right after her second session with Wilson). Without giving too much away, we’re pleased to report that the work she did with Wilson made a huge difference. She updated us that she managed it without medication, didn’t feel nearly as much anxiety as she usually does, and she was able to talk herself down fairly quickly when anxiety arose. She was amazed by her progress and all that she was able to do. Pretty impressive for just two sessions! Once you see Wilson in action, you’ll understand how to help your own clients make similar progress with their phobias.
So, whether you’re struggling using traditional approaches with anxious clients, have not been trained in exposure therapy, or are simply looking for a fresh understanding of anxiety disorders and effective ways to treat it, you will welcome Wilson’s innovative approach and learn how to put it into immediate practice.
What You Get in This Course
- Over 5 hours of videos featuring anxiety expert Reid Wilson conducting clinical sessions with real clients
- Thorough overview and behind-the-scenes commentary to provide insight into his cognitive-behavioral interventions
- Supplemental skill-building activities to practice the core features demonstrated in the videos
- Written transcript of all videos
- Lifetime access to all course materials
- Earn up to 5.5 CE Credits, included in the course
What the Experts Are Saying…
Michelle G. Craske, PhD
Director, Anxiety Disorders Research Center, UCLA
“Reid Wilson provides an extraordinary insight into the process of exposure therapy for phobias. Observing him implement exposure therapy is beautifully complemented by his explanation of what he is aiming to achieve each step of the way. This course provides a rare look into the mechanisms of exposure as it is unfolding. Invaluable resource for working with clients with anxiety disorders.”