Certification Training: Growing Up Anxious: Treating Anxiety Disorders in a Generation Hyper-focused on Achievement, Technology & Safety

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Steven O'Brien, PsyD Related seminars and products

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Steve O’Brien, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience working with children, adolescents, young adults, and families in his Clearwater, Florida practice. He is a respected national consultant for mental health professionals seeking guidance on the treatment of anxiety and mood disorders, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and adjustment challenges in divorced and blended families.

 

Since 2017, Dr. O’Brien has provided continuing education and professional training for mental health clinicians, focusing on evidence-based interventions for anxiety, depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders in youth. He is the author of The Essential Guide to Treating Childhood and Adolescent Anxiety, a clinical manual designed to enhance treatment outcomes.

 

His integrative-systems approach combines CBT, interpersonal techniques, and exposure/desensitization strategies, all tailored to the developmental needs of young clients and their families. Intensive parent consultation—emphasizing psychoeducation, communication skills, and behavior modification—is a cornerstone of his therapeutic work.

 

Dr. O’Brien has worked in numerous healthcare environments, including community mental health, psychiatric, inpatient/residential, substance abuse, and medical facilities. He also served as associate professor of child-adolescent studies at the Florida School of Professional Psychology. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. O’Brien is an app developer (Life@Home by Psychtouch.com) and a frequent guest on local news outlets for his expertise on childhood anxiety. Visit obrienpsychology.com for more information.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Steven O'Brien maintains a private practice. He receives a speaking honorarium, recording and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Steven O’Brien is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Florida Psychological Association.

Additional Info

Program Information

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com.

Objectives

1. Summarize the psychosocial characteristics of the “internet generation” and their contribution to anxiety development in children and adolescents.
2. Describe the primary developmental, systemic, academic, and social-technological factors relevant to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in children and families.
3. Identify the various social, emotional, and behavioral manifestations of anxiety in children in multiple contexts, including home and school.
4. Utilize semi-structured observational and interview methods for collecting relevant history and clinical information with anxious and minimally verbal children and their parents/caretakers.
5. Determine effective rapport-building strategies with anxious, resistant, and defensive children and parents/caretakers.
6. Adopt a ‘parent consultation’ model as a supplement to individual child and family therapy and as part of an integrated treatment approach.
7. Conduct ‘Child-Focused Family Therapy’ using therapeutic agendas and directive communication techniques.
8. Teach children a developmentally appropriate psychoeducation framework for understanding the relationship between anxiety, the brain, and the body.
9. Implement self-regulation strategies to reduce child/adolescent anxiety and promote adaptive coping.
10. Identify clinical, co-occurring diagnostic patterns with respect to anxiety and related disorders in children and how to determine initial treatment targets.
11. Distinguish between over-arching versus disorder-specific interventions for child/adolescent anxiety. As well as the 3 levels of anxiety treatment.
12. Implement and integrate developmentally-appropriate CBT, desensitization, and exposure therapy techniques to enhance treatment with anxious children.

Outline

• Emotional costs of a hyper-academic mindset and over-evaluation
• Performance philosophy pitfalls: perfectionism and procrastination
• Consequences of strong individualism: anti-collaborative attitudes

• Tech-savvy, socially naive
• Fearless online, fearful offline
• Gratification-dependent, grit-deficient

• Overprotected but underdeveloped … socially and emotionally
• How dysregulated adults promote anxiety-ridden kids
• Failure to launch: Why “adulating” is difficult and frightening

• Behavior therapy/modification
• Cognitive-behavior therapy
• Family-focused/systemic therapy
• Interpersonal therapy
• Play/art/creative therapies
• Mindfulness-based therapies

• Semi-structured parent interviews: Combining engagement with efficiency
• Developmentally-sensitive child interviews: Integrating observation, play and dialogue
• Parent consultation: Constructing a framework for parental involvement

• Teaching parents about their child’s overactive brain
• Giving a child-friendly “tour of the brain”
• Highlighting the mind-body connection

BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL TREATMENT: THE SECOND INTERVENTION 

• ”LOWERING THE TEMPERATURE, SLOWING THE PACE”
• Reducing Emotional Intensity and Conflict for a Calmer Environment
• Healthy habits and daily transition rituals
• Self-expression and support-seeking skills
• 3 R’s of anxiety management: Recognize, Relax, Redirect

TARGETED TREATMENT FOR MAJOR (DSM-5™)  ANXIETY DISORDERS: THE THIRD INTERVENTION

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
  • Identifying manifestations of chronic worry
  • Cognitive strategies for discrediting the “what-if? person”
  • Self-talk for empowering the “helpful coach”
  • Cognitive-behavioral redirection for worries
  • Paradoxical relaxation for overachievers
  • Separation Anxiety Disorder
  • Assessing psychological and somatic components
  • Pre-treatment preparation: It’s all about the plan
  • Developing a treatment-support team
  • Action plans for high-distress episodes
  • Strategies for distressed/enmeshed parents
• Social Anxiety Disorder
  • Evaluating cognitive versus physiological features
  • Cognitive-behavioral methods for getting teens out of their heads and into the world
  • Role-playing and free association games for promoting real-time interaction
  • Desensitization strategies for combating social avoidance
• Phobias and Panic Disorder
  • Cognitive and physical/physiological symptoms
  • Essential ingredients for desensitization
  • ”Challenge ladders” for gradual exposure
  • Planning-for-panic strategies
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  • Variations in obsessive-compulsive symptomatology
  • ”Brain challenges” for rigid perfectionists
  • Mindfulness strategies: “Balloon breathing and wet noodles” for high-threat perceivers
• Controlled withdrawal and replacement for tech-addicts

CO-OCCURRING DISORDERS: TREATMENT IMPLICATIONS, RISKS, AND LIMITATIONS

• Depressive Disorders
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
• Autism Spectrum Disorders

ANXIETY-RIDDEN AT SCHOOL: CONSIDERATIONS AND CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS

• Relationship-building with distressed/disruptive kids
• Dealing with the 3 (dreaded) 3 D’s: Defiance, Disrespect, Disruption
• Creating a calm, responsive classroom
• Reducing task avoidance and test anxiety
• Managing compulsive technology usage
• Identifying, intervening, and preventing bullying
• Tips for (post) pandemic adjustment

MEASURING TREATMENT PROGRESS

• Evaluating symptomatology and functional level
• School consultation and recommendations
• Medication: Guidelines for discussion and referral

Target Audience

• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Counselors
• Teachers
• School Administrators
• Occupational Therapists
• Speech-Language Pathologists
• Nurses
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Other Helping Professionals who Work with Children

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