Imagery-Enhanced CBT for Social Anxiety and More
In an attempt to improve treatment outcomes for socially anxious people, Dr Peter McEvoy and Dr Lisa Saulsman developed an Imagery-Enhanced CBT for Social Anxiety (IE-CBT). IE-CBT incorporates well-established imagery-based techniques to modify cognitive processes that maintain social anxiety. This innovation draws on research showing that working with the negative images people hold about socialising and trying to develop more helpful images, may be more emotionally powerful than just working with the verbal thoughts people have about their social fears. Early research into the outcomes of IE-CBT for social anxiety indicates that this is a promising treatment innovation (McEvoy, Erceg-Hurn, Saulsman, & Thibodeau, 2015; McEvoy & Saulsman, 2014).
A therapist guide outlining the details of this treatment has just been published by Guilford Press: McEvoy, P. M., Saulsman, L. M., & Rapee, R. (2018). Imagery-Enhanced CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder. New York: Guilford Press.
This practical and experiential training facilitated by Dr Lisa Saulsman, provides participants with instruction, demonstration and practice in implementing IE-CBT as an intervention for their socially anxious clients. In addition, many of the principles covered in this treatment are applicable to other emotional disorders beyond social anxiety alone. Specifically, this training will provide participants with:
- Strategies for socialising all clients to working with imagery in CBT;
- An understanding of the six key maintaining mechanisms of social anxiety targeted in IE-CBT, which provide a cognitive model for case formulation and treatment planning; and
- Practice of the core intervention components of IE-CBT, with particular focus on imagery challenging, the varied behavioural experiments essential to social anxiety disorder treatment, imagery rescripting, and positive imagery.
Copies of slides plus client worksheets and psychoeducational materials are provided as part of this training.
This training meets AHPRA continuing professional development guidelines and can be presented as an introductory 1-day training (representing 6 CPD hours), or a more comprehensive 2-day training (representing 12 CPD hours).
CONTACT US NOW to book this as a private training for your organisation.