Depression Management Techniques. She is a frequent contributor to The Psychotherapy Networker magazine and has produced Relaxation for Tension and Worry, a CD for to use with anxious clients. She has also written a workbook, Stress Solutions: Ten Effective Strategies to Eliminate Your Stress and The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques Workbook is due in fall 2011 from W.W. Norton. She earned her M.A. specializing in psychodrama and play therapy with children, and has years of experience as a certified drug and alcoholism counselor. She earned a Psy.D. at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology (now Argosy), specializing in treatment of anxiety, trauma and addiction. Currently, she practices clinical psychology with private clients and is a nationally recognized presenter who is noted for her down-to-earth, pragmatic teaching style. Margaret Wehrenberg
Treating Mid-Life Anxiety in Women
July 23-27, 2012
By mid-adulthood, research shows that women experience anxiety twice as much as men. Women’s developmental lifecycle, the culture we live in and hormones all play a role in these phenomena. Challenges for women at the middle years include starting/blending families, juggling career and family, managing life as single parents or being ‘sandwiched’ with children and caring for elder parents.
Women feel the demands of these widely varied roles and ways to be in intimate relationships and bear the stress and responsibility to often overwhelming degrees.
It is no wonder that panic or worry can develop. And when anxiety emerges during this stage of life everything just gets harder. Yet anxiety does not need to be the unmanageable burden it becomes for so many women. Tackling panic and generalized anxiety with pragmatic tools to calm the mind and control physiological symptoms, therapists can help women be prepared to deal with life-stage issues un-stressed by anxiety.
The seminar will utilize varied modalities to build skills for effective treatment, including experiential practice of techniques, discussion of case studies, and examination of the complexity of anxiety in women through film clips. Participants will learn how to effectively eliminate anxiety, symptoms of panic and worry, perfectionism and busyness, and how to prevent the damaging impact of stressful lives.
Monday
A Look at Women in Mid-Life and the Neurobiology of Anxiety
The physical expression of stress and mental health concerns. The difference between stress and ‘fight or flight’. How to prevent physical damage from stress, including how to use mindful meditation to eliminate stress.
Tuesday
How Do We Begin Treatment?
Rule out and address addiction or co-dependency, attention deficit disorder, and history of trauma. Identify these complex diagnoses and incorporate them into treatment. Identify individual physical expressions of anxiety or panic. Learn and apply techniques to calm physiology.
Wednesday
The Impact of TMA (Too Much Activity)
TMA, a hallmark female pattern of behavior in response to anxiety, leads a tendency to perfectionism or work addiction. The focus will be on cognitive tools to intervene.
Thursday
The Mind of the Anxious Woman
Panic and worry show up in how we think. Interventions are simple to learn but hard to do. We will practice the art of using the brain to change the brain so that cognitive symptoms of anxiety are not just controlled but eliminated.
Friday
Case studies
Bring your own case studies or discuss those offered by instructor. Put the tools into the context of real women’s lives, look at presenting symptoms, stuck places, dealing with life’s realistic stress and complex anxiety issues.
