Stepping into Life: Mindfulness and Compassion in Depression and Trauma Treatment

Description

Mindfulness-based psychotherapy is the most popular new treatment approach in the last decade—and for good reason. Mindfulness and compassion practices hold great promise not only for our own personal development, but also as remarkably powerful tools to augment virtually every form of psychotherapy. They are not, however, one-size-fits-all remedies. Researchers are now differentiating the effects of focused attention, open monitoring, loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity practices. These practices need to be tailored to fit the needs of particular individuals—and this presentation will show you how.

We will explore important clinical decisions to consider when deciding when and if to introduce different practices into treatment of individuals with different needs, with a particular focus on treating depression and other effects of unresolved trauma. We’ll investigate the dynamics behind depression and how mindfulness and compassion practices can serve as their antidote, as well as how mindfulness can facilitate the integration of disavowed mental and emotional contents to work through trauma.

Once you understand the components of mindfulness and compassion practices and how they work to alleviate psychological distress, you’ll be able to creatively adapt them to meet the needs of diverse people and conditions. You’ll learn the contraindications for various techniques, as well as their potential psychotherapeutic benefits.

Agenda:

Saturday

• Life is Difficult, for Everyone
• It’s Darwin’s Fault: Befriending our Inner Primate
• Mindfulness: What Is It and Why Should I Care?
• Cultivating Mindfulness: Formal and Informal Practice
• The Power of Compassion: All You Need is Love
• Self-Compassion: A Path to Secure Attachment
• Guidelines for tailoring mindfulness and compassion techniques

Sunday

• Universal Elements in Psychological Disorders
• Fitting the Practice to the Person
• Working with Depression: Entering the Dark Places Together
• Stepping Out of the Thought-Stream: Developing Metacognitive Awareness
• Coming Alive with Higher Resolution Consciousness
• Softening the Repression Barrier: Feeling It All
• Working in the Zone of Tolerance: Balancing Integration with Safety
• Special practices for trauma survivors and vulnerable individuals

Learning Objectives:

You will learn:

1. How to practice the three core components of mindfulness.
2. The evolutionary roots and mechanisms of compassion toward self and other and how to cultivate compassion in ourselves and our clients.
3. How to practice mindfulness and compassion yourself.
4. Guidelines for choosing which mindfulness exercises are most appropriate for different individuals.
5. To identify transdiagnostic elements in psychological suffering.
6. To recognize the core attitude toward experience found in depression and how mindfulness and compassion practices can help to transform it.
7. Ways to assist clients to integrate mindfulness practice in their lives.
8. To identify contraindications for various mindfulness and compassion practices.

Presenter Biography:

Dr. Ronald D. Siegel is an Assistant Professor of Psychology, part time, at Harvard Medical

School, where he has taught for over 35 years. He is a long-time student of mindfulness meditation and serves on the Board of Directors and faculty of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He teaches internationally about the application of mindfulness practice in psychotherapy and other fields, and maintains a private clinical practice in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Dr. Siegel is co-editor of the critically acclaimed text, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, 2nd Edition; author of a comprehensive guide for general audiences, The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems; co-editor of Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy; co-author of the professional guide Sitting Together: Essential Skills for Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy; co-author of the self-treatment guide Back Sense, which integrates Western and Eastern approaches for treating chronic back pain; and professor for The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being produced by The Great Courses.

He is also a regular contributor to other professional publications, and is co-director of the annual Harvard Medical School Conference on Meditation and Psychotherapy.