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Digital Seminar
Breaking the Grip of Anxiety

Breaking the Grip of Anxiety

Standard - $169.99 $90.09 Anniversary Sale 2026 - 47% off!

Anxiety sends our brains into overdrive. But how often do our therapy approaches actually address what’s happening in our anxious clients’ brains? Whether your clients are struggling with anxiety stemming from OCD, PTSD, or GAD, this workshop will walk you through a clear, neuroscience-backed approach. You’ll learn to address symptoms like distress and avoidance, as well as promote neuroplasticity and change as you help clients set concrete goals and take steps toward building happier, less burdened lives. In addition, you’ll explore the different parts of the brain and their role in anxiety, and the hows of actual treatment as we walk through evidence-based techniques borrowing from CBT, mindfulness, and more. You’ll discover how to:

  • Help anxious clients make sense of their symptoms, feelings, interpretations, and beliefs
  • Explain neurological causes of anxiety in clear, easy-to-understand language
  • Build an anxiety-treatment plan when your client is also taking medication 
  • Use cognitive restructuring interventions and reconsolidation approaches
  • Challenge distorted thoughts and unrealistic beliefs and images
     

Here's What You'll Learn


Teaching Clients Where Their Anxiety Comes From 

  • Focus and Limitations 
  • Explaining Neuroplasticity 
  • Amygdala and cortex pathways to anxiety 
  • Helping clients recognize both pathways: Useful examples 
  • Assessing when anxiety is initiated in the amygdala vs. cortex 
  • Shifting from anxiety reduction to a goal-focused approach 

 
Explaining the Amygdala in Anxiety Treatment 

  • Explanation of Fight/Flight/Freeze Response and physical symptoms 
  • Survey to assess F/F/F tendencies 
  • The amygdala as protector and its limitations 
  • Promoting mindfulness in responding to the amygdala 
  • Helping clients see how the amygdala blocks their goals 
  • Helping client develop personal goals 
  • Importance of the working alliance and confidence in the therapist 
  • Evidence-based strategies to reduce amygdala activation 
  • Common issues and limitations 

Using Exposure to Teach the Amygdala 

  • Worksheets for trigger selection and hierarchy development 
  • The essential step of agreeing on tasks 
  • General guidelines for exposure 
  • Tips for exposure effectiveness 
  • Using imagery in exposure 
  • Resisting compulsions with response prevention 
  • Risks, limitations, and concerns 
  • Case examples 

 
Neurologically-Informed Interventions for the Cortex Pathway 

  • The relationship between the cortex and amygdala 
  • Surveys to identify amygdala-activating cognitions 
  • Explanations that motivate clients 
  • Mindfulness to combat amygdala-activating cognitions 
  • Distraction, including limitations 
  • When cognitions interfere with Exposure 
  • Limitations of cognitive approaches 
     

Everything You're Getting


  • More than 3 hours of video content
  • Up to 3.0 CE credits
  • Certificate of completion
  • Handouts and resources

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Breaking the Grip of Anxiety
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Breaking the Grip of Anxiety
Digital Seminar
$90.09
$169.99

Meet Your Experts


Catherine Pittman, PhD, HSPP

Toggle speaker biography

Catherine Pittman, PhD, HSPP, is a licensed clinical psychologist and psychology professor at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, who’s spent over 30 years treating anxiety and brain injuries. She’s the author of Taming Your Amygdala, and trains therapists in neurologically informed CBT.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Catherine Pittman has employment relationships with Saint Mary's College and Renew Counseling. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Pittman receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Catherine Pittman is a member of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

100% Demo Guarantee

Register for this intensive training course without risk. If you're not completely satisfied, give us a call at 800-844-8260. We're that confident you'll find this learning experience to be all that's promised and more than you expected.

PESI Mobile App


Access CE trainings on your phone or tablet through our free mobile app. Choose video or audio-only versions of online courses from the world's best instructors, and complete your CE requirements anywhere, anytime, at your own pace.


Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

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.

Questions?

Visit our FAQ page at www.pesi.com/faq or contact us at www.pesi.com/info


Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Product Code:
NOS096734
Duration:
3 hours, 14 minutes
Copyright:
Mar 22, 2026

ADA Needs


We would be happy to accommodate your ADA needs; please call our Customer Service Department for more information at 1-800-844-8260.

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