Lectures

Lecture Series

Notes from Lecture on November 8, 2007
Edrick Dorian, Psy.D. gave a well received lecture to a large audience at the UCLA Faculty Center on an overview of CBT treatments for PTSD. Dr. Dorian presented data on the largely effective nature of cognitive and exposure-based therapies for PTSD. There was a lively discussion of "what constitutes a traumatic stressor" and the application of the model to lesser types of trauma. Dr. Dorian included the use of the new acceptance based treatments.

Notes from Lecture on September 20, 2007:
Dr. Joel L. Becker presented an overview of the current CBT treatments for Bipolar Disorder. CBT has been shown to be an effective adjunctive treatment for patients with this disorder. The objectives for this course were to acquaint participants with the following: 1) the research and strategies related to helping patients with medication adherence, 2) mood regulation and knowing about the signs of another episode, and 3) what to do to reduce the intensity and duration of the episode. In particular, Dr. Becker presented some very interesting data re: the importance of "rhythms" in the work with Bipolar patients. "Zeitgebbers " (time setters) and " zeitstorers " (time disrupters) were discussed in terms of their impact on patients with Bipolar.

Notes from Lecture on May 17, 2007:
In a well attended Brown Bag held at the UCLA faculty center, sponsored by CBA and the Cognitive Behavior Therapy Institute (our new APA approved continuing education division), Michele Craske, Ph. D., Professor of Psychology at UCLA, gave an exciting and well received presentation on how to "optimize the learning" during exposure sessions. Exposure treatments are a "staple" of the behavioral treatment across the various anxiety disorders.

Dr. Craske's recent research has been looking at what are the most powerful components of these treatments. She has been researching the effectiveness of the treatments both within and across diagnostic categories. One particularly important point was her findings that the ability to tolerate anxiety seems at least as important as the ability to reduce anxiety in long term effective treatments. Also, she presented very interesting data regarding the role of pre-frontal cortex activity during exposure. It seems the more the client is asked to process during exposure, the more effective the outcome.

Notes from our Lecture on March 15, 2007:
The most poignant part of Dr. Levander's presentation, "The CBASP Treatment for Chronic Depression," was his explanation of how one must begin hitting a massive wall with a 10 pound sledge hammer with these difficult cases. At the beginning, fine line cracks start to appear that eventually knock down the wall. The CBASP system uses functional analysis of interpersonal relationships to create cracks.

Notes from our Lecture on January 18, 2007:
On January 18, 2007, Joel L. Becker, Ph.D. presented a brown bag on "Soundly Sleeping," a six-week CBT program for insomnia. Dr. Becker and others at CBA have designed a six-session treatment program following a model first tested at Massachusetts General Hospital by Gregg Jacobs, Ph.D. Dr. Becker described what the participants session-by-session experience would be throughout the program. The various forms that are used for initial assessment, on-going data collection, and outcome were shared with the participants. The major components of this approach are educational, cognitive and behavioral. Participants were very excited by the utility of this "stand alone" program for insomnia. Dr. Becker emphasized how 6 sessions (9 hours) of material specific to insomnia would take an inordinate amount of time if it was being addressed as part of therapy in general.

Notes from our Lecture on November 9, 2006:
On November 9, 2006 we had the opportunity to hear our staff member Laura B. Allen, M.A. speak about the new Unified Protocol for the Treatment of Emotional Disorders. Ms. Allen, who is the co-author of a manual for this program with David Barlow, Ph.D., gave a description of the 15-session program. It was striking to note how the protocol moves our thinking away from the traditional Cognitive Therapy approach to one that has more emphasis on emotional avoidance and the function of behaviors in that direction. It seems to be an approach that is taking the best of the newest third-wave technologies and combining them in this transdiagnostic effort.

Notes from our Lecture on September 21, 2006:
On September 21, 2006 we had the pleasure of hearing our very own Bonnie Zucker, Ph.D. present on Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder. This presentation drew our largest group to date (and for the future we will arrange a larger room when there is this kind of response). Dr. Zucker gave a very thorough overview of the formulation and treatment for this difficult patient population. In particular, I think her stance on the use of the therapist's feelings (countertransference) as being a reflection of what the patient is feeling may result in more empathy. She talked about how the assumption that "the patient genuinely desires to get better even if at times their behavior may interfere with the process" is very important in DBT---continually being mindful of this assumptions can certainly help one get through those difficult moments in treatment.

Notes from our Lecture on June 15, 2006:
Dr. Mystkowski's brown bag on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) was informative and cutting edge. He presented yet to be published results of an adaptation of Panic Disorder treatment to this behavioral medicine disorder. It was exciting to hear how researchers and clinicians are thinking regarding transdiagnostic therapeutic approaches.

At a recent meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), UCLA's Dr. Michelle Craske spoke on this subject and encouraged psychologists to think more about the similarities between treatments and formulations across disorders. The field has spent the last 20 years becoming more and more idiopathic about what treatment to use for a given disorder, and now we may look at the "forest" more than the trees.

Notes from our Lecture on April 21, 2006
Our first Brown Bag Lunch---with a presentation by Robert Gore, Ph.D. was a great learning opportunity. Dr. Gore's talk on "What Cognitive Therapists can Gain from Reading the Cognitive Sciences" was both intellectually stimulating and gave some examples that had direct clinical application. One fact that he presented was that people are better with "contrast assessment than with "absolutistic" ratings.

Clinically this would be useful when asking a client how a particular behavioral homework assignment affected their mood. If asked to rate their depression before and after the exercise on a scale of 1-10 they might rate it as an 8 both before and after, but if asked how they felt before vs. after in terms of "the same, worse, or better" the client might, in fact differentiate that it had helped. "This is but one example of many interesting findings from cognitive science that had applications in the clinical realm."

Insurances and Fees

Frequently Asked Questions