Elisha Goldstein – NICABM – Practical Strategies for Working With Depression

Why Depression is a Form of Trauma

• Why depression is the ultimate avoidance strategy
• The four parts of the Depression Loop (and why it’s so hard to break)
• Why the brain reacts to depression the same way it reacts to trauma
• What an enlarged amygdala does to a depressed patient
• Shame: depression’s worst nightmare
• The neuroscience behind the shame-depression connection
• The crucial role of the vagus nerve in depression

How to Ignite the Depression-Battling Part of the Brain

• How to build the implicit memories that will take down depression
• One way to break up old emotional patterns to reduce reactivity
• “Tuning the Heart”: one skill that primes the brain against depression
• The one practice that can lead to a massive left prefrontal shift
• How to reduce the cellular inflammation that’s driven by depression

How to Create a Flexible Mind to Combat Depression

Rick Hanson, PhD      Kelly McGonigal, PhD      Ron Siegel, PsyD

• The one “guilty pleasure” that powers strong neural connections
• How “play” affects the nervous system in a client who is depressed
• What happens to the self-critic in both playfulness and depression
• How to rewire the cognitive processing that gets shut down by depression
• How to activate the “Brain Fertilizer” protein that builds neuroplasticity

The 3 Things You Need to Foster Change in Your Client

• How to integrate the “Three-Legged Stool” approach to reduce suffering
• The one critical skill from childhood that boosts neuroplasticity (and why you may need to relearn it)
• The four key attitudes that lead to growth

One Strategy to Help Your Clients Feel Resilient

• How to help clients experience resilience from the inside-out
• The direct connection between positive decisions and immune functioning
• Why we’re wired to accept negativity (and block resiliency)

Why Your Patient Needs an Adult Play Date

• How a client’s playful memories can transform their childhood narrative
• How “foreboding joy” leads to anxiety
• The survivalist brain and why it protects some clients from feeling “too good”
• How implicit messaging can derail the intervention

How to Help Clients Avoid Falling Into the Deficiency Gap

• Why a client’s values can lead them to greater depression
• How to help clients turn “values into verbs” to enhance brain integration
• Why caretakers might be resistant to compassion work
• How to tailor an intervention for chronically-depressed patients
• Why it’s crucial for the practitioner to match the practice to the client’s level of depression

How to Help Clients Shift From a Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset

Michael Yapko, PhD      Ron Siegel, PsyD

• A 4-step process for encouraging positive beliefs
• The slippery slope that takes a client from deficiency to depression
• One tactic for defusing unconscious negative thoughts
• Why visualization is like a springboard for the brain