NESCH 58th Annual Advanced Workshop, Michael Yapko, PhD

Treating Depression Strategically is a two day workshop that emphasizes the importance of utilizing proactive and well-targeted interventions when treating depression. How a clinician thinks about the nature of depression and answers fundamental questions - such as what causes depression - naturally determine what treatment approach he or she is most likely to take. Regardless of one’s preferred orientation, however, depression experts agree that treatment needs to be multi-dimensional and active. Furthermore, the more we learn about the neuroscience of depression, especially neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, the more important well designed experiential learning processes become in treatment. These include the use of task assignments and focusing processes such as hypnosis and mindfulness.

Dr. Yapko’s books, which include Depression is Contagious, Hypnosis and Treating Depression, Trancework (4^th ed.) and Mindfulness and Hypnosis, each break new ground and challenge much of the conventional wisdom therapists typically hold about depression and its treatment. In this workshop, we will pay special attention to the ways in which our social lives directly shape our perspectives and phenomenology and thereby powerfully affect the way we think and feel.