Feeling Wrong Never Felt So Right: Reducing the Risk of Depression in Children by Using ACT and Interoceptive Exposures to Address Emotion Dysregulation and Distress Intolerance

Christina Brooks, Psy.D., and Monique Reynolds, Ph.D.

1.5 CE Credits

Online via Zoom

Emotion dysregulation and distress intolerance are transdiagnostic features of childhood anxiety and behavioral disorders. When left untreated/undertreated, children experience functional difficulties and maladaptive coping behaviors develop. As a result, children are vulnerable to worsening of symptoms and depression. ACT and interoceptive exposures can be used to improve distress tolerance and emotion regulation and reduce the vulnerability of depression. These interventions can be used to address similar parental difficulties, further improving outcomes for these children and families.

 After attending this workshop, attendees will be able to 

• Recognize symptoms of poor distress tolerance and emotional dysregulations across common childhood and adolescent Mental Health and behavioral diagnosis
• Apply principle components of interoceptive exposures and ACT to target improvement in tolerance of unpleasant emotional and physiological experiences and effective regulation of emotions
• Identify the supportive roles that parents can play to reinforce development of distress tolerance and emotion regulation

REGISTER 

Christina Brooks, Psy.D., has extensive experience in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Parent Management Training (PMT), and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Teens (MBSR-T) from work at the Children’s National Medical Center, the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University, and the Center for Anxiety and Behavioral Change. She earned her Psy.D. from the American School for Professional Psychology at Argosy University in 2009 and was licensed in 2011 in Maryland. Dr. Brooks is a member of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), the International Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Foundation (IOCDF), and the Maryland Psychological Association (MPA). Dr. Brooks is dedicated to maintaining knowledge about state-of-the-art treatments for anxiety disorders and OCD and providing trainings to other professionals. She is committed to community involvement to raise awareness about anxiety disorders and OCD in children and adolescents and ways to reduce suffering from these often debilitating disorders.

Monique Reynolds, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who earned her undergraduate degree from Yale University and her doctorate from Virginia Commonwealth University. She completed a fellowship in school-based mental health treatment and assessment with the University of Maryland Center for School Mental Health. Dr. Reynolds specializes in the treatment of children, adolescents, and adults who are experiencing anxiety and related disorders. She has extensive training in evidence-based treatments, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD, Parent Management Training, and Social Skills Training. Her clinical interests include anxiety-based school refusal, pediatric and adult OCD, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety.