Compassion Focused Therapy Overview Counseling Techniques

Compassion Focused Therapy is ideal for those who need help being loving and forgiving toward themselves and others Continuing Education Credits are available for counselors for this presentation at a https 3A 2F 2Fwww allceus com 2Fmember 2Fcart 2Findex 2Fproduct 2Fid 2F578 2Fc 2F a Workbooks for clients and therapist guides can be found at a https 3A 2F 2Fwww newharbinger com 2Fsearch 2Fsite 2Fcompassion 2520focused a Use promocode 1168SNIPES to get 25 off your entire order CEU counselingtechniques mentalhealth compassionfocusedtherapy AllCEUs provides counseling education and CEs for LPCs LMHCs LMFTs and LCSWs as well as addiction counselor precertification training and continuing education Live Interactive Webinars 5 a https 3A 2F 2Fwww allceus com 2Flive-interactive-webinars 2F a Unlimited Counseling CEs for 59 a https 3A 2F 2Fwww allceus com 2F a Specialty Certificate tracks starting at 89 a https 3A 2F 2Fwww allceus com 2F a certificate-tracks Live Webinars 5 hour a https 3A 2F 2Fwww allceus com 2Flive-interactive-webinars 2F a Compassion The healing properties of compassion have been written about for centuries The Dalai Lama stresses that if you want others to be happy or to be happy yourself focus on compassion Compassion can be thought of as a skill that one can train in Focusing on and practicing compassion can influence neurophysiological and immune systems Compassionate mind training refers to specific activities designed to develop compassionate attributes and skills particularly those that influence affect regulation Observations About Compassion Compassion-focused therapy and compassionate mind training arose from a number of observations First people with high levels of shame and self-criticism can have enormous difficulty in being kind to themselves feeling self-warmth or being self-compassionate Psychological consequences Physical consequences Social consequences Observations About Compassion Second Problems of shame and self-criticism are often rooted in histories of abuse bullying high expressed emotion in the family neglect and or lack of affection Imagine growing up in this family What do you the child want But you don t get it What does this teach you about the world Individuals subjected to early experiences of this type can become highly sensitive to threats of rejection or criticism from the outside world and can quickly become self-attacking egocentric child or defensive and aggressive Observations About Compassion Third it has been recognized that working with shame and self-criticism requires a therapeutic focus on memories of such early experiences similar to trauma work Fourth some clients become skilled at generating alternatives for their negative thoughts and beliefs but still do poorly in therapy I identify the logical fallacy but it doesn t make me feel any better Key Element Individuals prone to high levels of shame and self-criticism can find it very difficult to generate feelings of contentment safeness or warmth in their relationships with others and themselves Psychological consequences Physical consequences Social consequences Brain Systems Threat and protection All living things have evolved with basic threat-detection protection systems survival The behavioral outputs include fight flight and submission Sensitized schemas and strategies for threat detection and protection can become major influences on the ways in which a person perceives and navigates their world The clinician will identify historically plot and validate the functions and origins of safety strategies partly to de-shame them In compassion-focused therapy the focus is on understanding the functions of a person s symptoms and difficulties in terms of safety strategies Brain Systems Drive and excitement Animals need emotion and motivational systems that direct them towards important rewards and resources The function of the drive and excitement system in humans is to give us positive feelings that energize and motivate us to seek out things e g food sex friendships If people take cocaine or amphetamine this is the system they are likely to stimulate Brain System Conflict The drive system and the threat protection system can be linked in complex ways Avoid negative events which shows up in thoughts of shoulds oughts and musts Working to avoid rejection Doing things we shouldn t Status Seeking Wealth power status Brain Systems The contentment system When animals are not threatened and not seeking resources they can become content Contentment is associated with a positive calm positive affects and sense of well-being contentment is not just the absence of threat

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