Cochrane Psychology
www.cochranepsychology.com
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SEMINARS IN PSYCHOLOGY THE ENHANCEMENT OF SELF-WORTH & SELF-EFFICACY IN PSYCHOTHERAPY(6 credit hours) In this seminar participants receive research-validated guidelines for the enhancement of one’s felt-sense of self and the faith in self to fulfill one’s goals. The importance of a felt-sense of self, self-efficacy and one’s relationship with self are central to the discussion that arises from these guidelines. We provide efficacy-based treatment strategies but it is our clients who must utilize them. Participants learn that self-worth is not about me first or me only and it is not about entitlement. Self-worth does not mean esteem without results. It is actualized through the relationship that each of us has with our self and it therefore includes our commitment to take care of our health and well-being and to participate in personal and professional relationships that are respectful. Self-worth is reflected in our values, our goal-setting and the socially responsible pursuit of our goals. When necessary, it also involves our willingness to be unambiguously self-protective. People with self-worth do not knowingly harm themselves and, in personal and professional settings, they do not allow others to harm them. People with self-worth accept responsibility for themselves and consequently, they do not abandon themselves. They can take on challenges knowing that, if they give it their best and fail, they failed at the task but failure at a task does not make them a failure. Our task is to help those with diminished self-worth and self-efficacy build the necessary faith in self to climb the ladder to their goals. Dr. Cochrane illustrates his creative and clinically refined imagery activities designed to help clients identify and therapeutically respond to their unique ego-damage. Everyone initially distances from ego-damaging emotions. Emotional distancing diminishes self-awareness which, in turn, reduces the chances for compassionate responses and the creation of personally meaningful therapeutic responses. Dr. Cochrane’s imagery activities safely, respectfully and effectively facilitate client absorption in each phase of the personal change process. Considerable emphasis is placed on helping clients establish the kind of reliable trust-based relationship with self that becomes an ongoing expression of their sense of worthiness. Seminar participants are given opportunities for supervised practice with Dr. Cochrane’s clinically-refined imagery activities.
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IS LIMITED TO 12 PARTICIPANTS THE ROLE OF SELF-WORTH & SELF-EFFICACY IN WEIGHT-LOSS & PERSONAL HEALTH(6 credit hours) This seminar is based on Dr. Cochrane’s extensive clinical experience, his weight-loss research published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, his paper on self-worth and weight-loss published in the medical journal Diagnosis and his most recent papers published in the medical journal Canadian Family Physician and the Canadian Health Magazine. The seminar begins with an eye-opening review of the literature from the 1970’s to the present. This research is dominated by external treatment models with relentlessly dismal success rates. It is rare indeed to find studies that consider in a meaningful way, the psychological health of the individuals who are trying to lose weight. This literature review always stimulates a lively discussion among the seminar participants. Dr. Cochrane takes the research-supported position that people with healthy self-worth take care of themselves. Many, if not most significantly overweight people, live with unresolved ego-damage and the non-resolution of this damage usually means that they have ongoing relationship problems. Research also shows that overweight people are most likely to overeat when they experience or anticipate real or perceived ego-damage in the form of criticism, rejection, abandonment, betrayal or aloneness. Since most overweight people seek external rather than internal solutions to their weight problems, Dr. Cochrane advises the seminar participants on screening procedures and strategies to preserve their own emotional health. Many of the dynamics in this field are similar to those in alcohol-drug field but the success rates for weight-loss across treatment models are worse than those reported across alcohol-drug treatment models. Dr. Cochrane introduces the imagery activities that he designed to help overweight clients identify and then resolve the ego-damage and diminished self-worth that constitutes the cannot aspect of their weight-related must-but-cannot dilemma. These activities were carefully designed to accommodate client readiness as much as possible. Whereas the literature clearly demonstrates that external treatments are of little help, the necessary shift from an external locus of control to an internal locus is initially quite daunting for most significantly overweight clients. Lasting weight-loss is achieved by people who have the self-worth and self-efficacy to do what it takes. Participants are given time for supervised practice with the clinically refined imagery activities.
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IS LIMITED TO 12 PARTICIPANTS HYPNOSIS & PSYCHOTHERAPY: WHAT WE KNOW & WHAT WE KNOW THAT ISN’T SO(6 credit hours) Dr. Cochrane conducted his doctoral research in hypnosis and he has taught hypnosis skills to health professionals for many years. He is a Past President of the Canadian Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BC) where he relentlessly promoted hypnosis as a valuable adjunct to empirically validated psychotherapy. His papers on the credible, questionable and junk aspects of hypnosis have been published in psychology journals and, more recently, in Canadian and American law journals. He has provided expert testimony in a number of court cases involving the oxymoron that resides in the term hypnosis-enhanced memory. Memory is malleable and it is subjective. Hypnosis does not trump this reality. He has also provided research-supported testimony to refute the nineteenth century myth that a skilled hypnotist can bypass a subject’s conscious and directly engage his or her unconscious thereby inducing involuntary responses in the subject. Dr. Cochrane addresses this and other myths in his opening review of hypnosis literature. This review of the credible literature on hypnosis combined with the deflation of the long-standing myths generates considerable discussion by the participants. The remainder of the seminar is devoted to the value of hypnosis. Dr. Cochrane suggests that the participants use a term such as internal focusing rather than the term hypnosis. Everyone has an opinion about hypnosis. Those who see it as hocus-pocus will decline its use and thereby miss out on its benefits. Clients who function from an external locus of control often see hypnosis as the solution to their problems and thereby place an inappropriate and impossible burden on the health professional. Dr. Cochrane teaches participants when and how to introduce internal focusing to their clients. The demonstrations and supervised practice time in the morning allows participants some confidence-building hands-on experience with this valuable tool. In the afternoon, Dr. Cochrane introduces a number of internal-focusing activities that can be very helpful at the diagnostic, therapeutic and goal-attainment phases of personal change in areas such as: depression, PTSD and other anxiety disorders, self-confidence issues, relationship therapy and personal achievement in sports, academics and the performing arts. Practice time is also made available for these activities.
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IS LIMITED TO 12 PARTICIPANTS RELATIONSHIP THERAPY: RESOLVING THE INTIMACY DILEMMA(6 credit hours) In this seminar Dr. Cochrane draws upon current research, his many years in clinical practice with couples and his experience teaching and supervising doctoral students in the Family and Couple specialty at UBC. Seminar participants receive a summary of current relationship research which shows, among other things, that one person does not make or break an established relationship. Emotionally unresolved individuals form relationships with other unresolved individuals (Letter-A relationships) and emotionally healthy individuals form relationships with other healthy individuals (Letter-H relationships). Unresolved people fear the unguarded openness that is necessary for intimacy and are subsequently caught in a must-but-cannot dilemma. They want a loving relationship but their wariness limits their capacity for intimacy. They therefore opt for the relative safety of non-intimate communication over the perceived risks of intimate communication. Following the discussion generated by the current research and illustrations of our most common patterns of intimacy avoidance, Dr. Cochrane introduces his clinically refined imagery activities designed to help these unresolved people identify and respond therapeutically to their intimacy-wary learners. He defines a learner as the person we were at the time when we experienced criticism, rejection or betrayal. These experiences give rise to subjective and emotion laden conclusions about self, about trust and about relationships generally. If left unacknowledged and unresolved, these better safe than sorry conclusions limit our ability to enjoy the many benefits of intimacy. Dr. Cochrane’s imagery activities respectfully and safely facilitate the couple’s absorption in each phase of their resolution processes so they can then learn the attending and self-care skills that enable them to create and enjoy a loving life-enhancing relationship. Seminar participants are given time for supervised practice with his clinically refined imagery activities. The latter portion of the seminar is devoted to intimacy communication. This segment includes illustrations of openings for invitational communication humorously contrasted with illustrations of openings that lead to conflict, distress and hopelessness. The final segment of the day is devoted to the current research on the important but subjective role of non-verbal communication in couples work. This research is accompanied by a number of photo illustrations of important and sometimes humorous non-verbal situations.
REGISTRATION
IS LIMITED TO 12 PARTICIPANTS |
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