News from Maggie Phillips, Ph.D.
March 2009


In This Issue:
  • New Ecourse: How to Create Lasting Change in Body Experience: 3 Integrative Strategies
  • Upcoming Teleseminar
  • Other Events
  • News from the Pain Front
  • Dear Colleague,

    I'm writing this issue as I fly to Asia for a month of teaching the treatment of trauma and pain with Somatic Experiencing� and Energy Psychology. During the month of March, I'm launching a new format for training in the form of an ecourse: How to Create Lasting Change in Body Experience: 3 Integrative Strategies. We also invite you to save the date for an April 8 Teleseminar with Peter Levine on Somatic Experiencing� and Depression. News from the Pain Front features an update on Pain and Depression.

    Please be well and stay well,

    Maggie Phillips
  • New Ecourse: How to Create Lasting Change in Body Experience: 3 Integrative Strategies
  • Ecourse
    with Teleseminar
    April 1, 2009
    8 - 9 am Pacific Time
    with Maggie Phillips

    In the last few months, I've received several requests for training events that could be priced somewhat lower than our monthly teleseminars. In thinking about this need as our world economy remains in turmoil and the need for rapid healing accelerates, I've decided to create an ecourse designed to address one of the most frequently asked questions I receive: How do you create lasting changes in body experience? Many of us can facilitate positive somatic changes in ourselves and with our clients. The challenge is, how can we sustain these changes over time?

    This e-course will deliver three mini-modules aimed at sharing with you the three most important strategies I've found to promote somatic integration. When you sign up for the ecourse package, you will receive weekly presentations for 3 weeks and during the fourth week, there will be an hour-long teleseminar designed to focus on your questions and answers about applying the strategies with yourselves and clients.

    And, if you enroll by 11:59 pm Pacific time on Friday, March 13, you will also receive as a bonus the audio download of a past popular teleseminar with Peter Levine, Solving the Puzzle of Pain. This training package is available now for the low price of $29.95! Please sign up now at www.maggiephillipsphd.com/ecourse_spring.html.

    The first mini-module is entitled "How to Open Strategic Pathways that Maximize Self-Regulation of Body Experience" and will be available the week of March 9 as a download from my website. The second module, "Expanding Windows of Somatic Tolerance and Possibility" follows the week of March 16. The third and last module, available the week of March 23, is "Strengthening Ongoing Mastery of Body Experience." All of these strategies are designed to produce lasting change with pain, emotional distress, anxiety and panic, immune imbalance, and symptoms of traumatic stress and chronic health problems.

    The teleseminar for this ecourse will follow on Wednesday, April 1st from 8-9 am Pacific time. It can be accessed by either phone or webcast and is included in the total cost of only $29.95. Remember that if you have a schedule conflict with the teleseminar time, you will receive unlimited audio replay afterwards. All of the written materials and the audio replay of the teleseminar will remain available through April 30th to give you ample time to work with the material. So don't hesitate--go now to www.maggiephillipsphd.com/ecourse_spring.html and sign up for this content-rich ecourse.

  • Upcoming Teleseminar
  • Teleseminar
    April 8, 2009
    10 - 11:30 am Pacific Time
    with Peter Levine & Maggie Phillips

    Please mark your calendar for the Wednesday, April 8 teleseminar with Peter Levine on Somatic Experiencing� and Depression, to be held from 10 am -11:30 am Pacific time. This is the third teleseminar with Peter and me and promises to be unique in its emphasis on how to use SE with symptoms of depression. As usual, your $50 fee will include a study guide to organize your learning, participation in a live 90 minute interactive telephone seminar/webinar and an opportunity to ask questions most important to you in advance as well as in the live Q&A segment during the last 30 minutes of the seminar. To make sure you don't forget to take advantage of this opportunity, go here now and sign up early at http://www.maggiephillipsphd.com/courses_teleseminars_pl.html.

  • Other Events
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    My online class Advances in Energy Psychology is beginning on May 3 - June 28. This 8 week class will provide you with all the tools you need to add Energy Psychology to your toolbox for personal healing as well as in work with others. Sponsored by NICABM (the National Institute of Clinical and Behavioral Medicine), the course offers 24 CEUs and an outstanding learning experience. For more information and to enroll, visit www.nicabm.com. If you've been waiting for the right opportunity to break into the energy field, or you want to expand your skills, please join me!

    Here's what one of the fall, 2008 participants wrote: "The Energy Psychology class was informative, organized, thorough, integrated hands-on learning applications and very well taught. Thank you to Maggie and all the staff that made the training possible." -- Kathryn Petterson, PhD, Suwannee, GA

    To complement this course is the outstanding Energy Psychology Conference that will be held in Orlando, Florida from May 28-30. I'll be teaching a pre-conference workshop on May 27 and the other speakers and presentations are outstanding. I can't think of a better way to find out why the emerging field of Energy Psychology is the leading frontier in mindbody healing. Come and learn what all the excitement is about! Register now at www.energypsych.org.

    Some of you have been asking about my weekend intensives. For the past year or so, I have been offering an intensive consultation model for people who want to travel to work privately with me. The intensive is based on a 10 hour model usually beginning on Friday evening for a 2 hour session, intensive work for six hours on Saturday, culminating on Monday for the final two hours. I have found that this is an excellent way to work in-depth on issues that have not resolved in the usual course of treatment. I offer an array of methods that can be tailored to each individual's situation. The fee includes before and after consultation with therapists or other treating professionals. To learn more, visit www.maggiephillipsphd.com/consult.html.

  • News from the Pain Front
  • website image

    Depression has become one of the most common ailments of our times. Data provided from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conclude that antidepressant medications are the most frequently prescribed drugs in all categories.

    With pain patients, it has become routine practice to prescribe antidepressants as part of chronic pain treatment. Primarily, this is because the neurobiology of pain indicates depletion of serotonin levels, and the most popular class of antidepressants, SSRIs address this issue. And, from a clinical standpoint, even if patients are not depressed prior to the onset of chronic pain, the twin syndromes of anxiety and depression commonly surface in that progression into ongoing pain.

    There are several issues related to depression that are important to consider with pain patients. Dr. Michael Yapko, expert on depression who will be joining me for a teleseminar in June, has emphasized the merits of teaching skills over taking pills.

    In determining the efficacy of drug therapy for depression, we must first determine the causes of depression. All of the following have been linked to depression:

    • Genetics
    • Biochemical brain imbalance
    • Psychosocial stressors like loss
    • Negative cognitive beliefs
    • Lack of rewards in our social environments
    • Cultural and family influences
    • Diet and nutrition
    • Lack of exercises
    Any of the factors listed above and additional ones as well may be implicated in a depressive condition for a given individual. They simply vary in degree of impact. Although biology is commonly implicated in the form of serotonin depletion, we must also remember that psychotherapy, as well as common everyday experiences such as exercise and positive relational interaction also change brain chemistry in similar ways.

    The patient's role in depression is a passive one as is that of taking medication. It's important that we don't send the wrong message when antidepressant medication is prescribed for pain -- "you don't have to develop new skills or take charge of your pain; you just need to take your medication on time." Although medication is important for some patients, it must be accompanied by encouragement to take an active role in their treatment by completing homework and practice exercises designed to shift their depressive symptoms.

    We must also be concerned about the overprescription and underprescription of drugs for depression. Side effects from antidepressants that are not prescribed at the correct dosage, can include nausea, sedation, headache, dizziness, sleep disturbance and sexual disruption, and can make it difficult for patients to participate in therapy and in their everyday life. And available research on these drugs published by the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that the SSRI's drugs, as a class, have minimal benefit beyond placebo.

    The healing strategies presented in the April 8 teleseminar with Peter Levine and the June 3 teleseminar with Michael Yapko (save these dates) will present strategies that emphasize the active role of the patient in dealing with depressive symptoms that often accompany pain. Please join us!

       
    Maggie Phillips, Ph.D.
    2768 Darnby Dr.
    Oakland, CA 94611
    USA
    510-655-3843

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