News from Maggie Phillips, Ph.D.
September 2010

Click a topic link below to jump directly to any section of this newsletter:
In This Issue
* September/October Events
* Save the Dates for Late Fall Events & Beyond
* Medicating Kids to Manage Emotional Pain
Calendar of Training Events

September 15
Teleseminar with Michael Yapko & Maggie
How to Treat and Prevent Depression in Children

September 25 - 26

Workshop with Maggie in Heidelberg, Germany

The Body as Ultimate Healer: Meeting Life with Your Whole Body

October 2 - 3
Workshop with Maggie
,
in Bonn, Germany
Master Class in Ego-State Therapy

October 6, 13, 20, & 27
Ecourse with Claire Frederick & Maggie

Clinical Intensive in Ego-State Therapy

October 6 - 7
Workshop with Maggie in Heidelberg, Germany

Using Energy Psychology to Help Your Brain Change Itself: Techniques to Promote Rejuvenation and Resilience


October 8
Workshop with Fred Gallo & Maggie in Heidelberg, Germany

Working with the 'I' of Healing

October 16 - 17
Workshop with Maggie in Paris, France

Expanding Heart Coherence: Connecting with the Heart of Healing


November 9
Teleseminar with Robert Scaer & Maggie
Brain Neuroplasticity: Quantam Changes in the Treatment of Trauma and Pain

December 3
Teleseminar with Laurel Parnell & Maggie
Resource Tapping: Activating Your Healing Potentials Through Bilateral Stimulation

December 9-12
2 Workshops with Maggie in Orlando, Florida
Radical Self-Acceptance and Self-Forgiveness and
Empowering the Self Through the Heart of Healing

















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

September is a month of transition from the more relaxed days of summer to the "hurry up" of fall. In this newsletter edition, we present our fall calendar of stimulating teleseminars, starting with one you won't want to miss on Depression in Children with Michael Yapko on September 15. Our News You Can Use article is "Medicating Children" (scroll down to find this section or click on the left sidebar topic).
 
Wishing you an easy transition into fall,

Maggie Phillips
September/October Events


image1.  We kick off our fall teleseminar series on Wednesday, September 15, from 9 am-10:30 am Pacific time, with a seminar featuring Dr. Michael Yapko on How to Treat and Prevent Depression in Children. Please go here now to register at www.maggiephillipsphd.com/courses_teleseminars_my2.html. As always, your registration fee includes access to the event both live and through unlimited audio replay immediately afterwards. Our 90-minute event will include a 60-minute presentation by Dr. Yapko and me, followed by a 30-minute live question and answer session, that highlight the following topics:
  • Early warning signs of depression in children
  • Preventive steps to reduce a child's or adolescent's vulnerability to depression
  • The role of genetics
  • How parents can respond to minimize the impact of depression
  • How depression in parents can seed depression in their children
  • Your topic (to let us know what topics are important to you, click here).
2.  During the month of October, Dr. Claire Frederick and I will be leading a Clinical Intensive in Ego-State Therapy - featuring a series of 4 teleseminars focused on complex clinical questions and your most challenging cases. If you've taken other training in ego-state therapy (which is a requirement for this e-course), then you already know what a valuable method it is to treat complex trauma as well as many other related issues including anxiety, depression, panic, pain, and other atypical symptoms. The first eight people to register will receive a free 30-minute consultation in addition to weekly teleseminars and handouts. Click here to find out more including the cost and to register.

 
Special Live Events:
I am also looking forward to teaching several live events in Europe during these two months. I hope you can join me!
 
3.  25-26 September The Body as Ultimate Healer: Meeting Life with Your Whole Body. Location: Milton H. Erickson Institute, Heidelberg, Germany. Contact the office at: [email protected].

This workshop is designed to teach both the art and science of working with the wisdom and resources of the body to heal mind-body symptoms and health problems while reversing the effects of psychological and physical trauma. The model of Somatic Experiencing� (SE), based on the study of resiliency responses of animals and humans to threat, is used as a foundational method to provide gentle yet powerful interventions that can be incorporated into any practice setting.
 
Participants will learn how Somatic Experiencing� techniques can be used to detect and resolve constriction in the body and disregulation of the nervous system that contributes to a wide spectrum of clinical, medical, and learning problems. Presentations will address ways to empower clients through contact with their bodies' natural resources, strategies for reducing fear and anxiety, and techniques for rapid relief of acute and long-term stress reactions.
 
Topic areas for discussion will include treatment of anxiety, panic, and depression; persistent emotional and physical pain including headache, arthritis, back pain; autoimmune problems such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and lupus; and conflicts related to eating disorders and distortions of body image and awareness. We will explore the interface between trauma and pain; the neurobiology of attachment trauma and other post-traumatic phenomena; relevant psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) research, and the importance of teaching self-regulation.
 
4.  2-3 October Master Class in Ego-State Therapy in Bonn, Germany. This is a unique experience taught at intermediate and advanced levels. A maximum of 12 participants will be accepted. Prerequisite requirements include 32 hours of past training in clinical, Ericksonian, and/or medical hypnosis (or equivalent studies), and completion of foundations (beginning) level in Ego-State Therapy. This workshop will focus on ego-state therapy as a comprehensive method to repair post-traumatic fragmentation, dissociative and attachment difficulties, and intractable mindbody symptoms including anxiety, depression, health issues, and chronic and atypical pain.
 
Participants will review hypnotic and non-hypnotic techniques and methods useful for work with ego states connected with various post-traumatic symptoms. The Master Class agenda will consist of specific topics and skills to be determined by the individual needs identified in advance by participants.

For more information and an application form, please contact Susanne Leutner ([email protected]). You may also contact Maggie Phillips at [email protected]with any questions.

5.  Although the Energy Psychology in Psychotherapy conference, originally scheduled in early October for Heidelberg, Germany, has been postponed, I am delighted to announce that I'll be teaching a special 2-day program on Using Energy Psychology to Help Your Brain Change Itself: Techniques to Promote Rejuvenation and Resilience on 6-7 October in Heidelberg.
 
This workshop presents research findings in the area of brain neuroplasticity and its applications to pain, trauma, and aging. Energy Psychology techniques that can facilitate life-saving processes of repair and restoration will be presented and practiced. Topics include: 
  • EP tools that can support four types of brain plasticity
  • Methods to address "nonuse syndrome" and learned pain dynamics
  • How to use energy techniques for accelerated learning and brain balancing
  • EP and the transformation of past traumatic "ghosts" into allies
  • Resiliency research and rejuvenation through EP
  • How energy methods can address the fight, flight, freeze dynamics of trauma to promote aliveness and expansion
  • How to help clients build and apply effective EP protocols for effective self-treatment
  • Multimodal approaches including the synthesis of EP with Somatic Experiencing�, EMDR, and interactive imagery.
Workshop format includes lecture, case discussion, live demonstrations, and experiential exercises. EP methods presented include EFT and TFT, TAT, "Ask and Receive," HeartMath™, and rapid reversal clearing.
 
6.  And, on Friday, 8 October, I will be co-teaching with Dr. Fred Gallo a one day seminar in Heidelberg on Working with the 'I' of Healing. We will examine how Controlling Identities (CI's) or ego states can become dissociated from the core self, causing various problems including psychological, relationship, and psychophysiological difficulties. Various Energy Psychology techniques that can facilitate the return to wholeness will be presented and practiced. These include inner conflict resolution through energy reversal correction, focused mindfulness, stimulation of energy points, activation of the conflict-free self, and other methods derived from the Identity Method (IM)™ and Ego-State Therapy.
 
To receive more information and to register for both of the October Heidelberg events, please contact the Milton H. Erickson Institute in Heidelberg, Germany at: [email protected]. If you are in the vicinity of Heidelberg, I hope you will join me for these innovative programs.
 
7.  16-17 October in Paris!  Expanding Heart Coherence: Connecting with the Heart of Healing. Contact: Bernard Mayer at IETSP: [email protected].

This all-new workshop will help professionals discover and practice various effective techniques, including EMDR, which can expand heart coherence as the center of healing for themselves and their clients. The format includes live and video demonstration, clinical case consultation, and experiential exercises.
 
Neuroscience has revealed compelling evidence that heart coherence and heart intelligence are essential to the healing process. Studies conducted by the Institute of HeartMath™ and other researchers have demonstrated that the energy field of the heart is 60 times larger and more than 500 times stronger than that of the brain, and that the heart sends many more messages to the brain than the brain does to the heart.
 
This workshop will teach participants how to develop and apply elements of heart intelligence and coherence to help heal PTSD, pain, depression, anxiety and panic, and stress reactions including intrusive self-criticism, rapid cycling negative thoughts, and sleep disturbances. A variety of all-natural HeartMath™ techniques will be presented and practiced. Special mindfulness approaches that cultivate self-acceptance, love and forgiveness and specific self-regulation skills will also be included, along with EMDR as a method of extending and deepening these practices.
 
Presentations will review research that demonstrates how heart-felt positive emotions like love, compassion, and gratitude, create coherence and harmonious heart rhythms, which are indicators of cardiovascular efficiency and nervous system balance. We will also discuss how chronic toxic emotions such as irritation, anger, anxiety or frustration, on the other hand, can create a series of stress reactions, which can compromise the immune system, strain the heart and other organs, and eventually lead to serious health problems.
 
If you're attracted to the idea of October in Paris, don't miss this!

Save the Dates for Late Fall Events & Beyond


On Tuesday, November 9, from 9 am - 10:30 am Pacific time, Dr. Robert Scaer joins me for a dynamic seminar on Brain Neuroplasticity: Quantam Changes in the Treatment of Trauma and Pain. Our topics will include:
  • How the brain repairs itself: Mechanisms of neuroplasticity
  • Epigenetic research: Understanding how new experiences can change our DNA
  • Reward pathways in the brain and how they motivate new           pathways of thought, behavior, emotion, and sensation
  • The "plastic paradox:" How plasticity is both the good and bad news of the change process
  • Neuroplasticity in children: Pediatric problems that predict later development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and related            syndromes
If you don't know Bob's work, please visit www.traumasoma.com to find out about his two ground-breaking books and to read some of his free articles.

Sign up for this event now at www.maggiephillipsphd.com/courses_teleseminars_drs.html.
 

website imageIn December, I'll be participating in two important events.
 
First, on Friday, December 3, from 9 am - 10:30 am Pacific time, Laurel Parnell and I will present a teleseminar on Resource Tapping: Activating Your Healing Potentials Through Bilateral Stimulation. This seminar will illustrate tapping in resources through the bilateral stimulation approach used in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitzation and Reprogramming). Our presentations will focus on how Laurel's "Tapping In" techniques can help rebalance the nervous system, activate the parasympathetic restoration cycle, and teach self-regulation to resolve many of the symptoms connected with the pain of trauma.

For more information about Laurel, popular EMDR facilitator and author of Tapping In: A Step-by Step Guide to Activating Your Healing Resources With Bilateral Stimulation, please visit www.emdrinfo.com.

Sign up for this event now at www.maggiephillipsphd.com/courses_teleseminars_lp.html
 
And finally, from December 9-12, I will be presenting 2 workshops at the Brief Therapy conference (sponsored by the Milton H. Erickson Foundation) in Orlando, Florida, home of Epcot Center and Disney World. Join me for Radical Self-Acceptance and Self-Forgivenessand Empowering the Self Through the Heart of Healing. Enjoy warm weather, good fun, and an intensive study environment. For more information and registration, visit www.brieftherapyconference.com.

Medicating Kids to Manage Pain


I just read a disturbing article in the New York Times about the risks of prescribing antipsychotic drugs for very young children (to find the entire article, go to www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/business/02kids.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper). This feature chronicles the story of an 18-month old boy from Louisiana who was prescribed antipsychotics by his pediatrician to control his severe temper tantrums. The article points out that, because it is so much cheaper to medicate children rather than to pay for child and family counseling, children from lower income families and those in foster care, are four times more likely as privately insured children to receive antipsychotic medications.
 
Kyle, now 6 and the centerpiece of this article, was shuttled from doctor to doctor and given different diagnoses by each one, with accompanying medications. His diagnoses included: Autism, bipolar disorder, hyperactivity, insomnia, and oppositional defiant disorder, all before he turned three. Fortunately, he and his family eventually landed with a special program through Tulane University and received a more common, and more importantly accurate, diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). His new doctors found that his anger stemmed from family conflicts and developmental language delays, and not from a "chemical imbalance."
 
Sadly, the use of antipsychotic drugs is increasing even among privately insured children, with a doubling of the prescription rate for 2-5 year olds between 2000 and 2007. Many of the drugs have disabling side effects; in Kyle's case, he gained significant weight, drooled uncontrollably, and was extremely withdrawn. Now, he is on only one medication for his ADHD, and is performing well above average in his first grade class.
 
The point of the article, however, is not that ADHD is a safer diagnosis. In fact, another recent article (see http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/drugs/diller.html), discusses the increased prescription of Ritalin for the types of problems Ryan displayed as well as for additional symptoms. Ritalin is attractive because it has been well researched and has relatively rapid results. There are a few side effects, such as decreased appetite with rebound when the dose wears off, and insomnia if a dose is taken too close to bedtime.
 
Doses of Ritalin higher than 20 mg may cause nervousness, heart palpitations, shakiness and headache. A few experience feelings of euphoria, which can lead to misuse and overuse in older children. And, despite 60 years of relatively safe use of Ritalin, there may be adverse effects that have yet to surface.
 
The problem of diagnosing children who need medication is complicated. First, there are no biological tests for ADHD or childhood depression, and children who experience traumatic reactions to stressful situations may exhibit behavioral reactions that may be mistaken for ADHD or depression. Especially with chronic or ongoing abuse and trauma, children are affected by unresolved survival reactions, for example the long term effects of freezing in the face of danger can include depression, and hyperactivity related to overactivated fight/flight responses can result in attentional and hyperactivity symptoms.
 
This month's guest speaker, Dr. Michael Yapko, has written about the issues related to medicating children and adolescents in his new book, Depression is Contagious. Currently only one antidepressant, Prozac, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use by children 7-17.  Yet millions of children are prescribed drugs other than Prozac through "off label use," meaning that doctors can use their judgment to prescribe drugs for uses other than those approved by the FDA.  A recent survey of pediatricians in North Carolina, for example, revealed that 72% of them prescribed antidepressants to children under the age of 18, but only 8% stated they believed they had adequate training to prescribe in these situations.
 
Dr. Joan Luby at Washington University's School of Medicine in St. Louis is the first expert to study extensively the criteria for preschool depression by following a group of children between 3 and 5 over a 10 year period. While adults who are depressed report low sexual libido and little interest in usual activities, preschoolers show no interest in toys. Other symptoms include restlessness and crying and may orchestrate scenarios around violence or death. Often these children are overlooked because they don't demonstrate overtly disruptive behavior as is the case with ADHD or other behavioral problems.
 
It's important to remember that there is a lot that we don't know about the effects of drugs on children, and even more important to note what we do know: That drugs are powerful and have lots of side effects, and that drugs can't teach any of the skills that are shown to reduce or prevent depression or to help children cope with strong emotional feelings. Dr. Yapko reminds us that psychotherapy "has a treatment success rate that matches that of medication without the side effects and with a lower relapse rate." Because counseling can also help kids learn skills to help them cope successfully with current challenges, and also prepare them for the tests of the future, it's important to know that using appropriate medications along with counseling provides optimum conditions for safety and success.
 
To watch a video interview with Michael about his new book, click here. And to join us for a broader discussion of depression in children and families, please join us on Wednesday, September 15, at 9 am Pacific time (live or later by replay at your convenience) for How to Treat and Prevent Depression in Children. Go here now to register at www.maggiephillipsphd.com/courses_teleseminars_my2.html
 
And because these topics are so important, please join us for more reading and discussion on my blog at blog1.reversingchronicpain.com. To encourage you to add your comments to this discussion, we will gift the individual who creates the best blog post between now and September 30 with our new Pain Coaching for Success CD Program. To find out what people are saying about this highly effective program, visit www.reversingchronicpain.com/testimonials.html
 
Thanks as always for reading.
 
Yours in health,
Maggie

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