OVERVIEW

Core unhealthy shame is a major source of psychological distress and human suffering. It results in feelings of worthlessness and self-contempt, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, and problematic behaviors (such as unhelpful anger/rage). As a therapist, knowing how to work with healthy anger is fundamental in transforming core shame and accessing the sadness of grief related to childhood unmet needs. This workshop is designed by Dr. Leslie Greenberg, an international leader in the field of psychotherapy and emotion, and is tailored for mental health professionals from various training backgrounds.

OBJECTIVES

This workshop will teach therapists practical skills on how to TRANSFROM SHAME WITH healthy, interrupted anger AND TO process the sadness of grief related to childhood SHAME AND THE unmet needs ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHAME. Through didactic presentation and review of recent in-person, video-recorded therapy sessions, Dr. Leslie Greenberg will discuss specific client change processes and therapist interventions.

Participants will learn:

• Principles of emotional change in working with shame
• How to help clients work with and bypass unhelpful anger/rage in session
• Specific interventions to activate, process, and transform maladaptive shame (for example: interventions for self-criticism, age regression, working with childhood trauma memories)
• Access and work with adaptive anger and the adaptive sadness of grief
• Work with clients who have difficulty accessing their emotions
• Help clients develop new meaning and narratives

Day 1

• Shame: it’s Nature and Function
• Principles of Emotional Change
• Changing Emotion with Emotion
• Methods to Access the Maladaptive Emotion Scheme of Shame
• Bypassing Secondary Rage and a Collapsed Self

• Discussion of Video 1

Day 2

• Using Age Regression and Processing Childhood Memories to Activate Origin of the Maladaptive Emotion Scheme
• Accessing Healthy Adaptive Anger
• Accessing and Deepening the Sadness of Grief
• Meaning-Making and New Narratives

• Discussion of Video 2