From the perspective of Internal Family systems, OCD is the result of the combined efforts of various protective parts of the system with the purpose of trying to keep painful uncertainty or discomfort at bay and to reduce or eliminate it when it is triggered.
The experience of danger prompts protective parts to organize in order to mitigate the anxiety or discomfort, and because this is effective, the system comes to rely on protective parts to compulsively prevent or fix anxiety. The core fear becomes effectively exiled and the protectors have to become more and more extreme in order to maintain the requisite need for calm. Because there are known neurological causes and triggers for OCD, it may be viewed slightly differently than many of the issues that IFS effectively addresses. Nevertheless, the IFS approach brings all of the effective treatment mechanisms into play in a way that is both compassionate and nuanced.
During this workshop we will:
- Explain the dynamics of OCD and why it can be so difficult to work with
- Describe the principles underlying OCD treatment that has been proven effective
- Translate these principles into IFS language and describe how they can be seen through the lens of IFS.
- Explore how IFS therapy has the essential ingredients required to work effectively with OCD
- Illustrate with case examples how IFS techniques can be used to facilitate breaking the OCD cycle
- Explain the specific challenges in working with OCD and how the therapists internal states can impact the therapy.
- Utilize IFS strategies to help the client access their own internal capacity to manage the emotional and physiological highs and lows of OCD
- Identify commonly encountered therapeutic challenges and both client-centered and therapist based considerations to address them.
- Develop skills to recognize and help clients attune and relate to their obsessive and compulsive parts.
Please click here to see a brief video describing the day's content
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