FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeffrey K. Zeig, PhD Director: The Milton H. Erickson Foundation Telephone: 480-389-4342 Web site: www.evolutionofpsychotherapy.com Email: jeff@erickson-foundation.org

Location: Anaheim Venue: Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim Hilton, and Anaheim Marriott Dates: December 11-15, 2013

THE EVOLUTION OF PSYCHOTHERAPY: A CONFERENCE

International experts assemble to describe state-of-the-art methods to solve problems in behavioral health and relationships.

Master practitioners in the field of human psychology will present their latest research on a wide range of topics to an audience of more than 7,000 registrants at the largest psychotherapy conference in the world. The topics include post-traumatic stress disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, marital problems, stress and its consequences, personality disorders, and major mental illness.

Special keynote speaker of this year’s Conference include, Alanis Morissette, a singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer and actress who has won 16 Juno Awards, seven Grammy Awards, and was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards; Aaron Beck, MD, an American psychiatrist who has been widely regarded as the father of cognitive therapy; Gerard Edelman, MD, Ph., Director of The Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, California and Professor at The Scripps Research Institute who received the Nobel Prize for his work on the structure and function of antibodies; and James Foley, a filmmaker of complex themes highlighted by finely-tuned performances coaxed from a wide range of actors. His movies include Glengarry Glen Ross and Perfect Stranger. He also directed the award-winning series House of Cards, and Twin Peaks.

Invited keynote speakers include, Diane Ackerman, MFA, PhD, the author of 23 books of poetry and nonfiction; Daniel Amen, MD, a psychiatrist, brain-imaging specialist, teacher, and New York Times best-selling author; Paul Ekman, PhD, author of 13 books including Emotions Revealed & Emotional Awareness, coauthored with the Dalai Lama and one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people; and Michael Gazzaniga, PhD, a Professor of Psychology and the Director for the SAGE Center for the Study of Mind at the University of California Santa Barbara who oversees an extensive research program investigating how the brain enables the mind.

All Conference faculty members are experts who have written best-selling, popular books, and who frequently appear in the national media. Other keynote speakers are: Martin Seligman, Salvador Minuchin, and Irvin Yalom. The primary faculty is comprised of Albert Bandura, David Barlow, John & Julie Gottman, Jean Houston, Otto Kernberg, Marsha Linehan, Cloé Madanes, Donald Meichenbaum, Erving Polster, Ernest Rossi, Francine Shapiro, and Jeffrey Zeig.

The state-of-the-art faculty includes Judith Beck, Claudia Black, David Burns, Jon Carlson, Nicholas Cummings, Robert Dilts, Stephen Gilligan, Steven Hayes, Harville Hendrix, Sue Johnson, Jack Kornfield, Harriet Lerner, Peter Levine, Scott Miller, William Miller, Bill O’Hanlon, Violet Oaklander, Christine Padesky, Mary Pipher, Daniel Siegel, Derald Wing Sue, Bessel van der Kolk, Michele Weiner-Davis, and Michael Yapko.

Tabbed by Time magazine “the largest gathering ever devoted to the practice of psychotherapy,” the Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference is held every four years. As the “Woodstock of Psychotherapy,” registrants come from every state and more than50 countries worldwide. Currently, there are 400 registrants from Canada, 300 from Australia, and 50 from China. Registration is limited to health/mental health professionals and graduate students from accredited institutions. Commencing in 1985, the greatest minds in psychotherapy have served on the Conference faculty.

This is an unparalleled opportunity for in-depth interviews on any mental health topic.

For more information visit: evolutionofpsychotherapy.com

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For additional information or interviews, contact Jeffrey K. Zeig, PhD.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                             

CONTACT: Marnie McGann

                                                                                    (602) 956-6196

marnie@erickson-foundation.org

 CALLING FOR THERAPUTIC PERFORMANCE RATHER THAN RELIANCE ON THEORY, CREATIVE THERAPUTIC TECHNIQUES PROVIDES THERAPISTS WITH INNOVATIVE WAYS TO BRING FORTH CHANGE 

In a practical how-to guide, the dynamic duo of Hillary and Brad Keeney gives therapists tools to get unstuck in dead-end sessions by using fresh techniques. 

PHOENIX, Ariz. – April 15, 2013 – Comparing psychotherapy sessions to theater or film, where there are plot lines, storyboards, and an actual beginning, middle and end, Hillary and Brad Keeney encourage therapists to think of themselves more as actors who are required to perform first and gain understanding later. The Keeneys believe that doing so allows therapists to focus more on movement and change rather being trapped in the typical problem/solution world. Exercises are offered as well as case examples so that therapists can creatively reframe impoverished sessions and transport clients from a problem-focused life to a life of infinite possibilities. One exercise has therapists starting at the end with a client, requiring them to “act in order to know how to act next” and put aside any habitual overreliance on the client’s background information.

Another idea the Keeneys promote to create movement and change is the very-Ericksonian method of utilizing all resources. In fact, they ask therapists to learn how to “smell a resource” and utilize whatever the client brings to a session as fodder for creative change. Physical props such a flea market finds — the wild, wonderful, and even weird – are also recommended to use as more than just as conversation starters but as game changers — ways to breaks the cycle of stalled sessions. And, there is much praise for the beauty and usefulness of the absurd in “Absurdity Lubricates the Wheels of Change.” Therapists are advised to steer clear of expected questions which are abundant in the problem/solution world, such as “Tell me how that makes you feel?” (Although discussing emotions at the right time is not discounted.) Instead, the Keeneys suggest throwing out unexpected, even slightly shocking question, such as “Has anyone in your family ever told a joke to a grasshopper.” Called an “out-of-frame attractor,” this type of question and can be useful in Feeding a Virtuous Circle and Starving a Vicious Circle — part of what the Keeneys call Circular Therapeutics –which happens to be the title of their last book.

In the final chapters of Creative Therapeutic Technique, the authors demonstrate ways in which they’ve helped other practitioners utilize their own unique resources and discuss the philosophical nature of the therapist as a traditional healer, who through their own wisdom-based learning and experience can guide others.

Witty, wise, and refreshingly irreverent, the Keeneys are true innovators in the field of psychotherapy. More interested in real change rather than theory or plaques on a wall, they give new meaning to thinking outside the box. Like Dr. Seuss they turn the world of psychology upside down by introducing the whacky and wonderful and what truly works.

For more information visit: https://erickson-foundation.org/