Registration closes @ 9am on 13.03.26
This workshop is for people with some experience of using CBT in clinical practice, who wish to gain a comprehensive understanding of using CBT to help clients experiencing problems with panic attacks, panic disorder, and agoraphobia.
A panic attack is defined as a sudden increase in anxiety, accompanied by four or more symptoms such as palpitations, breathlessness, and dizziness. The term panic disorder is reserved for individuals with recurrent panic attacks, some of which occur unexpectedly. Agoraphobia concerns anxiety about being in situations from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing in the event of a panic attack or panic-like symptoms.
Clark’s (1986) cognitive model of panic suggests that people who suffer panic attacks tend to misinterpret bodily sensations (particularly anxiety symptoms) as indicating an imminent physical or mental catastrophe, and that their use of safety seeking behaviours and selective attention in response serve to maintain the disorder.
Cognitive therapy aims to remove this tendency to catastrophically misinterpret bodily sensation, reduce avoidance, and eliminate unhelpful behaviours. Research indicates that CBT is highly effective for treating panic, with recovery rates ranging from 70% to 90% in many studies.
This workshop focuses on understanding panic attacks, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. Attendees will learn how to assess, formulate, and tackle panic using key interventions based on Clark’s (1986) model, as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Participants will gain:
Knowledge:
- What happens in a panic attack.
- What differentiates panic attacks, panic disorder, and agoraphobia.
- Key questions for accurate assessment and differential diagnosis.
- Clark’s (1995) cognitive model of panic and the evidence base for treatment.
- Collaboratively formulating panic.
- Key questions to ask and metaphors to use.
- Working with self-focused attention, avoidance, and safety seeking behaviours.
- Attention training and use of imagery.
- Symptom induction techniques.
- Using behavioural experiments and surveys.
- Considerations for working remotely.
Skills practice:
- Collaboratively constructing a cognitive panic formulation.
- Experimenting with safety-seeking behaviours and self-focus.
- Cognitive interventions for evaluating panic beliefs.
- Designing and carrying out behavioural experiments for panic and agoraphobia.
References
Clark, D M (1986). A cognitive approach to panic. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 461-470.
Clark, D M (1996). Panic disorder: from theory to therapy. In P. M. Salkovskis (Ed.), Frontiers of cognitive therapy (pp. 318-344). New York: Guilford.
Clark, D M & Salkovskis, P M (2009). Panic Disorder Manual for IAPT High Intensity Therapists. [available at https://oxcadatresources.com/panic-disorder-manaul/]
Certificate of Attendance
A digital certificate that states the hours of live participation in the workshop will be emailed to you after the training event. You must attend the workshop live to receive a certificate.
New: Workshop recording is now available to attendees
By attending this workshop I understand I am giving my consent for the workshop to be video recorded and for this video recording to be available to people attending the workshop live and for it to be sold separately, for the amount of time determined by OCTC and outlined in the purchase agreement. My name, if displayed onscreen, and my image will make up part of this recording. Recordings are the property of OCTC and making copies of these recordings or sharing login details is not permitted. Please do not reveal details which may compromise the anonymity of clients.
The recording will be available to view for a period of three months.
Presenter
Tom Graham, Counselling Psychologist
Tom trained as a Counselling Psychologist at Roehampton University and completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapies at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London.
He joined Oxford Health Specialist Psychological Intervention Centre (OHSPIC) and the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre (OCTC) after 10 years at South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, working at Southwark Talking Therapies and the Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma.
Tom specialises in cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety disorders, with special interests and expertise in misophonia and hoarding disorder.
Tom also provides training and supervision to trainees on OCTC’s range of courses and those completing Oxford University’s Clinical Psychology Doctorate, as well supervising external professionals and delivering workshops and webinars to community teams and third sector organisations.
Additional Information
Cancellation & changes policy
If you cancel more than 14 days prior to your booked event, we will refund your fee minus a charge of 15% to cover our administration costs. We regret that cancellations 14 days or less before the booked event cannot be refunded or changed/transferred.
If you wish to change/transfer your booking after confirmation we will do our best to accommodate you if you notify us 14 days prior to your booked event, and if there is space to do so. However there will be an administration charge of £15 per change/transfer.
Confidentiality
Workshops often contain clinical material. This is always anonymised as far as possible but delegates are none the less reminded to respect confidentiality.
All that is discussed in your therapy sessions will be treated as confidential, with the following exceptions.
We are required to seek supervision by our professional body (The British Psychological Society or equivalent) as a means of ensuring good practice. We will usually inform your referrer of your progress, but the details that we disclose will be discussed with you. We do have a statutory obligation to break confidentiality under rare circumstances, namely, if we believe that a client is of danger to themselves or to others (under the Mental Health Act, 2001) or if we believe that a child is at actual risk of physical or sexual abuse (The Children Act, Section 47, 1989).
If we felt that it would be helpful to request additional medical, social or legal information, we could only do this with your consent. Similarly, should another medical, social or legal professional request information from us, we would not release this without your consent.
Disclaimer
OCTC makes every effort to ensure that this programme is delivered as advertised. However, should a presenter have to cancel, we will endeavour to find another suitable presenter. We will inform attendees as soon as is reasonably practical and, if requested, will offer a refund. In the rare event that we are unable to substitute a presenter, we may cancel a workshop and refund payments already made by attendees. OCTC will not refund travel and accommodation costs that attendees may incur.
All the workshops in this programme are carried out by highly experienced therapists and trainers. The individual presenter is responsible for the content of the workshop and any views expressed do not necessarily represent those of OCTC.
Although highly informative, none of the open workshops or workshop series confer a formal qualification or assurance of competence in CBT (or a specialist area of CBT) since we are unable to assess attendee competency within the training event. However, credit and award-bearing courses that lead to formal qualifications are offered by OCTC in conjunction with the University of Oxford. More about these courses is available on our website www.octc.uk
Levels of competence
Before booking a place on a workshop, please ensure that it is pitched at the appropriate level of competence for you. The guide to levels is as follows:
Basic
Basic workshops are for people from a variety of backgrounds, who have at least one year’s clinical experience. Cognitive behavioural knowledge is not necessary for attendance at these workshops, though in practice, a number of attendees will have some skills in the area, and are refreshing/updating their knowledge.
Intermediate
Intermediate workshops are directed towards people who already have knowledge of CBT, and experience in using cognitive formulations and treatment methods – for instance, they are able to identify and test automatic thoughts, and design behavioural experiments. Most participants will be using CBT as part of their clinical practice, and may still be acquiring new CBT skills.
Advanced
Advanced courses are directed towards those professionals who use CBT routinely as part of their clinical practice. They have probably undertaken a significant number of training courses and/or workshops, and use a broad range of cognitive behavioural strategies to work with a range of presentations at varying levels of complexity.
Making reservations
Bookings can only be considered confirmed after we have received your online registration or application form and payment (or invoicing details, including an official purchase order document).
The registration closing date for each workshop is shown on the workshop description page. Please note that no applications received after this deadline will be permitted.
If you are booking a workshop place for someone else, you must complete your own details in the billing field, but ENTER THE WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS NAME/ADDRESS in the shipping field. If you wish to order items using a paper order form instead of online, you can view or download an order form in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. Once downloaded, print it out, fill it in, and send off with your payment [cheque made payable to OXFORD HEALTH NHS FOUNDATION TRUST] to the address on the form.
Refreshments
The cost of the workshops includes hot drinks on arrival, mid-morning and mid-afternoon, but not usually lunch unless stated. However, for workshops that do include lunch, if you have any special dietary requirements please let us know at the time of application.
Accessibility requirements
We welcome applications from diverse backgrounds. If you have any particular needs, please contact us
prior to booking.