About this course

Learning Objectives

• Identify the proposed mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of exposure therapy
• Explain differences between the habituation and inhibitory learning models of exposure therapy
• Apply techniques from exposure therapy when treating anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders
• Develop flexible exposure hierarchies that meet clients where they are
• Identify and address potential treatment obstacles, including safety behaviors and intellectualization

Learning Levels

• Beginner
• Intermediate

Target Audience

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Dr. Amelia Aldao, Ph.D.

  Clinical Psychologist, Director Together CBT

  Dr. Amelia Aldao is a Clinical Psychologist with 18 years of experience doing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety disorders, OCD, body-focused repetitive behaviors, stress, depression, and related conditions She is the Founder and Director of Together CBT, a private practice in New York City. She has been training students for over a decade. She is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University and an Educational Consultant in the Psychiatry Department at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Aldao also regularly supervises doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows at her practice. In recent years she has also been a Visiting Scholar at Teachers College of Columbia University. Prior to this, she was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The Ohio State University, where she published over 60 scientific articles on anxiety disorders and emotion regulation. Her meta-analytic review on emotion regulation strategies as a transdiagnostic process remains one of the most widely cited articles in the field of emotion regulation, currently having over 9,500 citations in Google Scholar. Most recently, she authored a chapter on exposure and anxiety disorders for the prestigious Handbook of Emotion Regulation by Dr. James Gross of Stanford University. Her work has been recognized by the top professional associations in psychology: she was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and received an Early Career Award by the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT). Dr. Aldao has held several leadership positions in professional associations in the field: she was a Member of the Clinical Practice Guidelines Workforce of the American Psychological Association (APA), a Communications Director for the Anxiety Disorders Special Interest Group of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), and a member of the Continuing Education Committee of ABCT. Following her career in academia, she spent two years at a “Big 3” management consulting firm (Boston Consulting Group), where she helped some of the world’s largest companies develop customer-centric growth strategies. In this role, she developed an expertise in marketing, sales, and pricing. Dr. Aldao received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Yale University, where she worked under the mentorship of the late Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, and Dr. Douglas Mennin. She completed an APA-approved pre-doctoral internship at Weill Cornell / New York Presbyterian Hospital. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, summa cum laude, with Honors in Psychology, and Phi Beta Kappa. She is licensed in New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island and is also authorized to see patients in all of the states that have joined PSYPACT.

Disclosure

References

• Benito, K., Pittig, A., Abramowitz, J., Arch, J. J., Chavira, D., de Kleine, R., ... & Smits, J. A. (2024). Mechanisms of change in exposure therapy for anxiety and related disorders: A research agenda. Clinical Psychological Science, 21677026241240727.
• Knowles, K. A., & Tolin, D. F. (2022). Mechanisms of action in exposure therapy. Current Psychiatry Reports, 24(12), 861-869.
• Craske, M. G., Treanor, M., Zbozinek, T. D., & Vervliet, B. (2022). Optimizing exposure therapy with an inhibitory retrieval approach and the OptEx Nexus. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 152, 104069.
• Knowles, K. A., & Olatunji, B. (2019). Enhancing inhibitory learning: The utility of variability in exposure. Cognitive & Behavioral Practice, 26, 186-200.
• Weisman, J.S ., & Thomas L. Rodebaugh (2018). Exposure therapy augmentation: A review and extension of techniques informed by an inhibitory learning approach, Clinical Psychology Review, 59, 41-51.
• Hofmann, S. G., & Hay, A. C. (2018). Rethinking avoidance: Towards a balanced approach to avoidance in treating anxiety disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 55, 14-21.
• Craske, M. G., Treanor, M., Conway, C. C., Zbozinek, T., & Vervliet, B. (2014). Maximizing exposure therapy: An Inhibitory learning approach. Behaviour Resaerch & Therapy, 58, 10-23.