Integrative CBT for Anxiety Disorders: An Evidence–Based Approach to Enhancing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with Mindfulness and Hypnotherapy

Dr Assen Alladin has advanced our understanding of anxiety disorders and provided a model for truly integrative treatment that will serve as an extremely important and useful resource for clinicians for many years to come.

Gary Elkins, PhD, ABPP, ABPH, Professor,
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University

This valuable text provides clear descriptions of evidence–based strategies for helping individuals better manage and recover from anxiety disorders. The case examples, drawn from Alladin s decades of clinical experience, are both interesting and informative, and make it possible for clinicians to envision how they can easily incorporate these proven techniques into their practice.

Mark P. Jensen, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair for Research, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, and author of Hypnosis for Chronic Pain Management

We are fortunate, indeed, to encounter the breadth and depth of Dr Alladin s comprehensive knowledge. It culminates in deeply creative and caring clinical work that can inspire freshness and energy in our own efforts. Assen Alladin has once again given us an invaluable practical guide for our work with patients.

Claire Frederick, MD, Distinguished Consulting Faculty, Saybrook University,and past editor of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis

This book applies a systematic integrative approach to the psychological treatment of DSM–5 anxiety disorders. Building on a solid base of evidence–based CBT, Assen Alladin shows how simple techniques drawn from mindfulness and hypnosis can be used to create settings within which the cognitive behavioural treatment of anxiety disorders can become more effective. Experimental research has shown that anxiety disorders have a large unconscious element, and psychodynamic techniques such as those used in hypnosis are therefore well–suited to uncover hidden associations and fears thereby catalysing cognitive behavioural treatment.

Anxiety disorders for which the author s approach has been demonstrated to be effective include specific phobia, social phobia, GAD, panic disorder, separation anxiety disorder, agoraphobia and selective mutism. Each is explored in a dedicated chapter with illustrative case examples. The book also includes coverage of Wolfe s Focusing Technique (affect bridge), a powerful tool for exposing damaging associations, which can easily be combined with hypnosis to amplify the experiential effect. Each clinical chapter presents a broad array of strategies for treating specific anxiety disorders, from which therapists are able to select the most appropriate treatment for their individual patients.

About the Author viii

Foreword x

Preface xiii

Acknowledgements xvi

1 An Integrative Approach for Understanding and Treating Anxiety Disorders 1

Overview 1

Introduction 1

Self ]Wounds Model of Anxiety Disorders 2

Summary 13

2 Integrated Therapy for Anxiety Disorders 14

Overview 14

Integrated Therapy 14

Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Anxiety Disorders 16

Summary 52

3 Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia) 54

Case of Betty 54

Diagnostic Criteria for Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia) 55

Prevalence of Social Anxiety Disorder 56

Causes of Social Anxiety Disorder 57

Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder 58

Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Social Anxiety Disorder 59

Summary 77

4 Specific Phobia 79

Case of Mandy 79

Diagnostic Criteria for Specific Phobia 80

Prevalence of Specific Phobia 80

Causes of Specific Phobia 81

Treatment of Specific Phobia 83

Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Specific Phobia 84

Summary 103

5 Panic Disorder 104

Case of Harry 104

Diagnostic Criteria for Panic Disorder 105

Prevalence of Panic Disorder 106

Causes of Panic Disorder 106

Treatments for Panic Disorder 108

Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Panic Disorder 109

Summary 139

6 Generalized Anxiety Disorder 141

Case of Fred 141

Diagnostic Criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder 142

Prevalence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder 143

Causes of Generalized Anxiety Disorder 144

Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder 144

Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder 146

Summary 175

7 Agoraphobia 176

Case of Margaret 176

Diagnostic Criteria for Agoraphobia 177

Prevalence of Agoraphobia 178

Causes of Agoraphobia 178

Treatment of Agoraphobia 181

Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Agoraphobia 184

Summary 207

8 Separation Anxiety Disorder 208

Case of Andrew 208

Diagnostic Criteria for Separation Anxiety Disorder 209

Prevalence of Separation Anxiety Disorder 210

Causes of Separation Anxiety Disorder 211

Treatment of Separation Anxiety Disorder 212

Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Separation Anxiety Disorder 213

Case of Fran 233

Summary 239

9 Selective Mutism 241

Case of Jessica 241

Diagnostic Criteria for Selective Mutism 243

Prevalence of Selective Mutism 243

Causes of Selective Mutism 244

Treatment of Selective Mutism 245

Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Selective Mutism 246

Summary 275

10 Conclusions and Future Directions 276

Appendix A 278

Appendix B 280

References 285

Index 000

ASSEN ALLADIN is a clinical psychologist and adjunct associate professor at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary Medical School, Canada. He has practiced and taught both hypnosis and clinical psychology for three decades. Dr Alladin has published over 30 chapters and papers on clinical hypnosis, and is the author of Handbook of Cognitive–Hypnotherapy for Depression: An Evidence–Based Approach (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007), Hypnotherapy Explained (Radcliffe Publishing, 2008) and Cognitive Hypnotherapy: An Integrated Approach to the Treatment of Emotional Disorders (Wiley–Blackwell, 2008).