NICABM – Work with Clients Emotional Triggers

Arichive : NICABM – Work with Clients Emotional Triggers

How to Help Your Client Manage Their Emotional Triggers with Practical Skills They Can Use in Real Time

When clients get triggered, it can set off a chain reaction of emotional overwhelm and reactivity.

So how do we help clients shift out of this difficult cycle when their nervous system starts to rev up (or shut down)?

First, we have to look at specific ways to keep a triggered emotion from overwhelming the client.

Then we have to focus on breaking powerful behavior-trigger-reward loops.

From there, we have to undo the hidden traps left behind on their nervous system from trauma and attachment breakdowns.

Most importantly, we have to help the client carry this work out into the real world so that they become empowered.

That’s why we got together with 26 top experts and asked for their best strategies for working with clients’ emotional triggers. For the first time ever, all their expert insights have been gathered in one place . . .

How to Work with a Client’s Emotional Triggers

The Neurobiology of an Emotional Trigger

Ron Siegel, PsyD      Dan Siegel, MD

• How the brain primes us for emotional triggers
• Two ways the brain processes emotion that can fuel emotional sensitivity
• The trigger pipeline that connects unprocessed feelings to impulsivity

How to Keep a Triggered Emotion from Overwhelming the Client

Shelly Harrell, PhD      Lynn Lyons, LICSW

Kelly McGonigal, PhD      Joan Borysenko, PhD

Rick Hanson, PhD

• The “Band-Aid” strategy to prevent an emotional wound from getting triggered
• The trigger-resistant mindset that can help clients escape a reactivity cycle
• How to keep the nervous system regulated when an emotional trigger gets tripped

How to Prevent Vulnerabilities from Turning into Painful Triggers

Michael Yapko, PHD      Deany Laliotis, LICSW

Joan Borysenko, PhD      Ron Siegel, PsyD

• One question that can hit the “pause button” on a client’s trigger response
• A simple reframe that can unravel an emotional trigger’s grip on the client
• How to connect clients with trigger-resistant resources to keep them from being emotionally flooded

How to Break Habit-Trigger-Reward Loops

Donald Meichenbaum, PhD      Kelly McGonigal, PhD

Judson Brewer, MD, PhD

• One simple strategy that can shift a blamer out of their deeply-ingrained justifications
• How to help clients reduce the shame they attach to their reactivity
• Why shame can glue clients to their triggers
• Why guilt makes an emotional trigger so much more powerful (and how to undo this)
• How to help clients visualize their trigger sequence to find their pain points

How to Work with a Highly-Triggered Nervous System

Stephen Porges, PhD      Deb Dana, LCSW

Kelly McGonigal, PhD

• How Polyvagal Theory can spark powerful new interventions for healing triggers
• How a trigger response can block a client’s nervous system from processing safety cues
• How a triggered physiology can spark a downward spiral of negative experience

How to Help Triggered Clients Who Dissociate from Their Bodies

Christine Padesky, PhD      Pat Ogden PhD

Rick Hanson, PhD

• The vital first step before working with a dissociated client
• How to strengthen a client’s emotional tolerance when they dissociate
• A simple strategy to neutralize emotional overwhelm and prevent dissociation

How To Work with Emotional Triggers Connected to Trauma

Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW      Peter Levine, PhD

Kelly McGonigal, PhD      Ron Siegel, PsyD

Rick Hanson, PhD

• How traumatic memory can lead to unpredictable triggers
• How to safely foster new sensations in traumatized clients who are shut off from their body
• How to avoid getting triggered by a client’s high-octane reactivity

How to Help Clients Build Powerful Self-Regulation Skills

Ron Siegel, PsyD      Terry Real, MSW, LICSW

David Wallin, PhD      Kelly McGonigal, PhD

Rick Hanson, PhD

• One critical skill that can prevent triggered emotions from escalating
• How to work with clients who have become attached to their reactive response
• A 3-step approach to help clients take back control from their trigger

How to Work with Triggers Fueled by Negative Attachment

Richard Schwartz, PhD      Pat Ogden, PhD

Rick Hanson, PhD

• Why it’s crucial to discriminate whether a trigger’s origin is trauma or attachment
• How to work with the 3 main fears that can undermine the treatment of triggers

How to Neutralize a Reactivity Pattern

Kelly Wilson, PhD     Zindel Segal, PhD

• The first two steps in treating a trigger response that can profoundly affect outcome
• How to help diminish a client’s road rage that’s leaving them tired and angry
• How to expand a client’s capacity to choose a better response to their trigger
• One way to help a war veteran shift a core belief that’s fueling their trigger

How to Help Clients Shift from Reactivity to Healing

Bill O’Hanlon, LMFT     Kelly McGonigal, PhD

Steven Hayes, PhD

• A strong coping strategy for the unmet needs that drive reactivity
• How to deepen a client’s context sensitivity to increase the space between trigger and reaction