Reid Wilson’s pioneering work in the treatment of anxiety disorders may seem unconventional, even provocative at first; especially to clinicians who have neither been trained in exposure therapy or who are resistant or intimidated by the approach. However, by “sitting in” with him alongside these three clients, you will watch and learn that for those struggling with anxiety disorders, experience is indeed the greatest teacher.

Wilson begins his work with Olivia, a woman suffering from a longstanding fear of contamination coupled with an extensive, rigid and paralyzing repertoire of cleaning rituals that keep her frozen in her own life. With humor, clarity, and empathic analogies that leverage her motivation for success, he encourages Olivia to look beyond the content of her fears, externalize her anxiety, challenge her attitude towards her fear-based symptoms, and welcome the chance to master her discomfort. He provides Olivia with here-and-now mastery-oriented assignments, psychoeducation and practical tools to live amicably with anxiety by replacing maladaptive avoidance and with an in-the-moment acceptance of distress and mastery over it.

Next, we meet Renée, who has been struggling with panic disorder for almost a decade and has been unable to do much of anything alone. Fearful of driving, shopping at the supermarket, or even taking a stroll in the park, she has become increasingly agoraphobic, only venturing as far as her parents’ home 3 1/2 miles away. Seeing the effect her anxiety is having on her ability to parent her small child, she feels she must tackle her problem now, for his benefit as well as her own. With humor and compassion, Wilson engages Renée in his signature “provocative approach” to treating panic disorders, encouraging her to not only welcome, but beg her symptoms to increase when she feels them arise. Using exposure therapy to recreate her symptoms in vivo, he shows Renée that it is her relationship to her symptoms, rather than the symptoms themselves, that makes them so intractable. And in this understanding, Renee gains the courage to wipe away her rituals.

Finally, we watch Wilson work with Mary, who loves to travel, but dreads the tight, inescapable enclosed space of airplanes. In fact, any enclosed space where she feels trapped triggers Mary’s fear of suffocation, so she spends much of her time avoiding parking structures, elevators, and reluctantly coping with panic attacks when avoidance is impossible. Over the course of two transformational sessions, Wilson leads Mary through several cognitive and behavioral experiments which give her the opportunity to face her fears of both suffocation and restriction. From breathing with a nose plug on, to sliding a pillowcase over her head and sealing it with packing tape, and finally to climbing into a large cardboard box, Mary courageously peels away layers of terror, gradually shifting her point of view from “I can’t handle this” to “I want this fear and I can handle it.”

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So, whether you’re struggling using traditional approaches with these challenging clients, have not been trained in exposure therapy, or are simply looking for a fresh understanding of anxiety disorders and effective ways to treat it, you will welcome Wilson's innovative approach and learn how to put it into immediate practice.



Learning Objectives

After watching these videos, you will...

• Apply the core concepts of Wilson’s approach to treating clients suffering from anxiety disorders, including panic and phobias
• Identify tools for facilitating effective anxiety-reducing approach, rather than avoidant behaviors
• Utilize rapport and leverage clients' existing strengths to build clients' commitment to treatment and long-lasting change