Conspiracy Theories & Political Radicalization: Clinical Considerations
Corey Petersen opens by asking you to think of the first conspiracy theory you can remember hearing. Then how long you believed it. Then how you came to know that it was one. It is a deliberate question, and it puts you inside the process rather than outside it, which is where a clinician has to be if any of this is going to work.
His background is unusual. He is a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist with a doctorate in communication, trained in political communication and persuasion, and he taught the subject for a decade before and alongside clinical practice. He describes himself as a political strategist who happens to be a therapist. That combination is why the course is about mechanisms rather than positions: how groups form identity, how persuasion actually operates, how language gets laid down in advance of an event so that a particular conclusion becomes the only available one.
Three hours. He covers the psychology of social radicalisation, including deindividuation and what happens to a person’s stated values inside a group, and the spiral of silence that keeps even the doubters quiet. Then the persuasive tactics themselves, worked through with real examples from public life, including inoculation, audience types and why only one of the three can actually be persuaded. Then the clinical half, which is where the value sits: the ethical bind of pushing a client to defend a belief against saying nothing at all, how to assess distress and severity, and how to assess intention toward harm, which is the part most clinicians have no framework for. He closes on specific communication strategies and on the barriers that keep these conversations from going anywhere.
You’ll walk away with
- A way into the subject that starts with your own history rather than the client’s, and why that matters clinically
- The psychology of social radicalisation as a gradual process, not a switch that flips
- Deindividuation, and what happens to people’s stated values once a group identity is involved
- The spiral of silence, and why people who privately disagree say nothing
- How persuasion and influence actually work, taught by someone who trained political communicators
- Inoculation: how language introduced before an event shapes how people read it afterwards
- Audience types, and why only the uncommitted can be persuaded, which has direct clinical implications
- The ethical bind between challenging a belief and saying nothing, and how to work inside it
- Assessing distress and severity when beliefs are consuming a client’s life
- Assessing intention toward harm, including how to tell a flippant remark from a real one
- Communication strategies for staying in the conversation without either endorsing or arguing
- The communication barriers that make these sessions fail, drawn from his own research
Watch the course trailer
CPD Information For Mental Health Professionals
Enjoy complete flexibility with 100% self-paced learning you can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device. This course is included with your Tatra Training membership, along with every other course in the library.
Please note: Corey Petersen teaches persuasion using real examples from United States public life, including named political figures and the 2020 election, analysed as communication rather than endorsed or criticised. The course was recorded in 2022 and uses the pandemic period as part of its material.
Included: a handout and the session slides.
Course Duration: 3 learning hours
Certificate and CPD hours: On completion you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion to support your CPD records. Your certificates are yours to keep.
Assessment: Complete a short quiz at the end (80% pass mark), which you can resit as many times as needed.
Revisit Anytime: Come back to the course as often as you like while your membership is active, whenever you want a refresher for practice.
CPD Eligibility: This program may be suitable for CPD for professionals such as:
- Psychologists
- Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Social Workers
- Community Workers
- Mental Health Nurses
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Occupational Therapists
CPD requirements vary between professional bodies, so please check with your association or credentialing body to confirm you can claim CPD hours/OPD points for this program and what evidence they require.
Course Content
Meet Your Instructor
Communication breakdowns that destroy relationships - whether between couples, family members, or in therapeutic settings - often stem from deeper patterns that most practitioners miss. Corey Petersen brings a unique combination of advanced communication research and clinical expertise to help practitioners understand how language shapes therapeutic outcomes and relationship healing.
With a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Kansas and dual master's degrees in Professional Communication and Marriage and Family Studies, Dr. Petersen represents a rare fusion of academic rigor and clinical practice. His doctoral research on "Finding a Therapist That 'Speaks Your Language'" explores how therapists' communication patterns influence client engagement and treatment success - insights that directly inform his training for mental health professionals. His decade of teaching experience across communication and psychology courses gives him exceptional skill in translating complex concepts into practical applications.
Dr. Petersen's expertise spans couple and family therapy, neurodivergent-affirming approaches, chronic pain and illness, self-harm, anxiety, and cultural humility. His approach combines evidence-based therapeutic interventions with sophisticated understanding of how communication patterns either facilitate or hinder therapeutic progress. He specialises in helping clinicians recognise when their own communication style creates barriers to client connection and provides specific techniques for adapting language to match clients' communication preferences.
What sets his training apart is communication precision. Petersen doesn't just teach therapy techniques - he shows practitioners how the specific words, timing, and delivery of interventions can dramatically alter client responses. His research background gives him evidence-based insights into why certain therapeutic communications succeed while others fail, even with similar content.
For your practice, expect to gain specific skills in therapeutic communication, tools for working with neurodivergent clients, and frameworks for addressing chronic pain and medical challenges in therapy. His methods particularly benefit clinicians who want to improve their therapeutic presence or work more effectively with clients who have communication differences.
Quick Win: Petersen's "communication matching" technique teaches clinicians to identify clients' preferred communication patterns in the first session and adjust their therapeutic language accordingly - often doubling client engagement and treatment compliance.
Qualifications
- Ph.D., Communication Studies, University of Kansas, 2023
- M.S., Marriage and Family Studies, Friends University
- M.A., Professional Communication, Southern Utah University
- B.S., Psychology, Southern Utah University
- B.S., Strategic Communication, Southern Utah University
- Licensed Clinical Marriage & Family Therapist (Kansas)
- Clinical Hypnotherapist
- 10+ years teaching experience in Communication and Psychology
Teaching & Roles
- Owner, Communication and Connection Therapy, Overland Park, KS, 2013–present
- Doctoral Candidate & Graduate Instructor, University of Kansas, 2017–2022
- Academic Coach, Instructional Connections, LLC, 2015–2018
- Adjunct Teacher & Lecturer, Communication and Psychology courses (10 years)
Featured Training
- GoodTherapy webinars: "Ethical Considerations of Therapy Without a Presenting Problem" (2025)
- "Strengthening Relationships in the Face of Medical Challenges" (2024)
- "Navigating Blended Family Dynamics" (2024)
Specialised Expertise
- Communication theory applied to therapeutic practice
- Neurodivergent-affirming therapeutic approaches
- Chronic pain and illness in couple/family systems
- Self-harm assessment and intervention
- Cultural humility in therapeutic relationships
- Organisational communication principles in family therapy
Ready to transform how you communicate with clients? Discover how Dr. Petersen's research-backed communication methods can enhance your therapeutic effectiveness and deepen client connections across diverse populations.
Feedback & Reviews
This course includes:
- Lessons 4
- Topics 0
- Duration 3 hours
- Quizzes 1
- Language English