Worry, Panic and Phobia: Evidence-Based Approaches to Alleviate Anxiety
Tell someone not to think about a white bear and they think about the white bear. That much is famous. The less famous finding is that when you tell someone not to think about the thing they genuinely worry about, the effect is stronger than it is for the neutral bear. Which means the advice every worried client has already been given, by family, by friends, and sometimes by us, is actively making it worse.
Jennifer Abel builds the whole approach from there. Fighting anxiety fuels it, and most of us were raised to fight what we do not like, so the instruction to relax or calm down lands as one more thing to resist. She is precise about what worry actually is, and equally precise that planning and problem solving are not worry, which matters because clients routinely defend the first by calling it the second.
Her strongest practical argument is that worry should be assessed in every client who walks in, whatever they came for. It is transdiagnostic, it turns up alongside most other presentations, it tends to arrive first and make the ground ready for something more severe, and clients will not report it because they have long since stopped noticing it. Six hours across generalised anxiety, panic and phobia, with demonstrations, case examples and film clips.
You’ll walk away with
- A precise definition of worry, and the line between worry and the planning and problem solving clients hide behind
- The case for assessing worry in every client regardless of presenting problem, and the questions that get past a client who has normalised it
- Five reasons people worry, including the superstitious version, worry used as a distraction from more painful material, worry performed as evidence of caring, and contrast avoidance
- Why thought suppression backfires, and why it backfires harder for a client’s real worry than for a neutral one
- Fighting anxiety understood as the thing that feeds it, and language that moves a client toward relaxation instead of resisting anxiety
- What “calm down” actually does, demonstrated on you in about ten seconds so you never say it to a client again
- Operant conditioning applied properly to anxiety, including why negative reinforcement has to be interrupted and where clinicians commonly misread it
- Seven types of exposure, so the method fits the presentation rather than one procedure being applied to everything
- A physiological explanation of panic you can give a client to settle the fear that something is medically wrong with them
- Interoceptive exposure and mindful acceptance for panic, and a separate approach for phobia
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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.
Course Duration: 6 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
Anxiety disorders that resist standard treatments - chronic worry, panic attacks that won't respond to typical interventions, and performance anxiety that derails careers - can sometimes need more than generic cognitive-behavioral approaches to create lasting change. Jennifer Abel has spent over 30 years specialising exclusively in anxiety disorders, becoming one of the world's leading experts in treating resistant anxiety presentations and developing innovative strategies that help clients achieve rapid relief where other approaches have failed.
As former Assistant Director of Penn State's Stress and Anxiety Disorders Institute under T.D. Borkovec (the leading expert in Generalised Anxiety Disorder), Dr. Abel represents the highest level of expertise in evidence-based anxiety treatment. Her bestselling books - including The Anxiety, Worry, & Depression Workbook (4.6/5 stars with 450+ Amazon ratings) and the popular Melt Worry & Relax Card Deck - have helped thousands of practitioners and clients worldwide. Her invitation by the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies to write their GAD pamphlet reflects her recognition as a premier authority in worry and anxiety treatment.
Dr. Abel's expertise spans all anxiety disorders with particular specialisation in Generalised Anxiety Disorder, panic disorder, OCD, performance anxiety, insomnia, and compassion fatigue. Her integrative approach combines cognitive-behavioral therapy with mindfulness, schema therapy, DBT, and ACT techniques, creating personalised treatment plans for clients who haven't responded to standard protocols. She specialises in helping athletes and musicians enhance performance without medication, treating resistant anxiety presentations, and working with high-achievers whose anxiety interferes with their professional success.
What sets her training apart is practical innovation combined with deep research expertise. Abel doesn't just teach textbook techniques - she shows practitioners how to adapt evidence-based interventions for clients who don't fit standard presentations. Her workshop evaluations consistently rate above 4.25 out of 5, with some participants calling her training "the most informative and skill-building workshop" they've attended.
For your practice, expect to gain specific techniques for treatment-resistant anxiety, innovative interventions for chronic worry, and tools for working with performance-focused clients. Her approach particularly benefits clinicians working with high-achievers, those struggling with standard CBT outcomes, or practitioners wanting specialised expertise in anxiety disorders.
Quick Win: Abel's "worry postponement" technique helps clients reduce rumination by scheduling specific worry times - often providing relief within days and creating space for more productive coping strategies.
Qualifications
- Ph.D., Adult Clinical Psychology, West Virginia University, 1987–1992
- Post-Doctoral Studies, Penn State University, 1992–1994
- M.A., Adult Clinical Psychology, West Virginia University
- B.A., Psychology and Music, University of Missouri, Kansas City, 1981–1984
- Licensed for teletherapy in 35–40+ states
- 30+ years specialising in anxiety disorders
Authored Books
- The Anxiety, Worry, & Depression Workbook: 65 Exercises, Worksheets & Tips to Improve Mood and Feel Better (bestseller, 4.6/5 stars, 450+ Amazon ratings)
- Melt Worry & Relax Card Deck: 56 CBT & Mindfulness Strategies to Release Anxiety
- Resistant Anxiety, Worry, and Panic: 86 Practical Treatment Strategies for Clinicians (2014)
- Active Relaxation: How to Increase Productivity and Achieve Balance by Decreasing Stress and Anxiety (2010)
- Melt Worry & Relax Card Deck for Kids (co-author, in press, includes art therapy)
Professional Experience
- International Speaker & Author, Anxiety Expert, 2018–present
- Clinical Psychologist, Private Practice, St. Louis, MO, 1994–2018, 2022–present
- Assistant Director, Stress and Anxiety Disorders Institute, Penn State University (post-1994)
Training & Education
- Internship, University of Mississippi Medical Center (Panic Disorders, Eating Disorders, PTSD rotations)
- Practicum, Anxiety Disorders Center, Chestnut Ridge Hospital
- Practicum, FCI Morgantown Prison (behavioral medicine focus)
International Training
- Professional trainer for mental health professionals in USA, Canada, Australia
- Over 300 workshops and seminars delivered
- Specialised programs in performance enhancement and anxiety treatment
Clinical Specialties
- Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and chronic worry
- Treatment-resistant anxiety presentations
- Performance anxiety for athletes and musicians (non-medication approaches)
- Panic disorder and agoraphobia
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Social anxiety and phobias
- Insomnia and sleep anxiety
- Compassion fatigue and burnout in healthcare professionals
Ready to help anxiety clients achieve breakthrough results where standard treatments have failed? Discover how Dr. Abel's innovative, research-backed strategies can help transform your ability to treat even the most resistant anxiety presentations with confidence and effectiveness.
Feedback & Reviews
This course includes:
- Lessons 5
- Topics 0
- Duration 6 hours
- Quizzes 1
- Language English