Mood dysregulation is a symptom that is present in a variety of disorders, particularly trauma-based and anxiety disorders. It can be challenging for clinicians to understand and manage dysregulated mood since it can present as irritability, mood swings, and angry outbursts, which can challenge the therapeutic relationship. This training will provide information to assess better mood dysregulation and how it may present itself differently in various disorders and discuss therapeutic challenges and strategies to address them.
Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:
- Identify mood dysregulation in adolescents and adults, particularly better understanding the role of mood dysregulation in trauma disorders, conduct and personality disorders, mood disorders, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
- Understand Disruptive Mood Dysregulation disorder in adolescence, why it was included in the DSM 5 as a better explanation of many youth mood disorders than Bipolar disorder, and how it manifests itself over the life course.
- Analyze therapeutic challenges of mood dysregulation, such as irritability and anger towards providers and concerns about safety and self-harm.
Syllabus:
Objective #1: Understanding Mood Dysregulation
- Define emotions and components: subjective experience, physiological response, and behavioral response
- Explain emotional regulation and its role in social and cognitive functioning
- Identify emotion dysregulation as a core feature of psychiatric illness across the lifespan
Objective #2: Development and Causes of Emotional Dysregulation
- Examine attachment issues, neuropsychological vulnerabilities, and trauma as roots of dysregulation
- Differentiate between emotional intensity, duration, and frequency problems
- Discuss disorders characterized by hyperreactivity and hyporeactivity
Objective #3: Emotional Dysregulation and Psychiatric Disorders
- Explore emotional reactivity in anxiety, conduct disorder, depression, and schizophrenia
- Review emotional duration issues in phobias, PTSD, and borderline personality disorder
- Assess emotional frequency disruptions in intermittent explosive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, and autism spectrum disorders
Objective #4: Interoceptive Awareness and Regulation Difficulties
- Understand interoception issues in ADHD and other regulation disorders
- Discuss hyperawareness and its impact on self-regulation and emotional responses
Objective #5: Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Define DMDD and its diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5
- Discuss how DMDD differs from bipolar disorder in youth
- Identify common comorbidities with ADHD, ODD, and ASD
- Explore treatment approaches using DBT and parental support
Objective #6: Therapeutic Challenges in Mood Dysregulation
- Examine the impact of client irritability, anger, and self-harm on therapeutic alliance
- Understand the importance of creating a safe and stable holding environment in therapy
- Discuss Control-Mastery Theory and how clients test therapeutic relationships
Objective #7: Managing Countertransference and Clinician Self-Care
- Recognize normal clinician emotional responses to dysregulated clients
- Address myths of omniscience and beneficence among clinicians
- Emphasize the need for team support, mindfulness, and structured environments
Objective #8: Strategies for Supporting Dysregulated Clients
- Utilize DBT skills to teach emotional regulation and emotional flexibility
- Promote reframing problematic behaviors as efforts toward safety and connection
- Encourage self-awareness in clinicians to differentiate personal reactions from clinical realities
Social workers completing this course receive 2 Clinical asynchronous continuing education credits.
For other board approvals, this course qualifies for 2 Clinical continuing education training.
Instructor: Dr. Jillian Graves, PhD, LMSW
Recording Date: 2/29/2024
CEUS On-Demand, LLC, provider #2274, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/7/2026 - 08/6/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 2hrs Clinical continuing education credits.
CEUs On-Demand, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7091. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CEUs On-Demand, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
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Request for Special Accommodations: Learners can request special accommodations by contacting the administrative team at admin@ceus-ondemand.com