Course Description

The Distancing Technique was initially developed using EMDR targets that had an over-importance of thoughts, the need to control thoughts, and the thought-action fusion. It also targets the misinterpretation of sensation as predictive of future catastrophe. The goal of this technique is for the client to become a detached observer to his/her thoughts, sensations, images, and/or urges. For example, to understand that the obsession is a thought and not real, to gain distance from the thought, and put it aside. The anxiety disorders that the Distancing Technique can be applied to include OCD, panic disorders, and phobias. Interweaves, which come from the client’s own words as expressed in the Preparation Phase, are used, when necessary, in the Standard Protocol to process the initial, worst, most recent and current triggers (including the Pandemic). Learn more in this course presented by C. Paula Krentzel, Ph.D. and Jennifer Tattersall, LCSW.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to describe the 3 components of The Distancing Technique and list the procedural steps of Distancing as used within the Preparation Phase of the EMDR Standard Protocol.
2. Participants will be able to identify Future Rehearsal with a focus on integrating the use of adaptive coping statements in challenging situations.
3. Participants will be able to identify and integrate the distancing strategies throughout the the 8 phases of the Standard Protocol.

Presenter(s)

C. Paula Krentzel, PhD

C. Paula Krentzel, PhD, a practicing psychologist for three decades, is a certified EMDR clinician and an Approved EMDR Consultant. She is a Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP) and EMDRIA Facilitator and a member of the Boston Trauma Response Network. Dr. Krentzel was trained at Massachusetts General Hospital and Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA. Her areas of expertise are developmental and complex trauma, anxiety disorders (specifically, Obsessive–Compulsive Disorders (OCD), attachment disorders, chronic medical disorders, and depression. Dr Krentzel developed the Distancing Technique for the treatment of OCD and anxiety disorders, which she presents internationally.

Jennifer Tattersall, LCSW

Jennifer Tattersall, LCSW, CBIS, CCDP has a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Connecticut. She is a certified Brain Injury Specialist and a Co-Occurring Disorders Professional. Jennifer is a certified EMDR therapist and an EMDRIA approved Consultant. She is honored to be the Clinical Preceptor for the Groton New London Naval Submarine Base Substance Abuse Rehabilitation
Center and specializes in working with adults with trauma, complex trauma, OCD, and substance use.