Keynote address | Prof Ross Menzies | Innovations in the treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
| Sunday, May 17, 2020 |
| 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM |
Presenter(s)
Prof Ross Menzies
B.Sc.Psych(Hons I), M.Psychol(Clin)(Hons I), PhD
University Of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Keynote address | Prof Ross Menzies | Innovations in the treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
9:00 AM - 10:00 AMOutline
Advances in our understanding of the nature and treatment of OCD will be explored in detail. The journey from mechanistic, habituation-based accounts of treatment to flexible, innovative, appraisal-based models will be explored. The role of inflated perceived responsibility, threat appraisal, intolerance to uncertainty and the need for control will be examined. Though Exposure and Ritual Prevention (ERP), in combination with cognitive therapy, remains the most popular approach to treatment, outcomes will be shown to be less than ideal. An overview of the Danger Ideation Reduction Therapy (DIRT) program will be given and possible directions for future treatment innovations will be offered. In particular, the potential importance of origin events, death and existential issues, and emotion-based reasoning will be discussed.
Biography
Ross Menzies is a Professor in the Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney (UTS). In 1991, he was appointed founding Director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the University of Sydney, a post which he held for over 20 years. He is the past National President of the Australian Association for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (AACBT) and is the editor of Australia's national CBT journal, Behaviour Change. Professor Menzies is an active researcher with nearly three decades of continuous funding from national competitive sources. He has produced 9 books and more than 200 journal papers and book chapters and was the President and Convenor of the 8th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (WCBCT) in Melbourne in 2016. He has recently been appointed a founding director of the newly formed World Confederation of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (WCCBT) to be based in New York.
