Dr. Rob Woodman, Ph.D., MSCP
Live Your Life Abundanatly
Dr. Rob Woodman, Ph.D., MSCP, treats anxiety disorders, anger, sleep problems (insomnia), worry & nervousness, depression, bipolar disorder, OCD and trauma; couples therapy/relationship issues.
He is distinguished by his high level of compassion, training and proven ability to provide effective guidance for personal growth and deeper, richer relationships.
Dr. Woodman is president of the Sacramento Valley Psychological Association and Past-Chair of the California Psychological Association Division of Clinical Psychopharmacolgy.
Dr Woodman is a licensed psychologist in California PSY 13069
Dr. Woodman is president of the Sacramento Valley Psychological Association and Past-Chair of the California Psychological Association Division of Clinical Psychopharmacolgy.
Dr Woodman is a licensed psychologist in California PSY 13069
Brain-Based Psychotherapy
I'm a neuropsychologist who does a lot of psychotherapy. I do it from a brain perspective. In my work of neuropsychology I get people to do a task to test a particular brain function such as remember a list or organize, prioritize, and so on. In doing these tasks I can test the functioning of all the parts of the brain. Taking this into psychotherapy, by asking people to do certain things with their brain, such as noticing, focusing attention and so on, I am not only exercising parts of the brain that need to be strengthened, strengthening the neural connections, but also influencing the flow of neurotransmitters.
I've become very interested in the apperception of beauty as a very powerful way of stopping obsessions, worry and hallucinations. I train people in noticing as an alternative to the habitual and limited thinking most people do. Both of these things use the whole brain and bring balance as well as a sense of pleasure, flow of dopamine, and relaxation of muscles, flow of GABA. I've also become very interested in play because it is a state of consciousness that uses the whole brain and allows a full use of the intellect without becoming intellectual.
Goals of treatment can be to increase your capacity to experience
- Beauty
- Happiness
- Joy
- Love
- Peace
New Concept in Anxiety leads to Novel Treatment
By Rob Woodman, Ph.D., MSCP
Anxiety is
the most common mental health problem, the most common referral for treatment
and the most common cause of insomnia as well can a contributor to chronic
pain, cardiovascular disease, obesity and other illnesses. The basic mechanism of brain to stress
hormone (adrenaline and cortisol) is well known and exposure and response
prevention has been shown to be a successful treatment.
What we
observe in anxiety disorders is that a person does what we call “safety
seeking” behaviors that often include avoidance (part of safety seeking). What remains unclear is why the person
continues to seek safety even when there is no objective danger and why the
person finds it so difficult to engage in the treatment process.
This new
concept is that the person is driven to seek safety just like a person can be
driven to addictive behaviors. The concept
is that both disorders are problems of drive, not just problems of reward seeking
in addiction or safety seeking in anxiety.
Drive, caused by the release of dopamine, becomes a conditioned response
to a cue or trigger, and that cue can generalize. In other words, if one is afraid of the dark,
any darkness becomes the trigger to release dopamine that now drives the
behavior of safety seeking. For the
alcoholic, the dimming of light may drive the behavior of seeking a drink.
We need to
appreciate how powerful these drives are.
Drives are what get us to do
anything, from getting up in the morning, to eating, to accomplishing a task
especially if there is delayed reward.
It also drives us to using drugs even if there is little or no reward
and severe punishment like prolonged imprisonment or risk of death
Now we can
see how seeking safety, though unnecessary and despite being insatiable, is a triggered,
conditioned response that releases dopamine and irrationally drives the safety
seeking behavior and avoidance.
Treatment, then, can be aimed at the drive rather than just at changing
the behaviors. This same approach can be
used to treat addictions and other compulsive behaviors.
If caught
early enough in the cycle, the drive can be successfully stopped by using
simple facial expressions that interrupt the pattern of dopamine release. This is ongoing research.
This treatment is still in the experimental stage but results are promising.
Call me at
530 902-1683
2655 Portage Bay East, Suite 8
Davis, CA 95616
Follow my occasional blog about Happiness at
