Intermediate Level CBT: Understanding Depression, Anxiety, and Other Specific Cognitive Models

Description

Intermediate Level CBT: Understanding Depression, Anxiety, and Other Specific Cognitive Models is Module Two of the 3-course Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Training Certificate (CBTTC). For more information on the CBTTC and discounted enrollment in the full program, please visit this page.

Depression, anxiety, panic, anger, addictive behavior, and trauma-related symptoms can overlap in ways that tempt clinicians to rely on a general cognitive behavioral therapy approach. Yet similar behaviors may be maintained by very different beliefs, attentional patterns, emotional processes, and avoidance strategies. Effective treatment depends on recognizing those differences and choosing interventions that address the processes operating for a particular client.

Designed for behavioral health professionals with foundational cognitive behavioral therapy knowledge, this intermediate course moves from the general relationship among thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and schemas into condition-specific cognitive models. It shows how case conceptualization can guide treatment planning, session agendas, intervention timing, and documentation across depression, anxiety, panic disorder, anger, addictive behavior disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Jeff Riggenbach, PhD, trained at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research and has spent more than 20 years developing and directing cognitive-behavioral programs for mood, anxiety, anger, addictive behavior, and personality-related concerns across multiple levels of care. His clinical leadership and teaching experience allow him to connect research-based cognitive models with the practical decisions clinicians make in individual and group treatment.

Through didactic teaching, case conceptualization exercises, clinical examples, demonstrations, and humor, Dr. Riggenbach translates complex cognitive behavioral therapy concepts into tools clinicians can use in practice. He links automatic thoughts, cognitive distortions, schemas, behavioral patterns, and emotional arousal to concrete choices about what to target, when to intervene, and how to help clients internalize new learning.

Across depression, anxiety, panic, anger, addictive behavior, and posttraumatic stress, the course demonstrates how condition-specific cognitive models can guide more intentional case conceptualization and treatment. Rather than applying cognitive behavioral therapy as a uniform set of techniques, clinicians learn to identify the beliefs, emotional processes, avoidance patterns, and behavioral cycles maintaining each presentation, then adapt interventions to the client’s needs, readiness, safety, and pace of change.

Key Takeaways

• Depression-focused cognitive behavioral therapy: Match behavioral activation, self-care, mastery, pleasure, meaning, and belief work to the client’s affective state and negative information-processing patterns.
• Anxiety and panic interventions: Use risk appraisal, resource building, metacognitive strategies, behavioral experiments, exposure, and interoceptive exercises to test feared predictions and reduce reliance on safety behaviors.
• Broader cognitive models: Apply practical formulations for anger, addictive behavior, and posttraumatic stress disorder, including moral resistance, stages of change, relapse review, and staged trauma treatment.

Why This Course?

• Move beyond generic cognitive behavioral therapy: Learn why similar symptoms may require different conceptualizations and intervention sequences.
• Strengthen clinical decision-making: Use case maps to connect assessment data, core beliefs, triggers, treatment goals, in-session work, and documentation.
• Practice with clinical nuance: Consider readiness, context, the accuracy of client beliefs, consent, medical safety, and realistic pacing rather than applying techniques mechanically.

Learning Objectives

• Select behavioral activation activities to elevate affect in depressed patients to enhance cognitive change.
• Identify 3 cognitive distortions associated with anxiety and plan behavioral experiments disorders to help clients test assumptions to experientially internalize new learning.
• Discuss the role of moral resistance in the cognitive model of anger.
• Demonstrate strategies for breaking vicious cycles in addictive behavior disorders.
• Explain the 3 stages of treatment for clients with PTSD and describe interventions in each.

Enroll to strengthen your use of cognitive behavioral therapy beyond a one-size-fits-all approach and develop a more deliberate process for selecting interventions that fit the client’s presentation, stage of readiness, and treatment needs.

Format and Access

This is a non-interactive, self-study course that offers over 5 hours of recorded video instruction, a post-test and a course evaluation.

Course Details

Availability: 

From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.

Who Should Attend: 

This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching Methods: 

This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.

How to Attend: 

Course access and completion instructions.

Instructor and Disclosures

Instructor

About Jeff Riggenbach, Ph.D.

Jeff Riggenbach, PhD, is a best-selling and award-winning author/speaker/clinician who has trained audiences in all 50 United States, Canada, Mexico, The UK, Ireland, Malta, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. He has devoted the past 25 years to developing advanced expertise in cognition and personality. He personally trained at The Beck Institute of Cognitive Therapy and Research to develop his hospital's Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment Program, which has not treated over 500 patients with BPD across multiple levels of care. He has since developed and directed cognitive-behavioral based programs for Depression, Anxiety Disorders, and Addictive Behavior Disorders. Jeff's approach of taking evidence-based treatments and presenting them in ways that can be used by everyday clinicians "in the trenches" has earned him the nickname "The Practical Toolbox Guy," and his trainings often receive the highest marks from conference participants.

Disclosure Statement: 

The instructor(s) for this course receive compensation for their services. There are no reported conflicts of interest to disclose.

CE Hours

Credit Hours:

This course consists of 5 continuing education hours of credit.

Counselors:

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693.  Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified.  Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Mental Health Counselors. #MHC-0048.

Marriage and Family Therapists: 

Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations.  You can check with your board to determine if your licensing board would accept this course.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0135, effective May 8, 2025.

Social Workers:

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, 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: 05/02/2024 – 05/02/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 5 clinical continuing education credits.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers #SW-0435.

Addiction Professionals:

This course has been approved by Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #193104, Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is responsible for all aspects of the programming.

Psychologists:

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists #PSY-0128.

Art Therapists: 

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Creative Arts Therapists #CAT-0093.

Other Professionals:

This course qualifies for 300 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations.  Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.

This is a non-interactive, self-study course.

Accommodations and Policies

Close Captioning is available for live webinars and recorded video presentations.

You can click on the following links to view our policies:

• Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities.
• Cancellation Policy
• Grievance Policy
• Support Options
• Disclosure Statement