The 40th British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) conference is at Leeds University.  As usual it's preceded by a choice of pre-conference workshops. Three of the nineteen initially on offer have been cancelled, but there's still a wealth of options. I'm due to go to Trudie Chalder, from the London Institute of Psychiatry, speaking on "Emotional Processing in the Context of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Implications for Persistent Physical Symptoms in General".  The pre-workshop publicity states: "More than half of people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have co-morbid depression or anxiety. Recent evidence from a large randomised controlled trial (White et al 2011) and a meta-analysis (Castell et al 2011) confirmed that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) are effective treatments for CFS. However CBT may be more effective for patients with co-morbid depression or anxiety. Cognitive behavioural models have focused on the role of unhelpful cognitions and behaviours. The role of emotions has not been emphasised. The purpose of this workshop therefore is to examine the evidence for emotion processing difficulties and to explore various treatment strategies that might facilitate emotion processing. Participants will be expected to role play.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand the evidence for emotion processing difficulties in CFS
• To be able to facilitate emotional processing in patients with CFS without activating an irresolvable therapeutic rupture.

Training Modalities:
Didactic teaching
Discussion in pairs and the group
Role plays

Implications for the science and practice of CBT
This workshop will be particularly helpful for clinicians working with complex cases - not just CFS but a variety of disorders which are characterised by persistent symptoms and profound disability.

Trudie Chalder is Professor of Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy at King's College London. She has worked as a clinician and a researcher in the area of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) for adults and children for over 20 years. She developed a cognitive behavioural model and treatment of CFS and the approach has now been evaluated in a number of clinical research trials with positive outcomes.  Her more recent research interests involve developing cognitive and behavioural models and treatment of symptoms and disability (including sickness absence) associated with chronic illnesses such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Cancer, Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

References:
Kempke S, Luyten P, van Houdenhove B, Goossens L, Bekaert P, van Wambeke P. (2011) Self esteem mediates the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and depression in chronic fatigue syndrome. Clinical Rheumatology. DOI: 10.1007/s10067-011-1772-8.
Hambrook, D, Oldershaw, A, Rimes, K. A, Schmidt, U, Tchanturia, K, Treasure, J, Richards, S, & Chalder, T. (2010) The ability to use and manage emotions in Anorexia Nervosa and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 1-17.
Oldershaw A, Hambrook D, Chalder T, Rimes KA, Tchanturia K, Treasure J, Richards S & Schmidt U. (2011) Emotion recognition and emotional theory of mind in chronic fatigue syndrome. Psychology and Health. 1-17. iFirst. 1476-8321 online."

So that's what was "written on the tin".  How did I experience the workshop in actual practice?  See tomorrow's post for how the day went.