Dr. Colleen Cullinan is a pediatric psychologist at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. She specializes in integrated primary care within the Division of Behavioral Health. Dr. Cullinan completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Western Michigan University in 2015. Dr. Cullinan supervises psychology externs and interns, and she directs medical education efforts for Nemours’ residency training programs. Her presentation and publication records center around integrated care, family-based interventions, and experiential cultural humility training.
[00:01] Dr. Colleen Cullinan Shares Her Thoughts About Depression
- Colleen’s thoughts about the effects of the pandemic on people’s mental health
- What to do if depression hinders a person to live normal life
- Why Colleen is veering away from symptom-based approach of depression
[08:15] What Matters Most to Kids Are Their Everyday Experiences
- What matters most to kids that pediatricians should prioritize
- Colleen breaks down the different therapies available currently
- Here’s why problems are not always fixable according to Colleen
[18:32] How to Apply Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Colleen gives us a background about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- She gives us a lesson that we can learn from watching a horror movie
- What is its connection to approaching depression?
- She talks about diffusion and why people should know more about it
[28:10] The Power of the Brain in Helping a Child Going Through Depression
- We talk about Motivational Interviewing
- The right questions to ask to kids according to Colleen
- A popular intervention under Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- How to train the brain to generate something that helps the kids
[43:31] Challenge the Frame, Not the Content
- We have an interesting exchange about “creative hopelessness”
- The role of values in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- A great definition of goals that pediatricians should keep in mind
- The messages that people receive everyday matter in therapies
- Challenging the frame, not the content
- Colleen explains further the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
[58:43] Why People Should Not Be Serious Always
- Colleen gives a few take home messages for pediatricians
- Why people should not take everything so seriously
- She talks about the transformative impact that pediatrics brought to her
[01:06:14] Closing Segment
- Connect with Dr. Colleen Cullinan on Twitter @colleencullinan and @Nemours
- Final takeaways:
- Recognizing the “negative” emotions that we feel
- Effects of impairment to the body
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- An important lesson from playing a beach ball
- Naming the “thing”
- Avoidance at the heart of suffering
- Some crossovers with mindfulness
- Curiosity and the suffering
- Why language matters
- Experiences and language
- What the patient values
- Connection and belonging
- Safe, stable, nurturing relationships
- Appreciation for Colleen!
Key Quotes:
“Avoidance is really at the heart of all mental [suffering] in my opinion.” – Dr. Colleen Cullinan
“There’s a lot of data that shows that when people are more invested in the conversation, they’re more likely to do the thing that you say.” – Dr. Colleen Cullinan
Resources Mentioned:
- Books
- The Thriving Adolescent
- Stop Avoiding Stuff
- The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook
- Websites
- Thriving Adolescent
- Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
- Praxis – ACT Training
- Pediatric Meltdown previous episodes
- Caring for Children in Foster and Kinship Care: Keeping a Trauma-Informed focus with Moira Szilagyi
- The Art of Conscious Parenting with Dr. Robert Saul
- Toxic Stress: Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships are the Antidote
Email [email protected] to connect with Colleen or follow her on Twitter @colleencullinan and @Nemours. Check out Nemours Children’s Health to know more about her work.
If you’d like to connect with me, you can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter or email me at [email protected]. To learn more about me visit https://www.medicalbhs.com/
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