Therapies

  1. Psychotherapy - an emotionally charged, confiding, interaction between a trained therapist and someone who is experiencing psychological difficulties.
  2. Theories of Psychotherapy
    1. Psychoanalysis
      1. Evolved from from the work of Freud who believed that difficulties are manifestations of repressed memories or events in the unconscious. By gaining understanding and insight into them the client can move past these difficulties and be relieved of his or her difficulties.
      2. Newer variations of traditional psychoanalysis are referred to by the term Psychodynamic Therapies. Goals are similar but there is somewhat more emphasis on social, cognitive and cultural influences as variables in the process of change.
      3. Techniques
        1. Free Association
        2. Dream work
        3. Analysis of Resistance
        4. Analysis of Transference
        5. Projective testing
      4. Limitations
        1. Minimal patient responsibility for change
        2. Little or no emphasis on conscious motives or the "here and now"
        3. Long term and costly
    2. Person Centered
      1. Humanistic Theory based, on the work of Carl Rogers.
      2. Uses power of the relationship to encourage change.
      3. Promotes Self-Actualization.
      4. Uses acceptance, Unconditional Positive Regard is technique of total acceptance of another.
      5. Relationship based, willing to risk, therapist must like and respect the client.
      6. Emphasis on empathy as process of helping client to understand self and process of change.
      7. Therapist is very non-directive, by this he or she listens, reflects and facilitates but does not interpret for the client.
    3. Gestalt Therapy
      1. Founded by Fritz Perls.
      2. "Here and Now" focus, goal to increase awareness of feelings and conflicts.
      3. Work to help client resolve any "unfinished business" affect him or her now.
    4. Existential Therapy
      1. More vague than others as it is more philosophical in nature.
      2. Goal to find one's meaning in life as an attempt to understand themselves and the means work around difficulties faced in life.
      3. Leads to resolution of conflicts and initiative for coping and change.
    5. Behavior Therapy
      1. Assumptions
        1. Maladaptive behavior is based in failure to learn adaptive behavior or the learning of maladaptive behaviors.
        2. Adopts principles of learning theory.
          1. Operant Conditioning
          2. Classical Conditioning
      2. Operant Techniques
        1. Time Out
          1. Remove individual from situation so reactions don't reinforce negative behaviors.
        2. Token Economy or Behavior Modification
          1. Use tokens (secondary reinforcer) that are earned and exchanged for items or privileges (primary reinforcers) that are reinforcing.
        3. Stimulus Satiation
          1. Excessive exposure to otherwise desired stimulus in order to reduce its attractiveness
      3. Classical Conditioning Techniques
        1. Flooding
          1. Immersion of client into fearful stimulus.
          2. As fear subsides association is made with between calm and feared stimulus.
        2. Systematic Desensitization
          1. Uses teaching of relaxation.
          2. Use a hierarchy of steps each more disturbing than the previous.
          3. Work through the hierarchy one step at a time associating relaxation with the step until the client has learned to mange that specific stimulus at the step in the hierarchy. Exposure to the stimulus now results in relaxation instead of fear.
        3. Exposure and Response Prevention
          1. Prevents clients from performing maladaptive behaviors in presence of fearful stimuli as attempt to manage it.
        4. Modeling
          1. Uses a significant role model to successfully model desired behaviors in situation otherwise producing anxiety for the client.
          2. Client identifies with role model and attempts to model the same responses.
  3. Cognitive Therapies
    1. Based on work of Ellis and Beck among others
    2. Based on the belief that our thinking has an effect on our behavior and feelings.
    3. Examples of Cognitive Therapy
      1. RET - Rational Emotive Therapy (also called Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy)
        1. Assumes faulty beliefs, called irrational beliefs, cause us distress by altering our interpretation of the event resulting in negative emotions or behaviors.
        2. Role of therapist to confront client on these irrational beliefs and help them to learn dispute them and replace them with accurate beliefs that result in changing behaviors and feelings.
      2. Beck's Cognitive Therapy
        1. Belief that negative automatic thoughts create anxiety and depression.
        2. Goal is to teach client to stop these thoughts and to replace them with more accurate thinking.
        3. Beck believes these faulty thoughts are accepted by client as true and lead to depression.
        4. Result is negative view about the past, the present and the future.
        5. The skills learned in therapy give the client new skills to manage his or her thinking and improve on sense of self esteem and control.
  4. Biological Therapies
    1. Antipsychotic Drugs
    2. Antidepressant Drugs
    3. Antimania Drugs
    4. Tranquilizers
    5. Electro-convulsive Therapy
    6. Psychosurgery

Key Terms

Psychotherapy Psychotherapy is an emotionally charged, confiding interaction between a trained therapist and someone who suffers a psychological difficulty.
Eclectic Approach With an eclectic approach, therapists are not locked into one form of psychotherapy, but draw on whatever combination seems best suited to a client's needs.
Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis, the therapy developed by Freud, attempts to give clients self-insight by bringing into awareness and interpreting previously repressed feelings. The tools of the psychoanalyst include free association, the analysis of dreams and transferences, and the interpretation of repressed impulses.
Resistance Resistance is the psychoanalytic term for the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-provoking memories. Hesitation during free association may reflect resistance.
Interpretation Interpretation is the psychoanalytic term for the analyst's helping the client to understand resistances and other aspects of behavior, so that the patient may gain deeper insights.
Transference Transference is the psychoanalytic term for a patient's redirecting to the analyst emotions from other relationships.
Person-centered Therapy Person-centered therapy is a humanistic therapy developed by Roger's, in which growth and self-awareness are facilitated in an environment that offers genuineness, acceptance, and empathy.
Active Listening Active listening is a nondirective technique of person-centered therapy, in which the listener echoes, restates, clarifies, but does not interpret, clients' remarks.
Behavior Therapy Behavior therapy is therapy that applies principles of operant or classical conditioning to the treatment of problem behaviors.
Counterconditioning Counterconditioning is a category of behavior therapy in which new responses are classically conditioned to stimuli that elicit unwanted behaviors.
Systematic Desensitization Systematic desensitization is a type of counterconditioning in which a state of relaxation is classically conditioned to a hierarchy of gradually increasing anxiety-provoking stimuli. This is a form of counterconditioning in which sensitive, anxiety-triggering stimuli are desensitized in a progressive, or systematic, fashion.
Aversive Conditioning Aversive conditioning is a form of counterconditioning in which an unpleasant state becomes associated with an unwanted behavior.
Token Economy A token economy is an operant conditioning procedure in which desirable behaviors are promoted in people by rewarding them with tokens, or secondary reinforcers, which can be exchanged for privileges or treats, primary reinforcers. For the most part, token economies are used in hospitals, schools, and other institutional settings.
Cognitive Therapy Cognitive therapy focuses on teaching people new and more adaptive ways of thinking and acting. The therapy is based on the idea that our feelings and responses to events are strongly influenced by our thinking, or cognition.
Rational-emotive Therapy Rational-emotive therapy is a confrontational cognitive therapy that maintains that irrational thinking is the cause of many psychological problems.
Family Therapy Family therapy views problem behavior as partially engendered by the client's family system and environment. Therapy therefore focuses on relationships and problems among the various members of the family.
Psychopharmacology Psychopharmacology is the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior. Pharmacology is the science of the uses and effects of drugs. Psychopharmacology is the science that studies the psychological effects of drugs.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) In electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a biomedical therapy often used to treat major depressive disorder, electric shock is passed through the brain. ECT may work by increasing the availability of norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter that elevates mood.
Psychosurgery Psychosurgery is a biomedical therapy that attempts to change behavior by removing or destroying brain tissue. Since drug therapy became widely available in the 1950s, psychosurgery has been infrequently used.