65 Questions
What technique is NOT associated with the psychodynamic approach to bring about therapeutic change?
Social skills training
Which of the following is a predictor of positive therapy outcomes?
The quality of the therapeutic alliance
What is the basis of the cognitive-behavioural approach to therapy?
That symptoms are maladaptive learned behaviour patterns that can be changed
What are the two principles that the psychodynamic approach to therapeutic change rests on?
Insight and therapeutic alliance
What technique is used within Operant Conditioning techniques to bring about therapeutic change?
Social skills training
What is the primary goal of the therapeutic alliance in psychodynamic therapy?
To establish a comfortable relationship with the patient
What is the main concept underlying the cognitive-behavioural approach to therapy?
That symptoms are a result of maladaptive learned behaviour patterns
What is the role of insight in the psychodynamic approach to therapeutic change?
To help the patient understand the underlying causes of their symptoms
What technique involves instructing the patient to say whatever comes to mind without censorship?
Free association
What is the term for the phenomenon where people bring thoughts, feelings, and conflicts from past relationships into new ones?
Transference
What is the primary goal of working with transference in psychodynamic therapy?
To rewrite the client's 'new edition of old conflicts'
In systematic desensitization, what is constructed by the therapist?
A list of feared imagined stimuli in increasing order
What is the key distinction between exposure techniques and systematic desensitization?
Exposure to actual phobic stimuli
What technique involves preventing avoidance responses to confront the feared stimulus?
Response prevention
In which technique does the therapist model desired behavior and induce patient participation?
Participatory modelling
What type of therapy focuses on dysfunctional cognitions underlying psychological disorders?
Cognitive therapy
What is the term for the patient's attempts to avoid confronting their unconscious thoughts and feelings?
Resistance
In exposure techniques, what is the primary focus of the therapist?
Exposing the patient to the actual phobic stimulus
What does Aaron Beck refer to as the things individuals say to themselves and the assumptions they make?
automatic thoughts
What type of therapy involves teaching new skills to people with specific interpersonal deficits?
Social skills training
What therapy focuses on the patient's conscious or lived experience, and on the way each person uniquely experiences relationships and the world?
Humanistic
What therapy emphasizes the awareness of feelings and focuses on the 'here and now'?
Gestalt therapy
What is the term for the assessment technique used by family therapists that maps a family over three or four generations?
Genogram
What is the best predictor of marital dissatisfaction leading to divorce?
Reacting to negative comments from your partner by using negative comments
Which therapist was among the first to refer to persons seeking treatment as 'clients' rather than as 'patients'?
Carl Rogers
What type of therapy is based on Carl Rogers' view that people experience psychological difficulties when their concept of self is incongruent with their actual experience?
Client-centred
Which type of therapy focuses on the organisation of the family system and the use of active interventions to disrupt dysfunctional patterns?
Structural family therapy
Which of the following systems strategies involves attention to boundaries between generations, alliances and schisms, between family members, the hierarchy of power within the family, and family homoeostatic mechanisms?
Structural and strategic
What is a common characteristic of treatment methods across cultures?
Involvement of the community in healing rituals
How do biological treatments improve psychological disorders?
By restoring normal functioning to the brain
Which drug was introduced for the treatment of schizophrenia?
Chlorpromazine
What is the effect of lithium salts in patients suffering from mania?
It has a calming effect
At which level do alternative theories suggest that psychotropic medications work?
Intracellular level
How do antipsychotic medications reduce symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations?
By inhibiting dopamine
What is true of antipsychotic medications in terms of their effectiveness in eliminating symptoms?
They are more effective in eliminating positive symptoms
How do most antidepressant medications work?
By increasing the amount of serotonin and/or norepinephrine within the synapse
What is the main goal of biological treatments in terms of improving psychological disorders?
To restore normal functioning to the brain
What is a key characteristic of efficacy studies?
They are conducted in highly controlled environments
What does psychotherapy integration refer to?
The use of theory or techniques from multiple therapeutic perspectives
What was the outcome of the study that combined education about the disorder, medication, weekly group therapy, family therapy, and close monitoring of symptoms?
Treatment relapse rates decreased
What is the primary goal of insight in psychodynamic therapy?
To understand the patient's own psychological processes
What is the purpose of the couch in psychoanalysis?
To allow the patient to disclose sensitive material
What type of psychotherapy involves combining elements from multiple approaches?
Eclectic psychotherapy
What is a benefit of efficacy studies?
They provide a high level of control over extraneous variables
What is a characteristic of psychotherapy integration?
It involves combining multiple theories or techniques
What is the main mechanism of action of tricyclic antidepressants?
Forcing the neurotransmitter to stay in the synapse longer
What is the typical time frame for lithium to take effect?
Three to four weeks
Which type of medication is often used to treat anxiety?
Antianxiety
What is a common side effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)?
Memory loss
What is the most widely practiced Western psychosurgery technique?
Lobotomy
What is the estimated percentage of people in Australia and New Zealand who will have a mental health problem at some stage in their lives?
Almost 50%
What is the main difference between tricyclic antidepressants and SSRIs?
Tricyclic antidepressants target both serotonin and norepinephrine, while SSRIs target only serotonin
What is the purpose of applying electrodes to only one hemisphere of the brain during electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)?
To reduce the risk of memory loss
What is the typical response rate of bipolar patients to lithium?
30-50%
Which type of medication is not used to treat depression?
Benzodiazepines
What percentage of people in Australia and New Zealand will have a mental health problem at some stage in their lives?
50%
Where do most psychotropic medications act?
at neurotransmitter sites
How can the high relapse rate associated with the termination of pharmacotherapy be minimised?
continuing the original medication for a considerable amount of time after the treatment has succeeded
What is a significant obstacle to the determination of the success of specific psychotherapies?
The virtual impossibility of establishing clear criteria for what constitutes 'successful' treatment
What methodological challenge in comparing treatments is due to the investigator's commitment to a particular treatment?
Experimenter bias
Which of the following is NOT a common shared factor among the different psychotherapies?
Inhibiting negative automatic thoughts
What is TRUE of studies that compare the effectiveness of different psychotherapies?
With only a few exceptions, different therapies produce similar results
What is TRUE regarding the difference between efficacy and effectiveness studies of psychotherapy outcomes?
Efficacy studies require greater experimental control
What is a predictor of the relative efficacy of one treatment over another in any given study?
The strength of the investigator's commitment to that treatment
What is the main challenge in comparing the efficacy of different psychotherapies?
The difficulty in establishing clear criteria for what constitutes 'successful' treatment
Study Notes
Psychodynamic Approach
- The psychodynamic approach relies on three techniques to bring about therapeutic change: free association, interpretation, and analysis of transference.
- The approach rests on two principles: the role of insight and the role of the therapist-patient relationship.
- Free association is a technique that explores networks and unconscious processes involved in symptom analysis, where the patient says whatever comes to mind.
- Resistance can emerge as a barrier to free association, created by the patient, because they may be motivated to avoid anxiety or reduce symptoms.
Cognitive-Behavioural Approach
- The cognitive-behavioural approach views symptoms as maladaptive learned behaviour patterns that can be changed by applying behavioural principles of learning.
- Cognitive therapy focuses on changing dysfunctional cognitions presumed to underlie psychological disorders.
- Automatic thoughts are the things individuals say to themselves and the assumptions they make about themselves, others, and the world in general.
- Social skills training involves teaching new skills to people with specific interpersonal deficits, and involves rehearsing skills, feedback, and renewed practice.
Therapeutic Techniques
- Systematic desensitisation involves constructing a fear hierarchy, which is a list of feared imagined stimuli in increasing order.
- Exposure techniques involve introducing an actual phobic stimulus to elicit a response, whereas systematic desensitisation involves imagining the stimulus.
- Response prevention involves preventing the patient from producing responses that allow avoidance of the feared stimulus.
- Participatory modelling involves the therapist demonstrating the desired behaviour and gradually inducing the patient to participate in it.
Humanistic Therapy
- Humanistic therapies focus on the phenomenology of the patient, on the way each person consciously experiences the self, relationships, and the world.
- Gestalt therapy is an approach to treatment that emphasizes awareness of feelings and focuses on the 'here and now'.
Family Therapy
- A genogram is a map of a family over three or four generations, used to assess family dynamics and understand their origins.
- Negative reciprocity is a predictor of marital dissatisfaction leading to divorce, where reacting to negative comments from a partner with negative comments leads to arguments that spiral out of control.
Biological Treatments
- Biological treatments are thought to improve psychological disorders by restoring normal functioning to the brain.
- Chlorpromazine is a psychotropic drug that acts on the brain to affect mental processes.
- Lithium is an effective treatment for bipolar disorder, discovered by John Cade, and acts by altering the way neurons process information inside the cell.
- Antipsychotic medications reduce symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations by inhibiting dopamine.
Electroconvulsive Therapy
- Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment that can be used for patients with severe depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
- ECT acts by inducing a seizure, which can be a rapid and effective way to treat severe symptoms.
- The main side effect of ECT is memory loss.
Psychosurgery
- The most widely practised Western psychosurgery technique was lobotomy, which involved severing tissue in a cerebral lobe, usually the frontal lobe.
- The use of psychosurgery has declined dramatically since the 1950s.
Mental Health
- It is estimated that almost half of all people in Australia and New Zealand will have a mental health problem at some stage in their lives.
- Most psychotropic medications act at neurotransmitter sites.
- The high relapse rate associated with the termination of pharmacotherapy can be minimized by continuing the original medication for a considerable amount of time after the treatment has succeeded.### Treatment Modalities
- One of the best predictors of the relative efficacy of one treatment over another in a study is the strength of the investigator's commitment to that treatment.
- Different therapies produce similar results, with only a few exceptions.
- Relapse rates are common, with only a few meeting the criteria for full recovery at two-year follow-up.
Psychotherapy Integration
- Psychotherapy integration refers to the use of theory or techniques from multiple therapeutic perspectives.
- There are two types of psychotherapy integration: eclectic psychotherapy and integrative psychotherapy.
Psychotherapy Outcomes
- Efficacy studies are undertaken under highly controlled conditions, such as random assignment of patients to different treatment or control groups.
- Effectiveness studies are less controlled and more reflective of real-world practice.
- A therapy that is found to have high efficacy may not be effective in real-world practice.
Relapse Rates
- The use of eclectic psychotherapy with a group of schizophrenic patients found a decrease in treatment relapse rates.
Therapeutic Approaches
- Psychoanalytic therapy involves the patient lying on a couch while the therapist sits behind the patient to create a safe environment for disclosure.
- Insight refers to understanding one's own psychological processes and is a key concept in psychodynamic theory.
Common Factors
- Most approaches to psychotherapy share common factors, such as empathy and establishing a warm relationship between therapist and client.
- Instilling a sense of efficacy and inhibiting negative automatic thoughts are also common factors, but the latter is specific to cognitive therapy.
Identify the technique NOT associated with the psychodynamic approach to bring about therapeutic change in psychotherapy.
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