General Psychology Therapy - Psychotherapy PDF

General Psychology THERAPY Psychotherapy u Psychotherapy: Treatment in which a trained professional, called a therapist, uses psychological techniques to help a person overcome psychological difficulties and disorders, resolve problems in living, or bring about personal growth u Biomedical therapy:...

General Psychology THERAPY Psychotherapy u Psychotherapy: Treatment in which a trained professional, called a therapist, uses psychological techniques to help a person overcome psychological difficulties and disorders, resolve problems in living, or bring about personal growth u Biomedical therapy: Therapy that relies on drugs and other medical procedures to improve psychological functioning Psychoanalytic Approach u Seeks to bring unresolved past conflicts and unacceptable impulses from the unconscious into the conscious u Based on Freud’s psychoanalytic approach to personality u Suggests that people use defense mechanisms u Repression - Pushes threatening and unpleasant thoughts and impulses back into the unconscious Psychoanalytic Approach u Goal is to release hidden unconscious thoughts and feelings in order to reduce their power in controlling behavior u Free association: say whatever comes to mind regardless of apparent irrelevance or senselessness u Dream interpretation u u Manifest content - The surface description of a dream u Latent content - Underlying meaning Resistance: Inability or unwillingness to reveal particular memories, thoughts, or motivations u u Resistance might happen because there may be subjects a client wishes to avoid Transference: Transfer of feelings to a psychoanalyst that had been originally directed to a patient’s parents or other authority figures u Transference might happen because a client and therapist have intimate interactions Psychoanalytic Approach Psychoanalytic Approach u Contemporary psychoanalysis u Less emphasis on a patient’s past history, concentrating instead on current relationships and specific complaints u Shorter duration: 3 months or 20 sessions Psychoanalytic Approach u Criticisms u Time consuming and expensive u Less articulate patients may not do as well as more articulate ones u Difficulty in determining effectiveness of the therapy u Bias u Subjective interpretation Behavioral Approach u Approaches that make use of the basic processes of learning, such as reinforcement and extinction, to reduce or eliminate maladaptive behavior u Based on the fundamental assumption that both abnormal behavior and normal behavior are learned u Goal is to change people’s behavior to allow them to function more effectively Behavioral Approach u Classical conditioning treatment u u u Aversive conditioning: Reduces the frequency of undesired behavior by pairing with an aversive stimulus u E.G. alcohol with a drug that causes severe nausea u Questions of long-term effectiveness Systematic desensitization: Exposure to an anxiety-producing stimulus is paired with deep relaxation to extinguish the response of anxiety u Learn relaxation techniques u Create a hierarchy of fears u Learn associations through the hierarchies Flooding treatments: People are suddenly confronted with a stimulus that they fear u No relaxation techniques u E,G. a person afraid of germs gets hands dirty for hours Behavioral Approach Behavioral Approach Token system Rewards a person for desired behavior with a token Contingency contracting Agreement is drawn stating the behavioral goals the client hopes to achieve Observational learning Behavior of other people is modeled, to systematically teach people new skills Behavioral Approach u u Benefits u Eliminates anxiety disorders u Treats phobias and compulsions u Establishes control over impulses u Helps in learning complex social skills to replace maladaptive behavior Criticisms u Insight into thoughts and expectations cannot be gained due to the changing external behavior Cognitive Approach u Cognitive treatment approaches: Teach people to think in more adaptive ways by changing their dysfunctional cognitions about the world and themselves u Also known as cognitive behavioral approach because methods of learning are often used even though it is not the focus u Cognitive-behavioral approach: Incorporates basic principles of learning to change the way people think u Therapists attempt to change the way people think as well as their behavior u Therapy is highly structured and focuses on concrete problems Cognitive Approach u Rational-emotive behavior therapy u Attempts to restructure a person’s belief system into a more realistic, rational, and logical set of views by challenging dysfunctional beliefs Cognitive Approach Cognitive Approach u Beck’s Cognitive behavior therapy u Aims to change people’s illogical thoughts about themselves and the world u Less confronting that rational emotive therapy u Clients urged to obtain information on their own to change inaccurate thinking through a process called cognitive appraisal u Cognitive appraisal - Evaluation of situations, in terms of one’s memories, values, beliefs, thoughts, and expectations Cognitive Approach u u Benefits u Deals with a broad range of disorders u Willingness of cognitive therapists to incorporate additional treatment approaches Criticisms u Changing one’s assumptions to make them more reasonable and logical may not always be helpful Humanistic Therapy u Therapy in which the underlying rationale is that people have control of their behavior, can make choices about their lives, and are essentially responsible for solving their own problems u Self-actualization - State of self fulfillment in which people realize their highest potentials in their own unique way Humanistic Therapy u Person-centered therapy u Goal is to reach one’s potential for self-actualization u u Also referred as client-centered therapy Unconditional positive regard u Expressing acceptance and understanding, regardless of the feelings and attitudes the client expresses u Understanding client’s emotional experiences Humanistic Therapy Humanistic Therapy u u Benefits u The idea that psychological disorders result from restricted growth potential is compelling to many people u Supportive environment Criticisms u Treatments lack specificity u Least scientifically and theoretically developed u Works only for highly verbal client who profits most from psychoanalytic treatment Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) u Short-term therapy that focuses on the context of current social relationships u Helps patients to control their moods and emotions u Focuses on interpersonal issues such as conflicts with others, social skills issues, role transitions, or grief u Lasts only for 12-16 weeks u Especially effective in dealing with u Depression u Anxiety u Addictions u Eating disorders Group Therapies u Therapy in which people meet in a group with a therapist to discuss problems u Centers on a common difficulty u Example - Alcoholism u Economical means of therapy compared to individual therapy u Criticism - Shy and withdrawn individuals may not receive required attention Group Therapies u Family therapy: Focuses on the family and its dynamics u u Involves two or more family members, one (or more) of whose problems led to treatment Self-help therapy u Does not involve a professional therapist u People with similar problems get together to discuss their shared feelings and experiences u Bereavement support group u Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Evaluating Psychotherapy: Does Therapy Work? u Hans Eysenck published a study challenging the effectiveness of therapy u u Spontaneous remission: Recovery without formal treatment Meta-analysis - Data from a large number of studies when statistically combined, yielded similar general conclusions Effectiveness of Psychotherapy u For most people it is effective u u No single form of therapy works best for every problem u u Psychotherapy does not work for everyone Specific types of treatment are better for specific types of problems Most therapies share several basic similar elements u Development of positive relationship between client and therapist u Explanation or interpretation of a client’s symptoms u Confrontation of negative emotions Drug Therapy u Treatment of psychological disorders through the use of drugs u Works by altering the operation of neurotransmitters and neurons in the brain Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) u u Procedure used in the treatment of severe depression u Electric current of 70 to 150 volts is briefly administered to a patient’s head u Causes loss of consciousness and seizures u Controversial treatment Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) u Alternative to ECT u Directs a precise magnetic pulse in a specific area of the brain Psychosurgery u Brain surgery once used to reduce the symptoms of mental disorder but rarely used today u u u Prefrontal lobotomy u Surgically destroying or removing parts of a patient’s frontal lobes, believed to control emotionality u Drastic side effects Cingulotomy u For rare cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) u Tissue is destroyed in the anterior cignulate Gamma knife surgery u Radiation is used to destroy areas of the brain related to OCD Biomedical Therapies in Perspective u Gene therapy u Specific genes may be introduced to particular areas of the brain u u May reverse or prevent biochemical events that give rise to disorders Critics state that therapies merely provide relief of the symptoms and not solve the underlying problems u New symptoms may arise Community Psychology: Focus on Prevention u Prevent or minimize the incidence of psychological disorders u Deinstitutionalization: Transfer of former mental patients out of institutions and into the community Choosing the Right Therapist u You should feel comfortable with your therapist u Therapists should have appropriate training and credentials u You should feel that you are making progress after therapy has begun, despite occasional setbacks