Chapter 15 Flashcards
(42 cards)
Psychotherapy
generic name given to any formal psychological treatment
– All forms of psychotherapy involve interactions between practitioner and client
– Psychologists use two basic categories of techniques:
1) Psychological
2) Biological
* Increased need for evidence-based treatments
Psychological treatments
term used to distinguish evidence-based treatments from the more generic term psychotherapy
List some counterproductive therapies
– Asking people to describe traumatic experiences soon after
– Scaring adolescents away from committing crimes
– Having police officers run drug education programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)
– Using hypnosis to recover painful memories
3 features that characterize psychological treatments
– Treatments vary according to the psychological disorder and the individual’s specific symptoms
– Techniques used in treatments have been developed by psychologists (particularly behavioral, cognitive, and social psychologists)
– No overall grand theory guides treatment; instead, treatment is based on evidence of effectiveness (gathered via ongoing assessment)
Biological therapies
treatment of disorders based on a medical approach to disease (what is wrong with the body) and illness (what a person feels as a result)
– based on the notion that psychological disorders result from abnormalities in neural & bodily processes
Psychopharmacology
use of medications (pharmacology) that affect brain or bodily functions, to influence the mental state (psyche)
– a form of biological therapy
• For many disorders, the recent focus has been on combining biological therapies with other approaches to find the best treatment for each person
Humanistic Therapies
• Goal: treat the person as a whole, not as a collection of behaviors or thoughts.
– Focus is on the whole person
Client-centered therapy
A humanistic therapy. an empathic approach that encourages people to fulfill their individual potentials for personal growth through greater self-understanding
– Therapists strive to create a safe and comforting setting for clients to access their true feelings, to be empathic, and to accept the client through unconditional positive regard
Behavior therapy
Based on the premise that behavior is learned, & therefore can be unlearned, through classical and operant conditioning
– Can also learn through modelling (vicarious learning)
Social skills training
Can be part of behavior therapy. The person learns appropriate ways to act in specific social situations.
Exposure
A behavioral therapy technique that involves repeated exposure to an anxiety-producing stimulus
• Particularly effective for OCD and PTSD
Systematic Desensitization
Exposure therapy that involves exposing the person to increasing levels of an anxiety-producing stimulus, while also teaching them to relax
Cognitive therapy
based on the idea that distorted thoughts produce maladaptive behavior & emotion
• Techniques attempt to modify these maladaptive thought patterns
– Cognitive Re-structuring
– Rational-Emotive Therapy
– Inter-personal Therapy
– Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy
–Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies
Cognitive restructuring
aims to help people recognize maladaptive thought patterns, & replace them with thoughts/perspectives that are more in line with reality
Rational-emotive therapy
approach in which the therapist acts as a teacher, explaining the person’s errors in thinking, & demonstrating more adaptive ways to think and behave
Interpersonal therapy
focuses on circumstances namely, relationships, that the person attempts to avoid
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy
based on a view that people who recover from depression continue to be vulnerable to faulty thinking when they experience negative moods
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
many forms of therapy incorporate techniques from cognitive therapy and behavior therapy to correct faulty thinking and change maladaptive behaviors
What are the advantages of group therapy
– Significantly less expensive than individual treatment
– Group setting provides an opportunity to improve their social skills, and to learn from one another’s experiences
– Many groups are organized around a particular type of problem (e.g., sexual abuse) or a particular type of client (e.g., adolescents, or couples)
• Group therapy may be highly structured or a more loosely-organized discussion forum
Placebo effect
an improvement in physical or mental health following treatment with a drug or treatment that has no active influence on the disorder being treated
– For a placebo to reduce symptoms of psychopathology, the participant must believe it will
What is the most effective form of therapy for an anxiety disorder?
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBT) are the most effective treatment
– Anxiety-reducing drugs can also be helpful, but drug effects last only as long as the drugs are being taken, and CBT benefits persist after therapy
Psychotropic medications
broad term referring to drugs that affect mental processes
Anxiolytics
Psychotropics that reduce anxiety
Benzodiazepines
(e.g., Xanax, Valium) increase GABA activity, induce drowsiness, and are highly addictive
