PSYC-508 Counseling and Personality Theories Flashcards
(41 cards)
Automatic thoughts
A type of cognitive distortion. spontaneous, immediate thoughts that appear plausible; usually refer to situations or events which are increasing levels of abstraction e.g. dichotomous reasoning, personalization, emotional reasoning; ANTs - addressed in cognitive restructuring (logic); can be maladaptive and persistent - need to come up with alternative thoughts; help cause/maintain depression/anxiety
Authentic existence
humanistic concept used in existential theory; “Existence precedes essence”à your existence (choices, life and how you live it) determines who you are; as long as a person chooses “authentically,” there are no moral standards by which his conduct can be criticized; awareness/sense of own identity; they choose experiences that align with their ideal self; live in present - make decisions they are responsible for; congruent with thoughts and behaviors
In the field of psychology, authenticity identifies a person living life in accordance with their true Self, personal values, rather than according to the external demands of society, such as social conventions, kinship, and duty.
Ex: gay therapist choosing to be an advocate in his community for gay rights and counseling those struggling to identify as gay in the community
Behavioral Activation
As a treatment for depression and other mood disorders, behavioral activation is based on the theory that, as individuals become depressed, they tend to engage in increasing avoidance and isolation, which serves to maintain or worsen their symptoms.
The goal of treatment, therefore, is to work with depressed individuals to gradually decrease their avoidance and isolation and increase their engagement in activities that have been shown to improve mood. Many times, this includes activities that they enjoyed before becoming depressed, activities related to their values or even everyday items that get pushed aside.
Big Five Personality Model/Traits
OCEAN
Traits are considered enduring dispositions to respond in a particular manner, and exert very generalized effects on behavior.
Traits define differences between individuals, and are thought to explain situational consistency and stability over time.
There are five traits that consistently stand out, conceptualized into the Big 5 personality model by Goldman and extended by McCrae and Costa.
These include Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.
These are generally measured with the NEO -PR personality test.
These traits are used to describe self and others and are stable from mid to late childhood. These traits are evident in diverse cultures yet many cultures do not value personal traits as important as family, etc. Genders are similar, but differ in more progressive cultures. Traits change throughout life in response to like events, such as the death of a family member.
Client-centered/person centered theory/therapy
Developed by Rogers, this is a more optimistic view of therapy focused on creating a therapeutic environment which fosters client growth. Problem resolution and symptom reduction are thought to be resolved from the client growth. Tends to avoid diagnosis, and focuses on the incongruence between the real self and the ideal self. In PC therapy, there are 6 conditions necessary for change; two persons are in physical contact, Client is incongruent, Therapist is congruent, Therapist provides WEG and empathically enters the client’s IFR, Therapist empathically understands client’s IFR and communicates this to client, Client’s perception of WEG and the empathic understanding of the therapist allows for growth and therapeutic change to occur.
Allow actualizing tendency to emerge from interferences and hindrances. Less focused on problems, goals or specific behavior change
Cognitive therapy
type of therapy developed by Beck
Focus on cognitions as the origin of maladaptive behavior, thoughts and emotions, Therapies target cognitive changes as necessary to develop more adaptive emotional and behavioral responses
• Assumption - pathology results from cognitive distortions, Cognitions are related to behavior, Cognitive activity is potentially observable, it can be monitored, counted, altered, Client is considered expert and collaborator
• Two main components are BA and cognitive restructuring
• Levels of cognitive distortions (triggered by event)
- (1st level) Automatic thoughts: spontaneous thoughts that appear plausible e.g. dichotomous reasoning, personalization, emotional reasoning “I feel this way… it must be so”
- (2nd level) Assumptions: abstract, generalized rules e.g. “I must be perfect in all endeavors”, “ Everyone should like me”, “ I must be on guard at all times”
- (3rd level) Schemas: cognitive structures (patterns of thinking) that organize and process info e.g. negative cognitive triad (self, world, future), cognitions differ in anxiety, depression, OCD
• use treatment to help people recognize their patterns of thought
• Goal: aid pt in dealing w/ problems in living
• Focus: more on present vs. less on past, pathology and assets, objective data vs. projective tests, interventions and their evaluation
• General Process: behavioral analysis of problem, select target behaviors w/ measurement, apply interventions, determine their effectiveness
-Bandura’s Enviorment ↔Person↔Behavior as a model (change in P changes B and E)
TYPES: Meichenbaum’s Stress Inoculation Therapy , Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, Beck’s Cognitive Therapy
Common Factors in Psychotherapy
a theory the proposes that different approaches and evidence based practices in psychotherapy and counseling share mutual features that account for much of the effectiveness of a psychological treatment. In contrast to the view that the effectiveness of psychotherapy/counseling is best explained by specific or unique factors (notably, particular methods or procedures) that are suited to treatment of particular problems. These factors that are important in determining the outcome of psychotherapy are client variables, the therapeutic alliance, outcome expectancies, (hopes and expectations), and specific therapeutic techniques. Examined by Wampold, supports humanistic approach.
Ex: different therapeutic approaches can produce similar results (ex: CBT vs. exposure therapy for PTSD)
Conditional vs. Unconditional positive regard
A term developed by Carl Rogers and used in Rogerian therapy, positive regard is the perceptions of love and respect from others. The need for this positive regard develops as the self emerges. Positive regard can be conditional or unconditional. In unconditional positive regard, the positive regard is when others accept and love the person for who they are, regardless of mistakes or if something is wrong. The positive regard is never taken away from the person if it is unconditional, and tend to allow people to self actualize. In conditional positive regard, love and acceptance are only given when the person is or behaves a certain way and meet certain conditions in order to obtain positive regard. If conditions are not met, then no positive regard is given.
Conditions of worth
A term from Rogerian therapy, this refers to conditions a client believes they must meet in order for other people to accept them as worthy of their love and positive regard. This can be neutral or negative influence on the client, as these conditions tend to be incorporated into their idea of self worth at a young age.
An example would be if a teenaged client entered therapy for anxiety over getting straight A’s because that’s the only way her parents will pay positive attention towards her, she considers being a straight A student as a condition of worth.
Countertransference
The transferred-emotional-reaction of the counselor to the client. The counselor misunderstands the therapeutic process in terms of the counselor’s own past (or extra-therapeutic present). Many counselors use countertransferential experiences to conceptualize their client’s interpersonal status, but counselors must abstain from acting out their countertransference.
Counseling Application Example: Through supervision the counselor realized that her abruptness with Beverly, a client that she was treating for depression, related to her transferring qualities of her depressed sister onto Beverly. The counselor’s past frustration with her sister’s dependency led to her abruptness with her sister in order to curb dependent behaviors. Her reactions to Beverly as if she were her sister involved the process of countertransference.
Cultural self-awareness
an individual’s metacognitive understanding of culture’s influence on the self. It encompasses an understanding of the link between one’s self and cultural experience. Develops through attention to one’s cultural experiences and sensitivity toward the cultural elements in one’s experiences; personal self-awareness develops through attention to one’s internal dispositions and personal experiences and sensitivity toward the impact of these personal experiences.
Defense mechanisms
A term used in psychodynamic theory. [Initially developed by Freud and then expanded by Anna Freud]. These are the ego’s attempts to discharge sex/aggressive energy in socially acceptable ways. These can also be used as coping techniques, usually unconscious [help protect against psychological harm/stress]. Includes three primal defenses; denial, repression, regression; and also includes undoing, projection, reaction formation, rationalization, sublimation, and displacement. [some are stronger than others.] Defense mechanisms tend to be more indicative of greater psychopathology.
Externalizing conversations
externalizing is a narrative therapy practice that establishes a context where people experience themselves as separate from the problems in their lives.
A way of speaking in which space is introduced between the person and the problem issue. The problem may be spoken of as if it were a distinct entity or even a personality in its own right rather than part of the person.
“The person is not the problem, the problem is the problem”.
Existential theory/therapy
Existential psychotherapy is a style of therapy that places emphasis on the human condition as a whole. embraces personal freedom and choice. It purports that humans choose their own existence and meaning.
Existential psychotherapy uses a positive approach that applauds human capacities and aspirations while simultaneously acknowledging human limitations.
Anxiety is seen by existential therapists as being a condition of living, naturally arising from a person’s striving to survive. This is known as ‘existential anxiety’ and is a normal outcome of facing the four ultimate concerns in life:
death, freedom, isolation and meaninglessness.
Factor analysis
a type of statistical procedure that is conducted to identify clusters or groups of related items (called factors) on a test.
factors are given trait labels according to which tests correlate highly with them; used by trait theorists for constructing personality tests such as the Big Five
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ex/ a factor analysis was done in the discovery of the Big 5, looking at the correlations between 1700 different descriptive words
Fixation
A term in psychoanalysis and developed by Freud, this is the damning up of libidinal energy during the progression of the psychosexual stages. Can be done by overindulging or under indulging during the stage. This helps to determines personality type, and is considered to be the root of psychopathology.
Genogram
Developed by Bowen. A schematic diagram of the family system, using squares to represent males, circles to indicate females, horizontal lines for marriages, and vertical lines for children. A method to chart family history. Schematic diagrams listing family members and their relationships to one another, including age, marriage/death dates, and geographic locations. Also includes relationships conflicts, cutoffs, and triangles. Used to trace recurring behavior patterns within the family; usually includes 3 generations
Insight/Catharsis
A term from psychodynamic theory and developed by Freud and Breuer. A main goal of psychoanalytic theory is to gain insight, which is to understand intrapsychic conflicts and interpersonal relationships, understand historical roots of current problems, then integrate them into current life and increase ego strength. During their type of therapy the therapist and client work through feelings of resistance and transference by repeating elaborating and interpreting. Successfully achieving insight should enable the client to release or free their emotions, the experience of catharsis, providing relief from repressed emotions. The examination and discussion of feelings in psychoanalytic theory provide catharsis and intellectual /emotional insight which is essential for change within psychoanalytic theory.
Multicultural counseling
this is a type of counseling in which the therapist defines goals and uses treatments that are consistent with an individual’s cultural values. Professional must take into account the complexity of the relationship with the client and understand this within the client’s context. the therapist must recognize that their values may not be the same as that of their culturally diverse client, but that does not give them the right to pressure their client to accept their values. The therapist must also recognize some behaviors considered deviant in Western society are not considered deviant in the culture of their clients.
Neo-Freudian
The neo-Freudian theories are theories based on Freudian principles that emphasize the role of the unconscious and early experience in shaping personality but place less evidence on sexuality as the primary motivating force in personality and are more optimistic concerning the prospects for personality growth and change in personality in adults.
Erik Erikson believed that Freud was incorrect to think that personality was shaped almost entirely by childhood events. Other issues that motivated neo-Freudian thinkers included:
Freud’s emphasis on sexual urges as a primary motivator
Freud’s lack of emphasis on social and cultural influences on behavior and personality
Freud’s negative view of human nature
Narrative Therapy
a client-focused, strengths-based practice that works from the fundamental position that the client is not the problem: ‘the problem is the problem’;
developed by White; based on the idea that people create a personal narrative or dominant story to understand and give meaning to their lives and to themselves; these stories are often negative or ‘problem saturated’;
narrative therapy engages in a process of deconstructing the person’s dominant narrative to understand how that narrative influences their thoughts, feelings, behaviors and communication; it then explores whether this narrative is the story the person wants for their life (re-author their story) and works to develop and actualize new, preferred stories for their life; techniques: externalization, deconstruction; can be used with family narrative or individual clients
Person-Behavior-Environment reciprocal interaction
interaction based on theory set forth by Bandura that a person’s behavior both influences and is influenced by personal factors and the social environment. if one area changes in this triad so will the other two because of this influence. this theory is the foundation of social learning theory and provides the overriding framework for personality development within the theory. as a person develops in their social world, all three aspects of the person, their behaviors, and their environment are influencing each other, therefore as a person changes their cognition, so does their environment and behavior, in turn, affecting the person’s expectations and beliefs. illustrates reciprocal determinism outlined by Bandura.
Person-situation debate
The person-situation controversy (also known as the person-situation debate) is a theoretical disagreement in psychology about the influence of personality and situational factors on behavior.
There are some main questions that are asked in this debate.
Is behavior controlled by our personality or by the situational factors around us?
Is personality formed from situational factors that influence us or innate traits that we are born with?
Is a person’s behavior a result of their personality or the situational factors they are presented with?
This debate is particularly strong between personality psychologists (who use a personality trait approach to understanding individual behavior) and situationists who believe that behavior is decided and governed by the situational factors that are present.
Potentially Harmful Treatments
Lilienfeld (2007) defined treatments as potentially harmful if they have demonstrated harmful effects in clients or others; the harmful effects are enduring; and the harmful effects have been replicated by independent re- searchers.
Ex.
meta-analysis of seven randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies of Scared Straight programs revealed that they increased the chances of reoffending by 60% to 70%. The mechanisms underlying these negative effects are unknown, although some authors have suggested that Scared Straight programs may contribute to further alienation among a subgroup of already alienated teenagers. The research evidence for other “get tough” interventions with troubled adolescents has been similarly inconclusive or negative. For example, the research support for popular “boot camp” programs for adolescent criminals is mixed. Some studies show significant positive effects, but others show significant negative effects. The factors that account for these varied outcomes are unknown. As a consequence, there is at present no way for practitioners to know whether boot camp interventions will be beneficial or harmful.
