Transcript The Biomedical Therapies

The Biomedical Therapies
Therapies aimed at the altering
of the body’s chemistry.
Psychopharmacology
• The study of the effects of drugs
on mind and behavior.
Emptying of Mental Hospitals
Drugs and Hospitalization
Main Categories of Drugs
Anti-anxiety Drugs
Antidepressants
Antipsychotics
Antianxiety Drugs
•taken for panic disorder and anxiety
or stress
•Effects - Like alcohol, they depress
nervous system activity
• Includes drugs like Valium, Xanax, and
Librium and other tranquilizers
• Most widely abused drugs.
Antidepressant Drugs
• Lift you up out of depression.
• Often given for depression,
anxiety, phobias, and OCD
Most increase neurotransmitters
in the brain like serotonin
Therapeutic Lag
•Medication must be taken for about a month
before becoming fully effective
•No known reason why
Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft
• Work by blocking serotonin reuptake.
How do Antidepressants work?
It’s a Mystery - - the
answer is not known
 They
affect brain neutransmitters
 They don’t work. People’s moods
improve on their own because of the
cyclical nature of depression
 They work because users expect them
to work (the placebo effect)
Antipsychotic Drugs
• used to treat psychosis and other
mental and emotional conditions.
•These drugs are beginning to help
schizophrenics
They often block dopamine activity
Criticisms of Drug Therapies
• The effects only last as long as the drug is
given
• Side effects can be more severe than the
disorder
• Patients may only respond because of the
placebo effect
• Therapeutic window – use varies by age,
gender and ethnicity – making it hard to
determine right dose of a drug
• New drugs are only tested on a few people
Other Types of Biomedical
Therapy
• Electroconvulsive
Therapy
– Brief electric current is
sent through the brain
– Most often used for
severely depressed
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
• The application of
repeated pulses of
magnetic energy to
the brain
• Used to stimulate
or suppress brain
activity
• Also used for
depression
Psychosurgery
• Surgery that removes or destroys brain
tissue in an effort to change behavior.
•Egas Moniz developed the
lobotomy in the 1930s.
Ice pick like instrument through
the eye sockets cutting the links
between the frontal lobes
and the emotional control
centers.
Lobotomy
Effectiveness of Treatment
Effectiveness depends on the disorder being
treated and the skill of the therapist
Ways of Assessing Effectiveness
Client Testimonials
– clients often say that treatment works – but this may
be unreliable – why???
• Extreme distress naturally may decrease
– Regression toward the mean
• The tendency for events to return toward their
average state - “Time is a great healer”
• “Life itself still remains a very effective therapist”
- Horney
• Placebo effect and ones own expectations
• Justification of effort
– they have taken the time and money so it better have
worked
Effectiveness of Treatment – cont.
Specific Disorder
Panic Disorders
Specific Phobias
Most Effective
Treatment
Cognitive Therapy
Depression
Systematic
Desensitization
Behavior Therapy or
Medication
Cognitive Therapy
Agoraphobia
Exposure Treatment
OCD
Who Benefits and Who Doesn’t
Benefit From Treatment (Therapy)
Who Benefits
Who Doesn’t
 Those motivated to
 Those with hostility
get better
and negativity
 Those with family
 Some with personality
support
 Those who have a
tendency to deal
actively with
problems rather
than avoid them
disorders
 Some with psychotic
disorders
Can Therapy Be Harmful??
If therapist engages in unethical
behavior – having sexual relationships
with clients
If therapists act according to personal
prejudices or are ignorant of cultural
differences
If therapists coerce clients into doing
things they don’t want to do
If therapists use techniques research
has not backed up as effective
If therapists lead clients to produce
false memories
Barriers to Getting Treatment
• Concerns about the cost of treatment
• Lack of health insurance
• The stigma associated with getting
psychological treatment
• Cultural or racial barriers
– Religious beliefs against some types of
treatment
– Language barriers
– Treatments based on the needs of white
middle-class clients