Transcript Slide 1
Unit 13
Psychological Therapies
History
Used to be very brutal with how disorders were
handled
Beating/bleeding disorders out of people
Isolation
Locked in Cages
Laughed at
Phillipe Pinel and Dorthea Dix started movts. to
treat with care and compassion
Psychotherapy
Techniques involving a trained therapist and
someone looking to overcome a disorder or
achieve personal growth
Childhood repression of impulses that still impact
behavior or feeling
Historical reconstruction through free association
Good for learning related disorders (phobias)
Psychoanalysis
Freud’s process of free association
Not editing anything, letting everything out – no matter how
trivial
Analyst interprets responses
Normally blocks would infer resistance
Resistances are noted and interpreted by analyst
Dream analysis – latent content (what you remember, censored content
of the dream)
Transfer of feelings towards therapist
Takes a long time/expensive
Psychodynamic Therapy
Influenced by Freud
Try to understand current feelings/symptoms based
on childhood experiences
Help the patient gain understanding and perspective
Talk face to face (unlike psychotherapy)
Shorter time working together
Humanistic Therapies
Realizing potential for self fulfillment and self
awareness/acceptance
Insight Therapies
Focuses on present and future more than the past
Conscious rather than unconscious thoughts
Taking immediate responsibility for actions, rather than
looking for hidden causes
Promoting growth instead of curing illness
Clients, not patients
Humanistic
Carl Rogers
Client Centered Therapy
Focus on person’s conscious self perceptions
Nondirective
Listening without judging or interpreting
Therapists encouraged to exhibit genuineness,
acceptance and empathy – no facades
Respond with honesty
Deepens self acceptance
Carl Rogers
Active Listening
Echoing, restating and seeking clarification
Unconditional Positive Regard
A way to give non judgemental responses to a patient
3 techniques used
1. Paraphrase – summarize what was said in your own
words, rather than say “I know how you feel”
2. Invite Clarification – ask for examples
3. Reflect Feelings – “That sounds frustrating”
Mirror feelings to get better understanding
Behavior Therapies
Healing power of self awareness
Learning principles can eliminate certain problems
Learned behaviors (like phobias and some forms of anxiety)
are learned responses
These can be conditioned away and replaced
Classical Conditioning Techniques
Bedwetting
Counterconditioning
Taking the trigger stimulus and pairing it with a new
response
Exposure therapy and aversion therapy
Behavior Therapy
Exposure therapy
Exposing people to things they normally avoid
Systematic Desensitization
Wolpe
You cant be anxious and relaxed at the same time
Proceed gradually
Progressive relaxation
Fear can be replaced
Virtual reality being used today
Behavioral Therapy
Aversion therapy
Getting a negative response or unpleasant feeling
when in the presence of a stimulus
Alcohol and smoking, chewing nails
Getting rid of an unwanted behavior by using a negative
stimulus
Behavioral Therapy
Operant Conditioning
Behaviors are strongly influenced by their consequences
Reinforce the desired behaviors, withhold rewards or enforce
punishments for those that are unwanted
Step by step manner of rewards
Token economy – rewards given for behaviors that can be
cashed in for privileges or treats
How likely will they continue the behavior when the
rewards stop?
Is it ethical to control behavior like this?
Cognitive Therapy
Thinking influences our feelings
Change the way we think and we can change our
feelings
Beck’s Theory for Depression
Patients constantly recalling and reliving their failures
Catastrophizing themselves – looking through dark
glasses
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Change the way people think and act
Labeling behaviors
Compulsive thoughts labeled and realized
Group and Family Therapy
Group
Cheaper
Still effective
Social awareness that patients are not alone
AA
Family
No person is an island, disorders will have an impact on
everyone
Sometimes can be caused by others, and they may be unaware
Evaluating Psychotherapy
How can you really measure effectiveness
Can symptoms be cured or just treated?
Client perspective
Why is it effective?
1. People enter therapy in crisis
2. May want to believe that it was worth the effort
3. Usually speak kindly of therapists
Evaluating Psychotherapy
Clinician Perspective
Since most individuals are so unhappy when they
enter therapy and leave happy, clinicians think it is
very important
Bias
How can we really tell?
Meta analysis – stat analysis using large numbers of
studies
Most people will improve over time, those who get
treatment improved more over time
Which treatments are best?
Cant really say – too many variables
Alternative therapies
Energy therapy
Recovered memories
Rebirthing therapy
Crisis debriefing
EMDR – Eye Movement Desensitization and
Reprocessing
Light Exposure Therapy
Biomedical Therapy
Physically changing the brain’s functioning by altering
its chemistry with drugs, electricity, magnetic impulses,
or surgery
Psychopharmacology
Antipsychotic drugs – dampen responses
Side effects – tardive dyskinesia
Antianxiety drugs - reduce symptoms , but don’t solve
problems
Antidepressants - Blocking neurotransmitters
Biomedical Therapy
Brain stimulation
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
Introduced in the 1930s
No memory of treatment
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
No amnesia
Deep brain stimulation
Implanted electrodes with a type of pacemaker
Psychosurgery
Surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue
Lobotomy
Egas Moniz
Sever nerves in the brain will stop emotions in
frontal lobes
Nobel Prize winner
Lifestyle changes
Sometimes simple changes can have huge
impacts
Increasing aerobic exercise
Sleeping more
Light exposure – Seasonal Affective Disorder
Social Connections
Anti rumination – enhancing positive thoughts
Diet and nutritional supplements