13 Flashcards
Psychodynamic therapy
(Psychotherapy)
seeks to bring unresolved past conflicts and unacceptable impulses from the unconscious into the conscious, where patients may deal with the problems more effectively.
Psychodynamic approaches are based on
Freud’s psychoanalytic approach to personality, which holds that individuals employ defense mechanism.
Defense mechanisms
Psychodynamic therapy
are psychological strategies individuals employ to protect themselves from unacceptable, unconscious impulses
repression
Psychodynamic therapy
is the most common defense mechanism
which pushes threatening conflicts and impulses back into the unconscious.
neurotic symptoms
Psychodynamic therapy
Since unacceptable conflicts and impulses can never be completely buried, some of the anxiety associated with them can produce abnormal behaviour in the form of what Freud called neurotic symptoms.
The therapist tries guiding patients to
Psychodynamic therapy
consider and discuss their past experiences, in explicit detail, from the time of their first memories
This process assumes that patients will eventually stumble upon long-hidden
crises, traumas, and conflicts that are producing anxiety in their adult lives, upon which, they will then be able to “work through” (understand and rectify) those difficulties.
Psychodynamic Approaches are all about
Psychodynamic therapy
exploring and understanding the unconscious.
Classic Freudian psychodynamic therapy is called
Psychodynamic therapy
psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychodynamic therapy
is Freudian psychotherapy in which the
goal is to release hidden unconscious thoughts and feelings in order to reduce their power in controlling behaviour.
Freud believed that
Psychodynamic therapy
insight into our unconscious conflicts ultimately frees us from their power.
What are the Techniques of Psychoanalysis: Freud’s Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy
Free association & Dream interpretation
Free association:
Psychoanalysis: Freud’s Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy
Telling patients to say aloud whatever comes to mind, regardless of its apparent irrelevance or senselessness, and the analysts attempt to recognize and label the connections between what a patient says and the patient’s unconscious.
Dream interpretation:
Psychoanalysis: Freud’s Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy
Examining dreams to find clues to unconscious conflicts and problems by moving beyond the surface description of a dream (manifest content), seeking its underlying meaning
(the latent content), thereby revealing the true unconscious meaning of the dream.
Contemporary Psychodynamic Approaches
The therapist takes a more active role, controlling the course of therapy and prodding and advising the patient with considerable directness.
The therapist puts less emphasis on a patient’s past history and childhood, concentrating instead on an individual’s current relationships and specific complaints.
Evaluation of Psychodynamic Therapy
Not sure if it works
Psychodynamic treatment techniques have been controversial since Freud introduced them.
Part of the problem is the difficulty in establishing whether patients have improved after psychodynamic therapy
Critiques argue unconscious has not been proven to exist.
Behavioural treatment approaches
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
are treatment approaches that build on the basic processes of learning (classical and operant conditioning), such as reinforcement and extinction, and assume that
normal and abnormal behaviour are both learned.
Abnormal behaviour
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
People who display abnormal behaviour have either failed to learn the skills needed to cope with the problems of everyday living or have acquired faulty skills and patterns that are being maintained through some form of reinforcement.
To modify abnormal behaviour, behavioural approaches propose that people must learn new behaviour to replace the faulty skills they have developed and unlearn their maladaptive behaviour patterns.
If you can change abnormal behaviour,
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
you have cured the problem.
Aversive conditioning
Classical Conditioning Techniques:
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
is a form of therapy that reduces the frequency of undesired behaviour by pairing an aversive, unpleasant stimulus with undesired behaviour.
Ex. behaviour therapists might use aversive conditioning by pairing alcohol with a drug that causes severe nausea and vomiting.
- After the two have been paired a few times, the person associates the alcohol alone with vomiting and finds alcohol less appealing.
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Systematic desensitization
Classical Conditioning Techniques:
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
gradual exposure to an anxiety-producing stimulus is paired with relaxation to extinguish the response of anxiety.
most successful behavioural treatment based on classical conditioning.
Through Systematic Desensitization
Classical Conditioning Techniques:
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
we can learn to enjoy the things we once feared.
Flooding
Classical Conditioning Techniques
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
another method utilized for reducing fears and anxiety that involves exposing the person to the anxiety-provoking stimulus at the beginning.
Exposure
Classical Conditioning Techniques:
Flooding
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
is rapid, as opposed to gradual in** systematic desensitization** as described above
Ex. a person who is fearful of dogs, may be placed in a room with dogs.
At first that person may be anxious, but eventually calms down and realizes that they are safe and unharmed, thus associating their fear with a positive experience.
therapy make use of virtual
reality technology,
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
Flooding is the newest forms of exposure therapy that make use of virtual reality technology, allowing the client to experience a highly realistic yet controlled version of their feared stimuli.
Once at the virtual site of their anxiety, clients can be treated with traditional systematic desensitization or exposure techniques.
Operant Conditioning
Techniques
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
Behavioural approaches using operant conditioning techniques are based on the notion that we should reward people for carrying out desirable behaviour and extinguish behaviour that we wish to eliminate, by either ignoring or punishing it.
Token system
Operant Conditioning Techniques
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
A person is rewarded for desirable behaviours with tokens that can be exchanged for a desired object or activity.
Contingency contracting:
Operant Conditioning Techniques
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
A written agreement that outlines behavioural goals and positive consequences if achieved (or negative consequences for failing to achieve the goals).
Observational learning:
Operant Conditioning Techniques
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
The behaviour of other people is modeled, to
systematically teach people new skills and
ways of handling their fears and anxieties
(especially effective if the model is rewarded
for his or her behaviour).
Ex. children with dog phobias have been able to overcome their fears by watching another child— called the “Fearless Peer”—
repeatedly walk up to a dog, touch it, pet it, and finally play with it.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy
focuses on getting people to accept who they are, regardless of whether it matches their deal.
Therapists seek to have patients realize that they basically have two choices:
Either they remain unhappy, or they change.
Once patients agree that they wish to change, it is up to them to modify their behaviour.
Patients are taught that even if they experience unhappiness, or anger, or any other negative emotion, it doesn’t need to rule their behaviour.
It’s their behaviour that counts—not their inner life.
Distress tolerance
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
the understanding that negative emotions are inevitable, but that they don’t last forever—is a key component of the dialectical approach.
Dialectical behaviour therapy teaches people
behavioural skills that help them to behave more effectively and to keep their emotions in check.
Mindfulness training
is an integral part of dialectical behaviour therapy.
Mindfulness is the psychological process of purposely bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment without judgment, which one develops through the practice of meditation and through other training.
Although it is a relatively new form of therapy, increasing evidence supports its effectiveness, particularly with certain personality disorders
Advantages of Behavioral Therpy
Behaviour therapy works particularly well for treating phobias and compulsions, establishing control over impulses, and learning complex social skills to replace maladaptive behaviour.
It is efficient, because it focuses on solving carefully defined problems
Disadvantages of Behavioral Therpy
Because it emphasizes changing external behaviour, however, people receiving behaviour therapy do not necessarily gain insight into thoughts and expectations that may be fostering their maladaptive behaviour.
It does not treat deep depression or other severe disorders particularly successfully.
