16. Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Question 1

clinical psychology

Answer 1

The field of practice and research that is directed toward helping people who suffer from psychological problems and disorders

Question 2

electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

Answer 2

A procedure for treating severe depression, in which a patient is anesthetized and given a muscle relaxant, and then an electric current is passed through the patient’s skull in such a way as to set up a seizure either in one hemisphere of the brain or in both hemispheres

Question 3

psychosurgery

Answer 3

The surgical cutting or production of lesions in a portion of the brain to relieve a psychological disorder.

Question 4

deep brain stimulation

Answer 4

A procedure used for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, in which a hair-thin wire electrode is implanted permanently into the brain and activated to stimulate neurons near the targeted area

Question 5

transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Answer 5

A procedure for temporarily altering the responsiveness of a localized area of the cerebral cortex by creating a magnetic field over that brain area. (p. 115) It is also used as a treatment for depression.

Question 6

psychotherapy

Answer 6

Any formal, theory-based, systematic treatment for mental problems or disorders that uses psychological means (such as dialogue or training) rather than physiological means (such as drugs) and is conducted by a trained therapist.

Question 7

psychoanalysis

Answer 7

1. The theory of the mind developed by Freud, which emphasizes the roles of unconscious mental processes, early childhood experiences, and the drives of sex and aggression in personality formation; also called psychoanalytic theory. 2. Freud’s therapy technique in which such methods as free association, dream analysis, and analysis of transference are used to learn about the person’s unconscious mind; the goal is to make the unconscious conscious.

Question 8

psychodynamic therapy

Answer 8

Any approach to psychotherapy that is based on the premise that psychological problems are manifestations of inner mental conflicts and that conscious awareness of those conflicts is a key to recovery.

Question 9

free association

Answer 9

In psychoanalysis, the procedure in which a patient relaxes, frees his or her mind from the constraints of conscious logic, and reports every image and idea that enters his or her awareness.

Question 10

resistance

Answer 10

Attempts by a patient to avoid bringing unconscious memories or wishes into consciousness.

Question 11

transference

Answer 11

The phenomenon by which a patient’s unconscious feelings about a significant person in his or her life are experienced consciously as feelings about the therapist.

Question 12

humanistic therapy

Answer 12

Any of several types of psychotherapy that emerged from humanistic personality theories, usually emphasizing the client’s own constructions of his or her reality.

Question 13

person-centered therapy

Answer 13

The humanistic approach to psychotherapy (also called client-centered therapy) developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist generally refrains from offering advice or leading the course of therapy, but rather listens to the client with empathy and respect and reflects the client’s thoughts and feelings back to him or her.

Question 14

cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

Answer 14

The psychotherapy approach that stems from a union of cognitive and behavioral theory; it usually characterizes psychological problems as learned habits of thought and action, and its approach to treatment is to help people change those habits.

Question 15

behavior therapy

Answer 15

Category of treatment methods that use basic principles of learning in order to weaken unwanted behavioral responses or strengthen desired behavioral responses

Question 16

contingency management

Answer 16

In behavior therapy, any systematic alteration in the relationship (contingency) between actions and rewards that is designed to alter the client’s behavior in a desired direction.

Question 17

exposure treatment

Answer 17

Any method of treating fears—including flooding and systematic desensitization—that involves exposing the client to the feared object or situation (either in reality or imagination) so that the process of extinction or habituation of the fear response can occur.

Question 18

cognitive therapy

Answer 18

An approach to psychotherapy that begins with the assumption that people disturb themselves through their own thoughts and that they can overcome their problems through changing the way they think about their experiences.