1st 8 weeks Flashcards
Reflective Self-Awareness
we examine ourselves in order to become aware of personal biases and the interactive process of identity construction.
Reflexive Self-Awareness
is a process through which we become aware of how meaning is created through our interactions with others.
Critical Reflectivity
allows us to acknowledge ourselves as both affecting and being affected by society.
The task of clinical social work is to
improve the biopsychosocial well-being of the people we serve.
Clinical social work encompasses
a wide range and variety of theoretical frameworks, approaches, and methods; problems and concerns to address; societal conditions and views to understand and challenge; and ethical issues to consider.
Ecosystems Perspective
An ecosystems perspective places the focus on the interaction between the person and his or her environment rather than on one or the other.
Not a theory but a method for organizing information…
Three tools used to gather information include the: genogram, ecomap, and social network map (Pages 15-18, Figs 1.3-5)
Behavioral Theory
One of the oldest and most extensive theories applied to clinical social work
Initially overshadowed by psychodynamic approaches, reappeared in the 60’s along with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and other theories
Can be applied to all levels of intervention
Individual
Group
Community practice
Social Learning Theory
Respondent conditioning
Operant conditioning
Observational learning
5 Basic Empirical Principles of Social Learning Theory (SLT)
Human behavior consists of what a person does – whether it can be observed or not
Much of human behavior is learned through life experience
Similar learning processes result in individual human behavior across cultures and account for both normative and dysfunctional behaviors
Interpersonal (between persons)
behavior is also a function of these learning processes
There are at least three major learning processes that comprise SLT
Respondent learning
Operant learning
Observational learning
Respondent Learning
Development of a conditioned response due to a conditioned stimulus, e.g.
A dog salivates at the sound of a bell when the bell is associated with the provision of food
A child cries at the sight of any adult with a white lab coat after having experienced vaccinations by a nurse with a white lab coat
Operant Learning
Increasing or decreasing behavior due to reinforcement or punishment, e.g.
Increasing the frequency of turning in homework on time by providing more video game time for a 5th grader
Eliminating procrastination behaviors by taking away cell phone privileges
Positive reinforcement (rewarding)
rewarded behaviors become more frequent, stronger, etc.
Negative reinforcement (relief)
behavior is enhanced when something unpleasant is removed (sunglasses)
Positive punishment
the presentation of something aversive that results in a decrease in the likelihood of the behavior
Negative punishment
removal of something pleasant resulting in a decrease in the probability of the behavior
Observational Learning
Also known as learning by imitation and modeling
Many experiments with humans have shown that if imitated behavior is reinforced, the likelihood of imitation is greatly strengthened
Cognitive Theory
Almost all cognitive theory is an expansion or extension of SLT – not a rejection of it.
Additional elements proposed for the understanding of human behavior
People respond to cognitive representations of environmental events – not the events themselves
Learning is cognitively mediated
Cognitive Theory
Cognition mediates emotional and behavioral dysfunction
Some forms of cognition can be monitored
Some forms of cognition can be altered
Altering cognitions can change dysfunctional patterns of emotion and behavior
Both cognitive and behavioral therapeutic change methods are desirable and can be integrated
Cognitive Therapy Interventions
Changing misconceptions, unrealistic expectations and faulty ideas
Modifying irrational self-statements
Enhancing problem-solving and decision-making capabilities
Enhancing self-control and
self-management
Core Irrational Cognitions
I must be perfect in all ways.
Other people must treat me kindly and fairly all the time.
Things and conditions must be the way I want them to be and not too hard or frustrating. (See page 33 & 34)
Albert Ellis’ RET Model The A-B-C Model
A – Activating event
Not hired for a desirable job.
B – Beliefs about the event
“I’m a complete failure and I’ll never get a good job.” or “I’m basically very good at what I do and I’ll continue to look and will get the job I want.”
C – Consequences
Stops looking for work and starts to abuse substances or continues job search.
Core Irrational Cognitions
I must be perfect in all ways.
Other people must treat me kindly and fairly all the time.
Things and conditions must be the way I want them to be and not too hard or frustrating. (See page 33 & 34)
Psychoanalytic Theory
Introduction of a new & radical theory and made unique contributions
Not a unified body of knowledge
Composed of multiple theories, models and schemata pertaining to development, psychopathology and clinical methods and techniques
Literature covers an entire century
Psychoanalytic Theory
Major influence on clinical social work from the 1920’s through the 1960’s
Caseworkers recognized limitations of their work; advice giving, etc.
Given the child guidance movement and working with “shellshock” victims (WWII), social workers provided services in hospitals and clinics and among psychiatrists and psychiatric thinking
Led to “Psychiatric Deluge”
Basic Concepts of Psychoanalytic Theory
Places emphasis on the individual
Gave meaning to pathological symptoms
Presumes the existence of an unconscious
Presumes the existence of universal experiences in early-childhood development
States it is the failure of adaptive resolution of developmental conflict that serves as a basis for psychopathology
Translocate: Adults tend to repeat early childhood conflicts in adult relationships
Three casework approaches
The Diagnostic or Psychosocial School
The Functional School (1930s)
The Problem-Solving Model (1950s)
The Problem-Solving Model (1950s)
Developed by Helen Harris Perlman - UChicago
Concepts:
Partializing: breaking down large problems into smaller more manageable tasks
Importance of relationship: Transference and countertransference – minimize
Stay reality based and thus focus on problem-solving and development of rapport
The Diagnostic or Psychosocial School
Use of Freud’s personality theory as basis
Diagnosis: dynamic, etiological, classificatory
Resistance, Transference, and Countertransference
The Functional School (1930s)
Otto Rank (“Freud’s Disciple”): Theories emphasized human growth, development of self, and the will as the controlling & organizing force.
“Birth Trauma” – life & death fear
Erik Erickson: psychosocial, psychosexual development
Emphasis on separation and individuation
Emphasis on developmental crisis
Psychoanalytic Theory
Treatment techniques emphasize self-knowledge or insight as the essential curative factor in psychotherapy
Posits that the mind is a product of evolutionary development which functions to ensure adaptation and survival
Mental activity governed is by the fundamental propensity to seek pleasure and avoid pain (the pleasure principal)
Psychic conflict (approach-avoidance dilemma)
results from the pursuit of instinctual pleasures that are met by an aversive response, and not being able to achieve pleasure
Mental life is characterized by
the pervasive presence of psychic conflict
Psychological symptoms & character pathology are
complex structures produced by UC to avoid or minimize unpleasure (compromise formations)
Conflicts and Compromise Formations
Wishes of Childhood - Formed by biological and social-experiential factors, unique to all of us.
The Sexual Drive - The Oedipus Complex (3-6yo). The influence on adulthood.
The Aggressive Drive – constant or reactive instinct? Component of psychic conflict; and consequence of it.
Unpleasures - Loss of object, loss of love, punishment, fear of being a “bad” child. Psychic Conflict occurs when childhood wishes become associated with painful affects of unpleasures in the course of development.
Defense – various ways to reduce anxiety/depression.
Theory of Defense
Component of psychic conflict and cornerstone of psychoanalytic theory…Freud, 1984
Defined as psychological activities that reduce the unpleasure of psychic conflict by blocking, inhibiting, or distorting awareness of disturbing mental contents.
The capacity to protect the self from both real, and perceived danger
Defense Mechanism Characteristics
Automatic and unconscious
Modify the individual’s perception of, and reaction to danger
Designed to keep unconscious content from entering conscious awareness
Utilized at a certain cost
Not used out of weakness – rather to preserve psychic integrity and survival when under stress and fear
Six axiomatic principles
The Topographical Perspective Unconscious Preconscious Conscious The Structural Perspective Id Ego Superego
The Dynamic Perspective
Postulates that behavior is motivated, is lawful, has an identifiable cause and is purposive
The Economic Perspective
Concerns the strengths of drives and the quantitative quality of behavior
The Genetic Perspective
Must understand one’s childhood to understand the adult – the past persists into the present
The Adaptive Perspective
Concerns the relationship between the individual and the environment – the external
Psychodynamic Descendants of Psychoanalytic theory
Anna Freud - clarification of defense theory – psychoanalysis of children
Heinz Hartmann – infants are born with innate “conflict free ego capacities” insuring infant survival (language, perception, memory, intention, motor activity, object comprehension, and adaptation)
Rene Spitz – consequences of the absence of mother-infant interactions
Margaret Mahler – theory of the separation-individuation process
Erick Erickson – Ego development across the entire life span
The Eight Life Cycle StagesErik Erickson
Basic Trust vs Mistrust: 0-18 months Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt: 18 mos – 3yrs Initiative vs Guilt: 3-6 yrs Industry vs Inferiority: 6-11 yrs Identity vs Role Confusion: 11-18 yrs Intimacy vs Isolation: Young Adulthood Generativity vs Stagnation: Adulthood Integrity vs Despair: Old Age
Object Relations Theory
A general heading that includes multiple groups of theories
Edith Jacobson (1897 – 1978)
Humans are born into a relational environment
Human adults relate to others based on how they related to their caretakers as children
Complex relationship between affectivity and the inner representational world
Primary Maternal Preoccupation:
Absorption of the unborn infant during pregnancy; withdrawn from own subjectivity
Good Enough Mothering:
The ability to provide empathically attuned support or holding
The Holding Environment:
The environment of protection on which infants depend; natural and spontaneous; intuitive
D.W. Winnicott (1896-1971)
True Self:
Individuals begin with an “inherited potential” that represents one’s core self or essence; the spontaneous expression of the id
False Self:
A façade that is erected to achieve compliance with the mother’s inadequate adaptations; will survive at the cost of “living falsely”
The Transitional Object:
Best known of his theoretical ideas. An object that enables the child to sustain the illusion of a calming, comforting mother
Heinz Kohut (1913-1981)
Introduced Psychology of the Self
Pathology results from unmet or disrupted developmental needs
Self-objects – objects are actually experienced as extension of the self by children
Mirroring self-objects – responds to child
Idealizing self-objects – look up to and merge image of calmness with child
Partnering self-objects – children acquire a sense of belonging
The tripolar self – interaction between needs of the self and responses of those important persons
New & Evolving School of Psychoanalytic Thought by Greenberg and Mitchell, 1983
Relational Psychoanalysis
Assign primary importance to real interpersonal relationships, rather than to instinctual drives
The primary need of humans is relatedness and communication with others – not the gratification of sexual and aggressive drives
A spectrum of psychoanalytic theories and theorists with a common set of fundamental premises about human nature
Not a unified theory and contains no unitary theory of psychoanalytic technique
Basic Clinical Propositions of Relational Psychoanalysis:
Personality is formed through interpersonal interactions
The clinical environment is inherently intersubjective and shaped by mutual influence
People need authentic personal engagement with the therapist
Relationship takes center stage
Therapist seeks to understand the client’s interpersonal field
Collaborative effort with the client
Therapist is open to understanding influence on the therapeutic interaction (conflicts/impasses)
Rupture of Alliance
A tension or breakdown in the collaborative relationship
Inevitable part of psychotherapy
Successful resolution is critical for psychotherapeutic change
Repair:
clarifying misunderstandings
Linking rupture to common patterns in patients life
Providing a new relational experience