Chapter 15 -- Therapy Flashcards
What is clinical psychology
The area of psychology that integrates science and theory to prevent and treat psychological disorders
What is psychotherapy and common factors?
A nonmedical process that helps individuals with psychological disorders recognize and overcome their problems
Common Factors in Psychotherapy:
* Development of a therapeutic alliance
* Providing a rationale
* Opportunity for catharsis or venting
* Acquisition and practice of new behaviors
* Beneficial therapist qualities (objective, confidential, professional)
* Patient positive expectations and hope
What is biological therapies or biomedical therapies?
Treatments that reduce or eliminate the symptoms of psychological disorders by altering aspects of bodily functioning.
What is psychotherapy? What are its forms? How do psychotherapists and clinical psychologists carry it out?
Talk therapy between a trained mental health professional and a client to help the client identify and address troubling emotions, thoughts, and behaviors
- CBT, group therapy, intrapersonal therapy.
- Psychologists perform empirically supported treatment (treatment decisions based on the body of research that has shown which type of therapy works best for it).
- Clinicians decide the course of therapy using evidence-based practice (Integration of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of client characteristics, culture, and preferences).
What are factors in effective psychotherapy?
Therapeutic Alliance
- Good relationship between therapists and client
The Therapist
- level of expertise
- personality
- style
The Client
- quality of participation
- preferences
What is insight versus symptoms and skill development psychotherapy?
INSIGHT: gaining insight into deeper causes
SYMPTOMS + SKILLS: helping the person develop skills to manage symptoms
Research indicates that CBT shows a slight but consistent advantage with regards to effectiveness compared to insight-oriented therapy.
What is directive versus nondirective psychotherapy?
DIRECTIVE: outspoken therapist that gives advice
NONDIRECTIVE: less active role in treatment
What are psychodynamic therapies?
Treatments that stress the importance of the unconscious mind, extensive interpretation by the therapist, and the role of early childhood experiences in the development of an individual’s problems.
– Free Association refers to a technique in which the patient is encouraged to say whatever comes to mind to reveal the unconscious processes of the
patient
– Interpretation: Therapist interprets the thoughts, and feelings of the patient in order to reveal the hidden conflicts and motivations
– Analysis of transference: Patients bring into therapy their past troubled relationships; these are transferred to the therapist
What are humanistic therapies?
Treatments, unique in their emphasis on clients’ self-healing capacities, that encourage clients to understand themselves to grow personally.
What is Roger’s client-centred therapy and how does it work?
The therapist provides a warm, supportive atmosphere to improve the client’s self-concept and to encourage the client to gain insight into problems; also called Rogerian therapy or nondirective therapy.
REFLECTIVE SPEECH/MIRRORING: A technique where the therapist mirrors the client’s own feelings back to them to help them identify them.
Therapeutic Process:
- guidance, clarification, become more comfortable with genuine self
How do therapists show:
- Unconditional positive regard
- Empathy
- Genuineness
UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD: Therapist recognizes the value of the client, providing a context for personal growth and self-acceptance without being judgmental.
EMPATHY: Therapists puts themselves in client’s shoes.
GENUINESS: Therapist shares real feelings as a real person in their relationship.
What are behaviour therapies and some of its methods?
Treatments, based on the behavioural and social cognitive theories of learning, to reduce or eliminate maladaptive behaviour. Classical conditioning techniques alter emotional responses:
SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION: Patient is encouraged to confront a feared stimulus (snake) while in a relaxed state.
* Therapist trains relaxation
* Patient constructs an image hierarchy
* While relaxing, patient imagines the least fearful of the images in their hierarchy (e.g. being on the planet as a snake)
EXPOSURE THERAPY: Patient is exposed to the stimulus that they fear (locked in a room full of snakes)
What are cognitive therapies?
Treatments emphasizing that changing inappropriate feelings and behaviours come from changing cognitions (thoughts)
- All human beings have control over their feelings
- How individuals feel depends on how they think about it.
- First goal is to learn how to bring thoughts to awareness
What are some cognitive therapy techniques (Not CBT)?
- Thought stopping
- Reattribution
- Question evidence
- Turn adversity into advantage
What is integrative therapy?
Use of a combination of techniques from different therapies based on the therapist’s judgment of which particular methods will provide the greatest benefit for the client.
What is Beck’s cognitive behavioral therapy?
Cognitive-behavioral therapies focus on the current behaviors of a person and work to restructure thoughts.
– Emphasis is on the present rather than the past
– Cognitive-Behavioral therapists are very directive
– Therapy duration is short-term rather than years long
– Initial focus is on a detailed behavioral analysis: focus is on the problem behavior and the stimuli associated with it
What is Ellis’ Rational Emotive Therapy?
(form of cognitive therapy)
Rational Emotive Therapy focuses on the hurtful thought patterns of the patient
– Ellis’s theory suggests that pathology results when persons adopt illogic in response to life situations
– Therapist notes illogical and self-defeating thoughts and teaches alternative thinking that promotes rational thought
ABC’s of Rational Emotive Therapy
A – activating event
B – belief
C – consequences (emotional)
D – disputing beliefs
Goals —> Behavioural strategies (psychoeducation)
Difficult to objectively challenge limiting beliefs that you’ve had since childhood.
“Feeling ugly” –> the only thing a person is feeling is not good enough. It stems from a lack of self-worth. Your beliefs are completely illogical and irrational because you have to ask yourself “why does this only exist for me?” –> Treat this with affirmations. The only thing that isn’t attractive is a lack of confidence. It’s going to be hard to overcome because you hear those things from your most reliable source. Turn focus to yourself internally.
What is the Medical Model?
The Medical Model views abnormal behavior as reflecting a biological disorder
– Usually localized within the brain
– Involving either brain damage or a disruption of the neurotransmitter processes of the brain
– Person is viewed as a patient, treated by doctors in a mental hospital
– Therapies tend to be physical in nature via:
* Drugs (Pharmacotherapy)
* Surgical alteration of brain (Psychosurgery) – last resort
What are psychotropic medications, and some examples for schizophrenia?
Drugs that act on the brain to alter mental function
Prior to 1956, schizophrenia was virtually untreatable with many patients confined for life in mental hospitals
Chlorpromazine (THORAZINE) was found to reduce severity of psychotic thought, allowing people to live outside of mental institutions
– The psychotropic actions of many drugs are often accidentally discoveries
What are antipsychotic medications?
Drugs that alleviate schizophrenia
– more effective for the positive symptoms than for negative symptoms
– side effect may be flat affect, which is already a negative symptom
– effective antagonists of dopamine receptors (block the action)
– Drugs such as AMPHETAMINE release dopamine from terminals; too much amphetamine exposure can induce a psychotic breaks
What are Antidepressant Medications and 3 types?
Drugs that can lift depression (require 3-4 weeks for effect)
– Tricylic antidepressants: block the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin
– Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors: degrades neurotransmitters at the synapse so serotonin has a longer chance to bind. Drugs that inhibit MAO allow the transmitter to work for longer periods
– Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): Prozac blocks the reuptake of serotonin.
What are antianxiety medications?
Drugs increase the activity of the transmitter GABA to dampen the neural activity of the brain
– Valium is useful in the short-term treatment of anxiety
- Antianxiety medications can result in drug dependence
- Affect the CNS. Reduces hyperactivity and induce a calming effect
What is electroconvulsive shock therapy?
The intentional induction of a brain seizure by shock administered to either or both hemispheres
– produces immediate improvement in mood (explanation is unknown)
– Side effects of ECT include memory loss
What is eclecticism?
Using different treatments for different clients with different problems
TECHNICAL ECLECTICISM: Using a reasonable combination of various treatments for the same client
What are 5 advantages to group therapy?
- Universality – not feeling alone in your issues
- Empathy – sense of company
- Acceptance – no stigma
- Pressure – to show up to sessions
- Practice – skills with other group members in a safe place
What are 4 suicide risk factors?
Diathesis
- psychological disorder (90%)
- substance use and abuse (25-50%)
- family history of suicide
- past suicide attempts
Stress
- life changes
- significant loss
- homosexuality
- recent suicide
What are 4 suicide warning signs?
- withdrawal
- writing and talking about death
- agitation followed by calm resignation
- giving away possessions
