Chapter 16 Psychotherapy Flashcards
psychotherapy
psychological intervention designed to help people resolve emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal problems and improve the quality of their lives
paraprofessional
person with no professional training who provides mental health services
insight therapies
psychotherapies, including psychodynamic, humanistic, existential, and group approaches, with the goal of expanding awareness or insight
Psychodynamic therapies
are treatments inspired by classical psychoanalysis and influenced by Freud’s techniques. psychodynamic therapy is typically less costly, is briefer—weeks or months or open-ended—and involves meeting only once or twice a week
humanistic therapies
therapies that emphasize the development of human potential and the belief that human nature is basically positive. strive to understand clients’ inner worlds through empathy and focus on clients’ thoughts and feelings in the present moment.
Psychodynamic therapists share the following three approaches and beliefs, which form the core of their approach:
- They believe the causes of abnormal behaviors, including unconscious conflicts, wishes, and impulses, stem from traumatic or other adverse childhood experiences.
- They strive to analyze
(a) distressing thoughts and feelings clients avoid
(b) wishes and fantasies
(c) recurring themes and life patterns
(d) significant past events
(e) the therapeutic relationship. - They believe that when clients achieve insight into previously unconscious material, the causes and the significance of symptoms will become evident, often causing symp-toms to disappear.”
free association
technique in which clients express themselves without censorship of any sort
resistance
attempts to avoid confrontation and anxiety associated with uncovering previously repressed thoughts, emotions, and impulse”
transference
they project intense, unrealistic feelings and expectations from their past onto the therapist.
Freudian therapists, neo-Freudian therapists
are more concerned with conscious aspects of the client’s functioning.
neo-Freudians acknowledge
the impact of other needs, including love, dependence, power, and status.
(Carl Jung, the goal of psychotherapy is)
individuation—
the integration of opposing aspects of the personality, like passive versus aggressive tendencies, into a harmonious “whole,” namely, the self.”
interpersonal psychotherapy
According to Sullivan (1954), psychotherapy is a collaborative undertaking between client and therapist.
(Sullivan)
participant observer
Through ongoing observations, the analyst discovers and communicates to clients their unrealistic attitudes and behaviors in everyday life
interpersonal therapy (IPT)
treatment that strengthens social skills and targets interpersonal problems, conflicts, and life transitions. IPT has demonstrated success in treating substance abuse and eating disorders comparable with that of cognitive-behavioral therapies (Klerman & Weissman, 1993; Murphy et al., 2012)”
psychodynamic therapy
clients typically need to practice new and more adaptive behaviors in everyday life—that is, to engage in working through (Wachtel, 1977)
transference
act of projecting intense, unrealistic feelings and expectations from the past onto the therapist
Humanistic therapists stress
the importance of assuming responsibility for decisions, not attributing our problems to the past, and living fully and finding meaning in the present.
person-centered therapy
nondirective therapy centering on the client’s goals and ways of solving problems
nondirective
therapists encourage clients to direct the course of therapy and don’t define or diagnose clients’ problems or try to get at the root cause of their difficulties
unconditional positive regard
a nonjudgmental acceptance of all feelings the client expresses. Rogers was convinced that unconditional positive regard elicits a more positive self-concept. He maintained that it allows clients to reclaim aspects of their “true selves” that they disowned previously in life as a result of others placing conditions of worth on them”
reflection mirroring back the cli-ent’s feelings”
reflection, that is, mirroring back the cli-ent’s feelings —a technique for which Rogers was famous.
Person-centered interviewing techniques, including
showing warmth, empathy, and unconditional acceptance; using reflective listening; and avoiding confrontation, lie at the heart of motivational interviewing
Gestalt therapy (Fritz Perls)
therapy that aims to integrate different and sometimes opposing aspects of personality into a unified sense of self
existential therapists (Frankl)
contend that human beings construct meaning and that mental illness stems from a failure to find meaning in life
“Frankl came to believe that human beings can preserve spiritual freedom and independence of mind even under conditions of enormous psychological and physical stress”
logotherapy (Frankl)
(Frankl) defined as the treatment of the patient’s attitudes toward his or her existence
group therapy
therapy that treats more than one person at a time
strategic family intervention
family therapy approach designed to remove barriers to effective communication
structural family therapy
treatment in which therapists deeply involve themselves in family activities to change how family members arrange and organize interaction
behavior therapist
therapist who focuses on specific problem behaviors and current variables that maintain problematic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
ecological momentary assessment
assessment of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that arise in the moment in situations in which they occur in everyday life.
systematic desensitization
clients are taught to relax as they are gradually exposed to what they fear in a stepwise manner”
exposure therapy
therapy that confronts clients with what they fear with the goal of reducing the fear
reciprocal inhibition
which says that clients can’t experience two conflicting responses simultaneously. If a client is relaxed, he or she can’t be anxious at the same time.
systematic desensitization
SD is effective for a wide range of phobias, insomnia, speech disorders, asthma attacks, nightmares, and some cases of problem drinking”
dismantling
research procedure for examining the effectiveness of isolated components of a larger treatment
response prevention
technique in which therapists prevent clients from performing their typical avoidance behaviors
