L3 - Does psychotherapy work?

Question 1

What is the cause and treatment of mental illness according to the Psychoanalytic Model?

Answer 1

According to the psychoanalytic model, mental illness is caused by unresolved unconscious conflicts.
Treatment aims to offer insight into these unconscious processes.

Question 2

What is the cause and treatment of mental illness according to the Humanistic Model?

Answer 2

According to the humanistic model, mental illness is caused by thwarted/ not reaching self actualisation.
Treatment involves empathy and unconditional positive regard.

Question 3

What is the cause and treatment of mental illness according to the Behavioural Model?

Answer 3

According to the behavioural model, mental illness is caused by learned responses to certain stimuli.
Treatment involves new learning to overwrite these old responses.

Question 4

What is the cause and treatment of mental illness according to the Cognitive Model?

Answer 4

According to the cognitive model, mental illness is caused by negative core beliefs and biased thinking.
Treatment involves showing new ways of thinking through ‘cognitive restructuring’.

Question 5

How does the Cognitive-Behavioural Model or CBT attempt to treat metal illness?

Answer 5

CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy aims to treat cognitive aspects through restructuring, challenging beliefs/expectations and judgements, while also promoting the learning of new behavioural aspects to cope with mental illness.

Question 6

What are some characteristics of a good experimental design?

Answer 6

◦ Random allocation of participants to treatment groups
◦ Blind or Double Blind design
◦ Experiments must be conducted with treatment manuals or clear description of treatment
- To enable precise replication
◦ Characteristics of samples must be specified
- Diagnoses, exclusion criteria, etc (DSM)
◦ Characteristics of therapists must be specified
◦ Effects must be demonstrated by at least two different
investigators or teams

Question 7

What defines a ‘Probably efficacious treatment’?

Answer 7

• At least two experiments show that the treatment
  is superior to waiting-list control group (rather than
  placebo control)
  OR
• Meets well-established criteria but experiments not
  carried out by two different teams

Question 8

What defines ‘Experimental treatments’?

Answer 8

not yet tested in randomised controlled trials with
adequate methodology
- e.g, not randomised, pre-post only, not manualised,

Question 9

What are some criticisms of Empirically Supported Treatment research?

Answer 9

 Reliance on DSM to describe samples
◦ Diagnosis is dehumanising
◦ DSM medical model is not appropriate
 But: need to evaluate generalisability somehow
 Reliance on treatment manuals
◦ Reduces treatment quality: treatment should be designed for individual cases
 Reliance on Randomised Controlled Trials
◦ findings mightn’t generalise to real life cases

Question 10

Name some mental disorders with EST’s and their specific treatments?

Answer 10

Anxiety disorders: CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy)
Obsessive compulsive disorder: Exposure and response prevention.
Major depression: CBT