Module 44: Introduction to Therapy

Question 1

psychotherapy

Answer 1

treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth

Question 2

biomedical therapy

Answer 2

prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person’s physiology

Question 3

eclectic approach

Answer 3

an approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy

Question 4

psychoanalysis

Answer 4

Sigmund Freud’s therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient’s free associations, resistances, dreams, and transference– and the analyst’s interpretation of them– released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight

Question 5

resistance

Answer 5

in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material

Question 6

interpretation

Answer 6

in psychoanalysis, the analyst’s noting of supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behavior and events in order to promote insight

Question 7

transference

Answer 7

in psychoanalysis, the patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent)

Question 8

psychodynamic therapy

Answer 8

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition; views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and seeks to enhance self-insight

Question 9

insight therapies

Answer 9

therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person’s awareness of underlying motives and defenses

Question 10

client-centered therapy

Answer 10

a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine empathic environment to facilitate clients’ growth (also called person-centered therapy)

Question 11

active listening

Answer 11

empathetic listening in which the listener echos, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers’ client-centered therapy.

Question 12

unconditional positive regard

Answer 12

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

Question 13

behavior therapy

Answer 13

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors

Question 14

counterconditioning

Answer 14

behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

Question 15

exposure therapies

Answer 15

behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imaginary or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid

Question 16

systematic desensitization

Answer 16

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.

Question 17

virtual reality exposure therapy

Answer 17

a counterconditioning technique that treats anxiety through creative electronic simulations in which people can safely face their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking

Question 18

aversive conditioning

Answer 18

associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

Question 19

token economy

Answer 19

an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for privileges or treats

Question 20

cognitive therapy

Answer 20

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

Question 21

cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

Answer 21

a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior)

Question 22

group therapy

Answer 22

therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, providing benefits from group interaction

Question 23

family therapy

Answer 23

therapy that treats people in the context of their family system. Views an individual’s unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members.