Psychological Interventions (Psychology) Flashcards
Types of interventions
Cognitive Interventions
Behavioural Interventions
Combined Interventions
Why are psychological interventions useful in medical settings?
Increase perception of control and predictability
Reduce pre/post op anxiety
Health promotion and risk reduction
Managing adherence, coping and adjustment issues
Mood disorders
Stress management
Cognitive model
Thoughts create feelings
Feelings create behaviours
Behaviours reinforce thoughts
It is not the situation itself causing psychological disturbance, its the thoughts beliefs and meanings we attach to them that produce our responses
Assumes we interact with the world through interpretations and evaluations we make about our environment
3 levels of thinking
- Automatic thoughts - fleeting, involuntary and situation specific. E.g Asked to read in front of class. “I’ll embarrass myself” - feeling anxious.
- Underlying rules and assumptions (intermediate beliefs) - Can be healthy or unhealthy. The rules by which we aim to live our lives, assumptions expressed as if…then, rules - must and should
- Core beliefs - Give rise to our rules, assumptions and thoughts. Develop in early life, global, absolute and rigid. Negative core beliefs are usually RIGID, UNCONDITIONAL, OVERGENERALISED e.g. I can’t trust everyone
Aims of intervention
Identify, challenge and change maladaptive thoughts and beliefs
Develop effective coping strategies
Help the patient gain insight into their cognitive/emotional functioning
CBT - EMPOWER PATIENT TO BECOME THEIR OWN THERAPIST
Suitability criteria for CBT
Motivation
Psychological mindedness
Ability to set goals and formulate problems
Insight
Belief that intervention might be helpful
Not always suitable for current drug abuse or psychosis
Types of cognitive error
Catastrophising - thinking worst possible outcome is going to occur
Personalisation- making things about us
Absolute thoughts- all or nothing thinking
Selective abstraction- a detail is taken out of context whilst everything else in context is ignored e.g. one person didn’t say hello at a party and that overrides all the other people that greeted you
Negative prediction- overestimating the likelihood of bad things happening
Cognitive techniques
Self monitoring- mindfulness, meditational, increases self awareness and empowers
Decisional balance sheet - pros/cons of changing behaviour
Distraction technique - short term, e.g. using cartoons to relieve kids anxiety when being anaesthetised
Socratic questioning- challenging assumptions, clarifying meaning, reveal underlying principles, is this thought fact?
Motivational interviews- seeks to identify cognitive dissonance without being confrontational
Behavioural model
Harmful behaviours are learnt responses
Can be replaced without specific intervention
Behavioural intervention techniques
Behavioural modelling - learning behaviour from a perceived superior figure
Conditioning- operant conditioning
Relaxation
Densensitisation - gradual exposure/flooding to phobias
Biofeedback - gaining greater awareness using electronic instruments and learning to control heart rate, breathing patterns, muscle responses
Behavioural intervention techniques
Behavioural modelling - learning behaviour from a perceived superior figure
Conditioning- operant conditioning
Relaxation
Densensitisation - gradual exposure/flooding to phobias
Biofeedback - gaining greater awareness using electronic instruments and learning to control heart rate, breathing patterns, muscle responses
Aims of CBT
Self education
Cognitive restructuring
Replacing maladaptive behaviours
Collaboration between patient and professional
Empowers patient to be their own therapist
Strengths of CBT
All ages
Many disorders
Many forms of delivery (online, in person, work book)
Good evidence
Relatively quick
Patient can continue to use it even after intervention has finished
